Activities of David BORRELLI related to 2015/2041(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions
Amendments (34)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the Treaty on European Union (TEU) marked a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union in which decisions are taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen (Article 1 TEU); notes that there is a considerable lack of trust among EU citizens in EU trade-policy making, and believes that a radical shift is needed in the way that information about trade negotiations isand the activities of the INTA Committee are communicated to the public, in order to ensure their legitimacy and to reach the widest possible audience;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that, as pointed out by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), imperatives for transparency derive from the democratic nature of governance within the EU, and that, where confidential information is beyond the reach of public access, as in the case of trade negotiations, it must be available to parliamentarians who scrutinise trade policy on behalf of citizens; considers therefore that access to classified information is essential for scrutiny by Parliament, which in return should abide by its obligation to manage such information properly; considers that there should be clear criteria for labelling documents as ‘classified’, and also that the document should be declassified as soon as its classification is no longer necessary; notes that the case law of the ECJ makes it clear that where a document originating in an EU institution is covered by an exception with regard to the right to access, the institution must clearly explain why access to this document could specifically and effectively undermine the interest protected by the exception, and that the risk must be reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical; calls on the Commission to implement the recommendations of the European Ombudsman of July 2015 with particular regard to access to documents for all negotiations, and calls on the Commission to convince EU negotiating partners to increase transparency at their end; calls to mind the importance of harnessing as far as possible information technology, online archives, the new technologies and the new media in order to guarantee that access to documents for citizens, wherever they may be, is as direct, simple and immediate as it can be; considers that, in general, publicity concerning documents should be regarded as the norm and classification as an exception, especially in the case of documents concerning major trade agreements that will have a significant impact on citizens’ lives;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to expand and improve its existing initiative as laid out in its decision of 25 November 2014 on the publication of information on meetings held between Members of the Commission and organisations or self-employed individuals; considers that the recording of meeting data, and the ban to meet with unregistered lobbyists, should be expanded to include everyone involved in the EU’s policy-making process, regardless of the level of action;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that the Commission must promote the general interests of the Union, be led by members chosen on the grounds of their competence and independence, and refrain from any action incompatible with its duties (Article 17 TFEU); welcomes initiatives aimed at greater transparency, accountability and integrity, including the decisions adopted by the Commission on 25 November 2014 and the new impetus given to the Transparency Register, which should be mandatory and binding for all EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies; calls for Parliament, in this respect, to coordinate action to enhance transparency within the institutions as regards the activity of lobbiesdirect and indirect activity of any kind of lobby and group of pressure and special interest groups;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to make all information on lobby influence available free of charge, fully comprehensible for and easily accessible to the public through one centralised online database;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that, among the Members of the European Parliament, those appointed rapporteur, shadow rapporteur or committee chair have a special responsibility to be transparent about their contacts with lobbyists in view of their role in EU legislation;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Suggests that the Code of Conduct should be amended, without delay, so as to make it mandatory for rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs to adopt the same practice of exclusively meeting registered lobbyists and publish information on such meetings online and for rapporteurs to publish a legislative footprint;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reiterates its longstanding call to back up the EU lobby register with a legal act to close all loopholes and achieve a fully mandatory register for all lobbyists; considers that the proposal for this legal act could take into account the progress achieved by changes in the inter- institutional agreement and Parliament’s Code of Conduct; calls on the Commission to submit, within 2017, a proposal for a fully mandatory and legally-binding lobby register;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Reiterates its call to the Council, including its preparatory bodies, to join the lobby register as soon as possible;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that, when interpreting ‘inappropriate behaviour’ within the meaning of point (b) of the Code of Conduct, this expression should be taken to include turning down formal invitations to hearings or committees without sufficient reason and holding a reticent behaviour or providing insufficient or misleading information during such hearings or committees;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Insists that registered law firms should declare in the lobby registerlaw firms conducting lobby activities should join the lobby register and consequently declare all clients on whose behalf they perform covered activities;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Suggests that false statements from visitors, be they professionals or not, or the provision of information that is misleading, inappropriate, inaccurate, not up-to-date or incomplete, should be punished by a ban on entering Parliament