32 Amendments of Charles GOERENS related to 2015/2041(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
– having regard in particular to Articles 9 and 10 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and to Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU);
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas lobbying is an integral part of democracy, and is essential in providing insights in the various societal interests as well as in providing information and expertise;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to expand and improve its existingommends the European Commission on its initiative as laid out in its drecent 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 should be expanded to include everyone involved in the EU’s policy-making process;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to make all information on lobby influence easily accessible to the public through one centralised online database;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that an amendment should introduce mandatory monthly updates on lobbyin the Transparency register on lobby expenditures by its registrants; in any case, there will be un update when the variation is greater than 10% of the expenditures;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reiterates its longstanding call to back up the EU lobbtransparency 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;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Reiterates its call to the Council to join the lobby register as soon as possible;
Amendment 105 #
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 besides the points as established in paragraph 10 of the European Parliament decision of 15 April 2014 on the modification of the interinstitutional agreement on the Transparency Register, also include turning down formal invitations to hearings or committees without sufficient reasjustification;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Asks the Bureau to think about the possibility to restrict access to Parliament’s premises for non-registered organisations or individuals by making all visitors to its premises sign a declaration that they are not lobbyists falling within the scope of the register or otherwise declare their registration;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Believes it to be necessary, as a matter of urgency, to introduce an efficient and proper monitoring system for submitted information in order toto the Register, with enough personnel and financial resources, in order to methodically ensure that the information that registrants provide is meaningful, accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive; therefore considers that the Joint Transparency Register Secretariat must be reinforced to investigate the complaints, to better address the verification of the viability of the Register and to control fully control the registered data;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that at least 520 % of declarations should be checked each year;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Believes that the members of the Advisory Committee cshosen from amonguld not be current Members of the European Parliament should be complemented by a majority of externally chosen members who must be qualified experts in the field of ethics regulation and should be drawn from an open call and include members of civil societybut consist of externally chosen members of which at least one member who has held a high judicial office, one who is a qualified auditor and one who is a former Member;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Believes that the Code of Conduct should be amended to empower the enlarged Advisory Committee to adoptgive advice prior to the motivated final decisions instead of the President;
Amendment 210 #
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 work that could lead to a conflict of interest;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Considers that it would be most necessary to modify the Code of Conduct so it can include a clear definition of ‘conflict of interests’;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Believes that Members should havespecify the remuneration paid to them by Parliament reduced by half of whats they earn, whether as employees or self-employed persons, from any outside activity in parallel to their office as Members of the European Parliament;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Believes that the Code of Conduct should be amended to provide for a three- year ‘cooling-off period’ during which Members may not engage in lobbying work in the area of their parliamentary responsibilitiesallow the Advisory Committee to assess a potential conflict of interest in the exercise of professional activities of the Member six months after leaving office;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Believes that for Members of the Commission the ‘cooling-off period’ should be extenthe Code of Conduct of the Commission should be improved in ordedr 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 stafffully comply with the duties in article 245 TFEU and to make its observance easier for Members of the Commission;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Therefore considers that the Code of Conduct of the Commission should be reformed to promote juridical security; this reform should include the mention to conflicts of interests and reduce the vagueness of terms such as ‘honesty’, ‘discretion’ or ‘occupation’; asks to strengthen the restrictions for former Commissioners and the inclusion in these restrictions of Heads of Cabinets, Deputy Heads of Cabinet and General Directors;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Encourages the Commission to continue the road towards greater transparency; proposes that the Ad Hoc Ethical Committee should be replaced by a full Ethical Committee formed by independent experts with the power to formally authorise any new professional activity of the former Commissioners that may cause conflicts of interests according to article 245 TFEU;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22c. Considers that all regulation regarding ‘revolving doors’ should also be applied to the President of the Council;
Amendment 278 #
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 universitie; underlines the importance of avoiding conflicts of interests when appointing expert groups;
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Considers that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents should be updated as a matter of urgency, as required by the Treaty of Lisbon (article 15 TFEU), by widening its scope to encompass all EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies currently not covered, such as the European Council, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Justice, Europol and Eurojust;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Considers that Article 15.2 of Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents has not been yet implemented; considers that the interinstitutional Committee could be an instrument to improve the efficiency of the European institutions; asks that the examination of the evolution of the access to documents should be presented before the European Parliament in a public way;
Amendment 350 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Believes that the chairs of Parliament’s committees should proactively publish minutes and allublish the so-called 4- column documents used in trialogues;
Amendment 360 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Calls on the Presidency of the Council to include allthese 4-column trialogue documents in the documents register to allow for access in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001;
Amendment 371 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Takes the view that Members should have access to all Commission documents, where necessary and when duly justified under exceptional circumstances through a reading room;
Amendment 397 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Believes that, when the Commission engages in trade negotiations, it should publish the negotiation mandates, all negotiating positions, all requests and offers and all consolidated draftmake available to the European Parliament, in confidence when necessary and duly justified, all relevant texts without the risk of jeopardizing the negotiation textsand prior to each negotiation round, so that the European Parliament and national parliaments, as well as civil society organisations and the wider public, can make recommendations thereon before the negotiations are closed for comments and the agreement goes to ratification;
Amendment 449 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46 a. Will command a study of a mechanism to protect Accredited Parliamentary Assistants in case they become "whistle-blowers" when there is enough and solid evidence of corruption on the part of his MEP; this mechanism should bear in mind the special nature of the work of an Assistant and create a safe method of communicating with the relevant posts of the European Parliament;
Amendment 464 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Supports national parliaments inviting Commissioners in order to question them;