BETA


2020/2686(RSP) Resolution on a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing – the Commission’s Action Plan and other recent developments

Progress: Procedure completed

Legal Basis:
RoP 132-p2

Events

2020/07/10
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents
2020/07/10
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents
2020/07/10
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2020/07/10
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 534 votes to 25, with 122 abstentions, a resolution on a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing – the Commission’s Action Plan and other recent developments.

The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups.

The resolution stated that according to the Commission, around 1 % – EUR 160 billion – of the Union’s annual gross domestic product is involved in suspect financial activity such as money laundering connected to corruption, arms and human trafficking, drug dealing, tax evasion and fraud, terrorist financing and other illicit activities which affect EU citizens in their daily lives. For the period 2010-2014, 2.2 % of the estimated proceeds of crime were provisionally seized or frozen and only 1.1 % of the criminal profits were confiscated at EU level, meaning that 98.9 % of the estimated criminal profits were not confiscated and remain at the disposal of criminals.

The Union’s framework for anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CTF) was strengthened by the adoption of 4AMLD in May 2015 and 5AMLD in April 2018 and their transposition into the Member States’ national legislation by June 2017 and January 2020 respectively, and by other accompanying legislation and actions.

Better implementation

Members regretted the incorrect and patchy implementation of the Anti-money laundering/Combating Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) rules in Member States and called for a zero-tolerance approach and infringement procedures against Member States who lag behind in transposing the rules into national law. Judicial and law enforcement authorities in Member States must cooperate more and share information with each other, according to Parliament.

EU Action Plan and AML/CTF framework

Members welcomed the Commission communication of 7 May 2020 on an Action Plan for a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, which sets the scene for further improvements, in particular in the enforcement and implementation of the existing legislation. They called for the Union to advance on all six pillars of this Action Plan as soon as possible.

They also welcomed the Commission’s intention to present, within the next 12 months, a new EU institutional architecture for AML/CTF built on an EU-level AML/CTF supervisor and an EU coordination and support mechanism for FIUs. Parliament called on the Commission to:

- expand the single rule book in the field of AML/CTF to widen the scope of obliged entities, notably with a view to integrating new and disruptive market sectors as well as technological innovation and developments in international standards, and ensuring that the provision of services is covered in the same manner as the supply of goods;

- tackle the risks of crypto-assets by enforcing the ‘know your customer’ principle in a broad way while respecting the principles of necessity and proportionality;

- ensure that non-financial obliged entities are subjected to similar supervision to financial entities, by an independent public authority at national level, and to ensure that levels of awareness, training, compliance and sanctioning in cases of misconduct by these independent national authorities are adequate;

- further assess the possible establishment of a grey list of potential high-risk third countries, in the same vein as the EU’s current approach of listing non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes;

- ensure a publicly transparent process with clear and concrete benchmarks for countries which commit to undertaking reforms in order to avoid being listed;

- make proposals to close existing loopholes that allow companies to hide their ultimate beneficial owners behind proxies, as well as to allow companies to request the termination of a business relationship in the event that the ultimate beneficial owner cannot be identified;

- address the necessity and proportionality of harmonising the information in the land and real estate registers and to work towards the interconnection of those registers;

- ensure interconnection of centralised payment and bank account mechanisms across the EU in order to facilitate faster access to financial information for law enforcement authorities and FIUs during different investigation phases and facilitate cross-border cooperation in full compliance with applicable data protection rules;

- propose a more harmonised set of effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions at EU level for failure to comply with AML/CTF regulations.

Effective use of data

Parliament called on the Commission to address the lack of sufficient and accurate data in national registers that can be used to identify ultimate beneficial owners, especially in situations in which a network of shell companies is used. It demanded that transparency standards regarding beneficial ownership be strengthened at both EU and Member State level in order to ensure that they provide verification mechanisms related to data accuracy.

Restoring public confidence

Parliament noted with concern that the Luanda Leaks, as well as other past scandals, such as Cum Ex, the Panama Papers, Lux Leaks and the Paradise Papers, have repeatedly shaken citizens’ trust in the EU’s financial and tax systems. It stressed how crucial it is to restore public confidence and to ensure fair and transparent tax systems and tax justice. In this regard, the EU must seriously address its own internal problems, namely with regard to its low taxation and secrecy jurisdictions.

Documents
2020/07/10
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2020/07/08
   EP - Debate in Parliament

Documents

Activities

Votes

B9-0207/2020 - Am 1 #

2020/07/09 Outcome: -: 571, 0: 67, +: 60
CY IE EL MT LU EE LV SI HR FI SK LT DK PT BG CZ HU SE BE AT IT NL FR RO ES PL DE
Total
6
13
21
6
6
7
8
8
12
14
14
11
14
21
17
21
20
21
21
19
75
29
79
33
57
50
95
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
39

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

Ireland GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

4

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Czechia GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Belgium GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

For (1)

1
icon: ID ID
76

Estonia ID

Against (1)

1

Finland ID

2

Denmark ID

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1

Czechia ID

For (1)

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2

Austria ID

3

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1
icon: NI NI
28

Croatia NI

Abstain (1)

2

Slovakia NI

For (1)

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2

Hungary NI

1

Netherlands NI

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1

Germany NI

1
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62

Greece ECR

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1

Latvia ECR

2

Croatia ECR

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1

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1

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2
3

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4

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1

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1
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67