for three years;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that at least 5 % of declarations should be checked each year and the Joint Transparency Register Secretariat is provided with sufficient and adequate administrative and financial means;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Believes that unofficial groupings of members, such as MEP-industry Forums, should be governed by rules guaranteeing full transparency regarding the list of their members and the declaration of support, in cash or in kind, that they receive;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Believes that the members of the Advisory Committee chosen from among Members of the European Parliament should be complemented by a majority ofshould be formed by independent and externally chosen members who must be qualified experts in the field of ethics regulation and should be drawn from an open and transparent call and include members of civil society;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Believes that the Code of Conduct should be amended to empower the enlarged, without delay, to ensure that the advice given by the Advisory Committee to adoptas well as the final decisions instead of the President are made public;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Believes that the Rules of Procedure should be amended, without delay, with regard to Members’ declarations of financial interests to task the Advisory Committee and the supportive administration with factual checks in samples and to empower them to ask for proof and explanations where necessary;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Believes that the Code of Conduct should be amended without delay to ensure that Members publish their income tax return and patrimonial situation in order to make it easier and more accurate the factual checks;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Believes that Article 3 of the Code of Conduct for Members should be rephrased to include a clear ban on Members holding side jobs or other paid or unpaid work that could lead to a potential or actual conflict of interest;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Believes that the Code of Conduct should be amended, without delay, to provide for a three- year ‘cooling-off period’ during which Members may not engage in lobbying work in the area of their parliamentary responsibilities;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Believes that for Members of the Commission the ‘cooling-off period’ should be extended to three years and that a two-year cooling-off period should also apply to all Commission staff involved in the drafting or implementation of EU legislation or treaties, including contract staff, and to special representatives of the Union in connection with the Common Foreign and Security Policy;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Supports the Ombudsman’s call for entry in the lobby register to be made a requirement for appointment to expert groups provided that the Members concerned are not government officials and do not receive all or the vast majority of their other income from state institutions such as universities, assuming that the latter do not receive funding from lobbies and economic and commercial stakeholders;
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls for control of the financing of European political parties to be assigned to a neutral bodypublic body such as the Court of Auditors;
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Regrets that the Council’s lack of transparency, including its preparatory bodies, is preventing citizens and national parliaments form holding governments accountable owing to a lack of information on the positions of individual Member States;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Believes, therefore, that preparatory meetings within the Council should be as public as meetings of Parliament’s committees, also out of respect for the principle of sincere cooperation;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Believes that the chairs of Parliament’s committees should proactively publishand in due time publish agendas, minutes and all documents used in trialogues;
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Calls on the Presidency of the Council to include, without delay, all trialogue documents in the documents register to allow for access in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001; 1049/2001; , since most of the negotiations on files currently actually take place in the trialogues themselves;
Amendment 377 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Deems it unacceptable that Parliament has less, or less open, access to documents in trade negotiations than some members of national parliaments and calls for such disparity in treatment to be remedied without delay;
Amendment 385 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Recognises the progress made in the transparency of trade negotiations, but insists that these advances with respect to TTIP must be extended to all trade negotiationgrets that trade negotiations with respect to TTIP have not been fully open, transparent and democratic and that certain information have become public only because of leaks;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to propose, within 2017, an interinstitutional agreement in order to codify those principles for all trade negotiations;
Amendment 414 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Believes that decisions taken or prepared in the Eurogroup, in the Economic and Financial Committee, ‘informal’ Ecofin Council meetings and Euro summits must be institutionalised, where necessary, and become transparent and accountable, including through the publication of their minutesagendas and minutes as well as, where possible, the streaming of their meeting;
Amendment 438 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Believes that the ongoing review of EU election law should include a rule that persons found guilty, by a Court of last resort, of corruption against the EU’s financial interests or within Member States mayshould not run for office in the next two terms of the European Parliament;
Amendment 445 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Believes that persons or companies led or owned by such persons who are found guilty, by a Court of last resort, of corruption in the EU should, for at least three years, not be allowed to enter into procurement contracts with the European Union or be allowed to profit from EU funds;