21 Amendments of Helmut SCHOLZ related to 2017/2281(INI)
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Praises the courageous agents for positive change in Moldova, notably those leading the effortsactions taken in line with the calls of the IMF and the EU to reform the banking sector following the criminal 2014 bank fraud; calls on Moldovan politicians and the judiciary as a whole to join in with such efforts to reform the country and fight corruption in line with the AA commitments;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Reiterates its concern over the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of a small group of people and the influence which those people wield over the parliament, government, political parties, state administration, police, judiciary and media; notes that this contradicts the letter and spirit of the Association Agreement;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Expresses its profound concern that, despite legislative advances on institutional reform, the results of that legislation’s implementation, particularly in the rule of law, good governance, the independence of the judiciary, democratic, social and civil rights and the fight against corruption, are deeply unsatisfactory;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets that the non-fulfilmentdeliberate violation of the political conditions related to democratic standards in Moldova, in particular the recent changes in national electoral legislation as well as the removal of Dorin Chirtoacă from the ChișinăuDorin Chirtoacă’s dismissal as mayor’s office Chișinău and the invalidation of the election of Andrei Năstase, has led to the suspension of the disbursement of Macro Financial Assistance (MFA) and of outstanding payments of EU budget support;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Reiterates its position that any decision on future MFA disbursement should only take place after the planned parliamentary elections and on condition that they are conducted in line with internationally recognised standards and assessed by specialised international bodies, and that the payment of all budget support programmes should remain on hold until meaningful progress in democratic standards takes place; calls, in the meantime, on the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to continue reallocating funds to support civil society in Moldova, in particular to the free and independent media, as well as the private sector and local authorities, and to coordinate efforts with other organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to ensure greater coherence in terms of financial assistancand the rule of law takes place, transparency is created with regard to political and administrative decision- making processes, effective steps are taken in the fight against corruption and the judiciary’s politically motivated actions against political opponents and their lawyers cease; calls, in the meantime, on the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) not to reallocate any funds and to freeze the cmonditionalityey in question;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission, in line with the European Parliament resolution of 13 September 2017 on corruption and human rights in third countries, to actively consider the option of negotiating a supplementary clause to the Association Agreement about fighting corruption in view of the grave and systemic corruption in Moldova;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Moldovan authoritiesexpresses concern about the monopolisation of the media landscape by the country’s major political and economic actors, who have also divided up the advertising market between themselves; urges the Moldovan authorities to apply themselves to solving this problem, and in particular to swiftly adopt and fully implement the new audiovisual code in line with European standards of media freedom and pluralism as recommended by the European Commission and the Venice Commission; emphasises the importance of genuine consultations with civil society and the independent media before the final adoption of the new audiovisual code, and the need to discard all aspects recently adopted without such consultations or that may undermine media pluralism;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the goodTakes note of the cooperation on CFSP matters and the symbolic participation in common security and defence policy (CSDP) missions and operations; takes note of the progress in adopting a new Defence Strategy and Action Plan 2017-2021 following up to this point; emphasises its concern that a strong orientation towards increased cooperation with NATO and the characterisation of Russia as a central security threat for Moldova, as established in the new Defence Strategy adopted by majority by parliament in July and in the Action Plan 2017-2021, undermines the country’s declared neutral status and, together withdrawal of the National Security Strategy by the President of Moldov the over 100 per cent increase in arms spending, could block progress in regulating the conflict over Transnistria; reiterates that this would be counter to the EU's involvement in the regulation of Transnistria;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Commends the Moldovan authorities for the incrementmaterial improvlement of relations with Tiraspol notably with the opening of the Gura Bîcului-Bîcioc bridge and the signature of an additional six protocols, thus improving the lives of citizens on both sides of the Nistru river;ation of the confidence- building measures agreed to in the Berlin Protocol by the participants in the 5+2 format, thus incrementally improving both relations with Transnistria and the lives of citizens on both sides of the Nistru river; supports the corresponding efforts of the OSCE, the EU and the other participants in the 5+2 format unreservedly and encourages the authorities in Moldova to further build on this level of engagement; calls on the Moldovan authorities to undertake additional efforts to ensure a swift and final adoption of the Law of the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. emphasises its belief that a solution to the conflicts with Transnistria following the wording of a ‘special legal status, observing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova’ is highly dependent on the reform agenda for overcoming, in particular, the endemic corruption and the occupation of the state by a small clique of oligarchs in Moldova being implemented;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges the authorities to ensure the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary and specialised anti-corruption institutions, including the Superior Council of Prosecutors, the National Anticorruption Centre, the National Integrity Authority and the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency, notably