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2

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1

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3

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2

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Czechia Verts/ALE

3

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3

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3

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3

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2
icon: Renew Renew
98

Ireland Renew

2

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2

Estonia Renew

3

Latvia Renew

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1

Slovenia Renew

2

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1

Finland Renew

3

Slovakia Renew

2

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3

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2

Sweden Renew

3

Austria Renew

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B9-0207/2020 - § 3/1 #

2020/07/09 Outcome: +: 598, -: 75, 0: 26
DE ES FR PL RO NL IT BG EL CZ PT BE SE IE AT SK DK LT HR FI LV SI CY MT LU EE HU
Total
95
58
79
50
33
29
75
17
21
21
21
21
21
13
19
14
14
11
12
14
8
8
6
6
6
7
20
icon: PPE PPE
184

Denmark PPE

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1

Latvia PPE

2
2

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2

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2

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1
icon: S&D S&D
145

Greece S&D

2

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2

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2

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2

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2

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2
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98

Italy Renew

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Ireland Renew

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Austria Renew

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1

Slovakia Renew

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2

Croatia Renew

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1

Finland Renew

3

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3

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2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
67

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

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3

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3

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2

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3

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1

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62

Germany ECR

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1

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4

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2

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1
3

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1
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1

B9-0207/2020 - § 3/2 #

2020/07/09 Outcome: +: 538, -: 125, 0: 36
DE FR ES RO PT BE EL NL BG AT SE DK IE IT FI CZ LT SI HR SK LV MT LU EE CY HU PL
Total
95
79
58
33
21
21
21
29
17
19
21
14
13
75
14
21
11
8
12
14
8
6
6
7
6
20
50
icon: PPE PPE
184

Denmark PPE

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1

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2

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1
2
icon: S&D S&D
145

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2

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2

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2

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2
icon: Renew Renew
98

Austria Renew

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1

Sweden Renew

Abstain (1)

3

Ireland Renew

2

Italy Renew

For (1)

1

Finland Renew

3

Lithuania Renew

2

Slovenia Renew

2

Croatia Renew

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1

Slovakia Renew

2

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3

Hungary Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
67

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

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2

Ireland Verts/ALE

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3

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3

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2

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1

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1
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4

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1

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1

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28

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1

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1
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B9-0207/2020 - § 3/3 #

2020/07/09 Outcome: +: 536, -: 125, 0: 38
DE FR ES RO PT BE EL NL BG AT DK IE IT SE FI CZ LT SI HR SK LV MT LU EE CY HU PL
Total
95
79
58
33
21
21
21
29
17
19
14
13
75
21
14
21
11
8
12
14
8
6
6
7
6
20
50
icon: PPE PPE
184

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2

Malta PPE

2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
2
icon: S&D S&D
145

Greece S&D

2

Lithuania S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
98

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Ireland Renew

2

Italy Renew

For (1)

1

Sweden Renew

3

Finland Renew

3

Lithuania Renew

2

Slovenia Renew

2

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Slovakia Renew

2

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3

Hungary Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
67

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

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1

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1
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39

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4

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1

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1

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1

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icon: NI NI
28

Germany NI

1

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1

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2

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Abstain (1)

2

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1
icon: ECR ECR
62

Germany ECR

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1

Romania ECR

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1

Greece ECR

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1

Netherlands ECR

4

Bulgaria ECR

2
3

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1

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2
icon: ID ID
76

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1

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3

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2

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1

B9-0207/2020 - Am 6/1 #

2020/07/09 Outcome: -: 367, +: 307, 0: 25
IT ES DE PT CY AT MT EL FI IE DK BE LV LU HR SE LT EE SK SI HU BG NL RO CZ FR PL
Total
75
58
95
21
6
19
6
21
14
13
14
21
8
6
12
21
11
7
14
8
20
17
29
33
21
79
50
icon: S&D S&D
145

Cyprus S&D

2

Greece S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

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1

Lithuania S&D

2

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2

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2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
67

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

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1

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3

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
39

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2

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icon: NI NI
28

Germany NI

1

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2

Slovakia NI

2

Hungary NI

1

Netherlands NI

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1
icon: ID ID
76

Austria ID

3

Finland ID

2

Denmark ID

Abstain (1)

1

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1

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1

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icon: ECR ECR
62

Germany ECR

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1

Greece ECR

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1

Latvia ECR

2

Croatia ECR

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1
3

Lithuania ECR

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1

Slovakia ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

2

Netherlands ECR

4

Romania ECR

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1
icon: Renew Renew
98

Italy Renew

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1

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1

Finland Renew

3

Ireland Renew

2

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1

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2

Croatia Renew

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1

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3

Lithuania Renew

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3

Slovakia Renew

2

Slovenia Renew

2

Hungary Renew

2

Bulgaria Renew

3
icon: PPE PPE
184

Cyprus PPE

2

Malta PPE

2

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1

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4

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2

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2

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1

Slovenia PPE

4

B9-0207/2020 - Am 6/2 #

2020/07/09 Outcome: -: 461, +: 177, 0: 60
FR AT EL BE IE CY FI LU LV MT DK LT EE HU SK SI HR PT CZ IT SE BG DE NL ES RO PL
Total
79
19
21
21
13
6
14
6
8
6
14
11
7
20
14
8
12
21
21
75
21
17
95
29
57
33
50
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
67

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

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For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Spain Verts/ALE

2
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
39

Belgium GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

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2

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1

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1

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1

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1

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1
icon: NI NI
28

Hungary NI

1

Slovakia NI

2

Croatia NI

2

Germany NI

1

Netherlands NI

Against (1)

1
icon: ID ID
76

Austria ID

3

Finland ID

2

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Abstain (1)

1

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1

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2

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1
3

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1

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