19 Amendments of Michal WIEZIK related to 2020/2126(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that common agricultural policy (CAP) funds make up a significant proportion of the 2021-2027 EU budget and that there is therefore a responsibility. Reiterates that both the Commission and Member States share responsibilities for their implementation, management and proper spending. Emphasises that they must put in place proper safeguards to protect them CAP funds against any type of misuse; and to prevent corruption;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the study entitled ‘The Largest 50 Beneficiaries in each EU Member State of CAP and Cohesion Funds’1a and emphasises the importance of consolidating and harmonising EU reporting systems; stresses also that reporting systems for CAP and cohesion policy funds should contain information on final beneficiaries; regrets that currently, data for identification of economic operators and their beneficial owners is not easily or not at all accessible; stresses therefore the need for a common database at EU level gathering harmonised data from already existing databases at regional, national and inter-regional level. This would require harmonisation of disclosure requirements and data formats fulfiling the Open data requirements with indicators defined to allow ultimate beneficiaries in the national and EU-level databases to be identified; _________________ 1aStudy on the largest 50 beneficiaries in each EU Member State of CAP and Cohesion Funds, requested by the CONT Committee, PE 679.107 - May 2021
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the EU-wide definition of active farmers in the new CAP; emphasises, however, the lack of progress in the fight against criminal and oligarch structures;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises the need for more targeted support towards smaller and medium-sized farms with special attention to young farmers at Member State level; Encourages the Member States to use the different redistributive tools for a fairer distribution of funds and; regrets that the capping in the new CAP remains voluntary and calls on the Member States to apply the capping provisions on direct payments;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the mandatory use of the ARACHNE system by Member States in order to achieve more transparency on the beneficiaries of CAP fundall available IT tools, such as ARACHNE, the Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES) and the Irregularities Management System (IMS) by all Member States, especially for funds under CAP and cohesion policy, in order to achieve more transparency and to effectively and efficiently identify the problematic economic operators and wthere such funds end up, as well as the mandatory use of the Early Detec private individuals or natural persons linked to them; emphasises that the interoperability and harmonisation of Arachne, EDES, institutional and Exclusion System for CAP funds national databases is crucial for ensuring an effort to enective information exchancge transparency on the use of taxpayers’ moneyaimed at preventing and identifying fraud against the EU budget;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Asks the Commission nevertheless to amend Article 167(1)(c) of the Financial Regulation to include a more explicit definition of ‘professional conflict of interest’, so as to ensure that EU institutions are able to take mitigatingadequate measures in the case of bidders with a financial interest in a policy-related service contract;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Reiterates, however, that even the best legal framework cannot compensate for an insufficient implementation mechanism; underlines that having effective management and control systems in place in each Member State is therefore crucial condition for legal and regular spending of EU funds;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Reiterates that data on the beneficiaries of the CAP and the Cohesion Policy are currently fragmented in hundreds of regional, national and inter-regional reporting systems, disclosing only basic information on the direct beneficiaries. This makes it more difficult to get a comprehensive overview of the ultimate beneficiaries and the amounts of EU funds they received1a; _________________ 1aStudy on the largest 50 beneficiaries in each EU Member State of CAP and Cohesion Funds, requested by the CONT Committee, PE 679.107 - May 2021
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Expresses its concern at the cases of high-level conflicts of interest and land- grabbing by oligarchs and criminals, which are possibly being facilitated by governments and public authorities; calls on the Member States to adhere to the Financial Regulation of the EU, and in particular to implement the Article 61on Conflict of interests and to apply it on all EU funds´ payments; calls on the Commission to control the compliance with Article 61 and evaluate the impact of conflict of interest on the use of funds;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises the importance of full transparency in the decision-making process as a measure to prevent conflicts of interest; underlines that having effective management and control systems in place in each Member State is therefore crucial condition for legal and regular spending of EU funds;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Underlines that the Commission should use all the instruments available under EU financial legislation and the applicable sector-specific and financial rules to effectively protect the EU budget, including interruption of payment deadlines, suspension of payments, financial corrections or exclusion of expenditure from EU financing, infringement proceedings under Article 258 TFEU, checks and audits, compliance with Article 61 of the Financial Regulation of the EU or, in duly justified cases, the application of Article 7 TEU addressing risks to the foundational values of the EU in the Member States, as has recently been done in the cases of Poland and Hungary;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls for the use of the Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES) to be made compulsory under shared management; further notes that the EDES does not distinguish between subsidiaries of larger corporations; calls for the mandatory use of the Arachne data mining and data enrichment tool by Member States in order to achieve more transparency on the beneficiaries of CAP funds; and ESI funds, and to effectively and efficiently identify the problematic economic operators and the private individuals or natural persons linked to them; emphasises that the interoperability and harmonisation of Arachne, EDES, institutional and national databases is crucial for ensuring an effective information exchange aimed at preventing and identifying fraud against the EU budget;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Deplores that since 1 January 2021, the Commission has been unable to take any appropriate action to apply the Conditionality Regulation, which entered into force on that day; strongly regrets that after months of debating, Parliament has been forced to take legal action against the Commission under Article 265 TFEU for failure to apply the Conditionality Regulation;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Is deeply concerned in this context by the fact that the former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is mentioned in the Pandora Papers for using offshore financing to acquire real estate in France while at the same time participating in the decision- making in the European Council, e.g. on the Multiannual Financial Framework and anti-money laundering legislation;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Calls on the Member States to ensure to the greatest extent possible that information on fraud cases that is reported to the Commission via IMS, is reliable and accurate. Therefore, regular validation of data before reporting to the EU level, as well as system checks, are highly recommended;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27b. Underlines that the AFCOS play an important role in protecting the EU’s budget from fraud in their respective countries; reiterates, therefore, that Member States need to ensure that the Managing Authorities and AFCOSs have sufficient resources with the right skills and competences to develop anti-fraud strategies, and to implement effective anti- fraud measures and practices;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Regrets that data for identifying businesses and their beneficial owners is not easily or sometimes even at all accessible, since neither the CAP nor cohesion policy reporting systems contain information on the ultimate beneficiaries; emphasises the importance of consolidating and harmonising of existing regional, inter-regional and national reporting systems into a common database at EU level;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Considers that for the sake of full transparency about the spending of EU funds, it is essential that such a database is developed to the greatest extent possible, in line with applicable data protection rules and the relevant jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and is made accessible to the public in a concise, comprehensive and user-friendly way in order to enhance public scrutiny and trust in EU public spending;