through maintaining the allocation of adequate resources and guaranteeing transparent selection procedures with the participation of independent expert recruiters;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Reiterates its calls, based on the findings and recommendations of the first and as yet partially unpublished second Kroll reports, for a swift and fully transparent prosecution of all those responsible for the criminal USD 1 billion bank fraud unveiled in 2014, as well as the recovery of the stolen assets; calls for measures to be taken to ensure that situations such as the very recent one in which fifteen judges involved in a major money-laundering scandal were initially arrested, but then covertly re-released shortly thereafter, and now some of them are working in the very same positions, can never happen again;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Expresses grave concern about the sustained efforts to delay the successful investigation of the criminal bank fraud both through political and legal avenues, as well as to use the oligarchy-controlled media to expel the issue from public discourse; finds it unacceptable that the Moldovan authorities have obviously yet to make any requests for assistance to the Member States of the EU affected by the bank fraud, and that so far none of the accounts believed to have been used for stashing or laundering stolen money have been disclosed;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. finds it deeply disturbing in light of information received from its Moldovan partners that the law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Moldova are blatantly failing to follow up solid evidence to get uncover the truth about the bank fraud and money- laundering, falsifying evidence, and are even believed to be exerting pressure on lawyers to abandon their efforts to uncover the truth; calls on Moldovan politicians, in light of this, to create regulations to ensure that data required to prosecute the criminal financial transactions do not, legally speaking, ‘expire’ and/or are not deleted because of some ‘expiry date’; expects a swift end to the ongoing prosecution of Ilan Shor;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Considers it to be similarly politically unacceptable for the same political circles to have decided to convert privately stolen funds into public debts and as a consequence, the burden of repaying these losses will be passed to the same people as have already had their pension savings stolen in the bank fraud by way of an increased tax burden until 2041; emphasises that this has further increased the apathy towards and severe loss of trust in politics and that, as a consequence, one in five Moldovans is currently planning to permanently leave the country and seek their own prospects in a foreign country;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11d. calls on the European Commission, with reference to Article 18 of the Association Agreement and the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, to fulfil its obligations regardless of the activities required of Moldova and to independently take action to solve the criminal bank fraud and, in doing so, to personally sanction both the guilty parties and those people who acted against its successful investigation and the punishment of the guilty parties; calls on the Commission to provide Parliament with information about relevant measures and activities in a suitable format;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 e (new)
Paragraph 11 e (new)
11e. emphasises that the efforts to reform and stabilise the banking system cannot substitute for investigating the criminal bank fraud and money laundering of over USD 20 billion of funds stolen from the Russian national budget; calls for an immediate end to the political efforts to legalise illegally acquired financial means and provide impunity for criminal financial transactions, which have been ongoing in Moldova since 2016, and for the relevant bills to be withdrawn;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Expresses concern about signs of a further shrinking of space for the country’s civil society, and to influence the form which Moldova’s development takes; calls on the authorities to immediately halt undue or disproportionate criminal proceedings against political opponents, their lawyers and/or their families; expresses specific concerns about proceedings that target human rights defenders such as Ana Ursachi, independent judges such as Domnica Manole and Gheorghe Balan, journalists and critics of the government or of the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc who, alongside his dominant position in Moldova’s economy and media, is also the President of the Democratic Party of Moldova;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. expresses concern that the opponents of Moldova’s government bodies and their lawyers continue to be persecuted using false allegations and prosecutions; criticises the fact that embassies from EU Member States and the delegation from the EEAS are increasingly being prevented from observing trials by the Moldovan side barring the public from court proceedings; considers the fact that political opponents and their lawyers are increasingly forced to seek political asylum in EU Member States due to the actions of Moldova’s government bodies to be incompatible with the Association Agreement;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. calls on the government to follow national and international obligations and standards by comprehensively guaranteeing the rights to active participation in the political opinion and decision-making process and the public and peaceful expression of opinion, as established by the right to free assembly;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 e (new)
Paragraph 16 e (new)
16e. Welcomes the fact that Moldova’s trade with the EU has increased since the free trade agreement entered into force, and that the EU is the largest investor in Moldova; deplores on the other hand the fact that this has not lead to an improvement in their social situation for the country’s citizens, that a third of Moldova’s population continues to live below the poverty line, that access to public services, particularly primary health care, and particularly in rural areas, is not guaranteed and that the low employment rate and high emigration rate, underground economy and weak middle class continue to inhibit the country’s economic development; warns that the lack of progress in improving living standards for the population threatens people’s approval of the country’s pro-European orientation; calls for these problems with the association process to stop being denied, and that instead, cooperation with the EU must make a visible contribution towards solving these problems;