Events

Documents

• Committee draft report: PE764.989
• Amendments tabled in committee: PE766.666
• Non-legislative basic document: COM(2024)0272
• Non-legislative basic document: Go to the pageEur-Lex
• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2024)0272
• Non-legislative basic document published: Go to the page Eur-Lex
• Amendments tabled in committee: PE766.666
• Committee draft report: PE764.989
• Non-legislative basic document: COM(2024)0272 Go to the pageEur-Lex

Amendments

Dossier

24

2024/2029(DEC) 2024/12/11 LIBE 24 amendments... Amendment 1 # Konstantinos ARVANITIS Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Notes that, compared with 2022, the caseload of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) almost doubled in 2023, reaching up to 1 927 active investigations; commends the fruitful activities of the EPPO in 2023, which included 139 indictments, 339 VAT- related cases and over 200 investigations on the implementation of NextGenerationEU; welcomes in particular the cross-border investigation that uncovered that EU subisidies intended to help companies that were financially affected by the spread of Covid-19 benefited instead a criminal organisation that received from the Greek state financial aid in the form of a non- refundable advance payment of a total amount of €9 695 525; Amendment 10 # Tom VANDENDRIESSCHE, Petra STEGER, Jorge BUXADÉ VILLALBA, Pascale PIERA, António TÂNGER CORRÊA, Roberto VANNACCI, Fabrice LEGGERI, Nikola BARTŮŠEK Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledgeregrets that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underline instead of acknowledging the EC's responsibility for the negligent management of NextGenerationEU; questions the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; Amendment 11 # Sebastian TYNKKYNEN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. WelcomNotes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; Amendment 12 # Sophie WILMÈS, Lucia YAR, Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE, Jan-Christoph OETJEN, Moritz KÖRNER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Irena JOVEVA Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget and of strengthening its human resources in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; Amendment 13 # Saskia BRICMONT Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and therapid increase in the EPPO’s membership ares’ workload is projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; Amendment 14 # Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE, Fabienne KELLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Lucia YAR, Moritz KÖRNER, Jan-Christoph OETJEN Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collar crime, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse whether and to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be extended in order for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role, and analyse how EPPO's operations and investigations can become more efficient and effective, and present a legislative proposal to accompany the evaluation; recalls in that regard the plans of Commissioner McGrath to accelerate the evaluation; Amendment 15 # Krzysztof ŚMISZEK Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collar crime, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse whether and to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be extended in order for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role; meanwhile, the EPPO’s existing competence to investigate organised crime and money laundering, when linked to fraud affecting EU financial interests, should be supported through adequate resources and efficient cooperation with Europol; Amendment 16 # Tom VANDENDRIESSCHE, Petra STEGER, Jorge BUXADÉ VILLALBA, Pascale PIERA, António TÂNGER CORRÊA, Roberto VANNACCI, Fabrice LEGGERI, Nikola BARTŮŠEK Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collar crime, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse whether and to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be extended in order for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role; regrets that this is being done to the detriment of, and instead of, strengthening controls and criteria for the allocation of funds by the EC; Amendment 17 # Fabienne KELLER, Sophie WILMÈS, Lucia YAR, Jan-Christoph OETJEN, Moritz KÖRNER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Veronika CIFROVÁ OSTRIHOŇOVÁ, Abir AL-SAHLANI, Irena JOVEVA, Malik AZMANI Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collar crime, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse whether and to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be revised or extended in order for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role as well as how to increase cooperation with Europol to properly address thoses objectives; Amendment 18 # Evin INCIR Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collar crime, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse whether and to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be extended in order for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role; and to further enhance the protection of the EU's financial interest; Amendment 19 # Konstantinos ARVANITIS Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Acknowledges the importance of taking a holistic approach to combating white-collarfinancial crimes, such as fraud and corruption, and more conventional types of crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, as they are often linked; recalls the fact that, in its upcoming evaluation report, the Commission should carefully analyse whether and to which categories of crimes the EPPO’s mandate needs to be extended in order for it to be best equipped to fulfil its role; Amendment 2 # Saskia BRICMONT Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Notes that, compared with 2022, the caseload of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) almost doubled in 2023, reaching up to 1 927 active investigations; commends the fruitful activities of the EPPO in 2023, which included 139 indictments, 339 VAT- related cases, 140 European Delegated Prosecutors in active employment and over 200 investigations on the implementation of NextGenerationEU; further notes that the EPPO started to bring more perpetrators of EU fraud to judgment in front of national courts; Amendment 20 # Tom VANDENDRIESSCHE, Petra STEGER, António TÂNGER CORRÊA, Roberto VANNACCI, Fabrice LEGGERI Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Emphasises the importantcomplementary role of the EPPO in the Union approach to combating corruption and the misuse of Union funds; expresses its satisfactionnotes that 24 Member States participate in the EPPO and encourages the remaining Member States to do so as well; calls on the Commission to continue engaging in an active dialogue with non-participating Member States to effectively facilitate the EPPO in carrying out its tasks; emphasises the fact that such a dialogue could also be of value to Member States that already participate in the EPPO as regards tackling difficulties in fighting rule of law violations and corruptio; underlines the importance of letting Member States decide whether or not to join; Amendment 21 # Saskia BRICMONT Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Emphasises the important role of the EPPO in the Union approach to combating corruption and the misuse of Union funds; expresses its satisfaction that 24 Member States participate in the EPPO and encourages the three remaining Member States, namely Hungary, Ireland and Denmark, to do so as well; calls on the Commission to closely monitor Member States’ level of cooperation with the EPPO in subsequent reports and to continue engaging in an active dialogue with non-participating Member States to effectively facilitate the EPPO in carrying out its tasks; emphasises the fact that such a dialogue could also be of value to Member States that already participate in the EPPO as regards tackling difficulties in fighting rule of law violations and corruption; reiterates, however, the EP calls that membership of the EPPO should be a precondition for receiving EU funds and the need for an expansion of the mandate of the EPPO; Amendment 22 # Sophie WILMÈS, Lucia YAR, Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE, Jan-Christoph OETJEN, Moritz KÖRNER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Irena JOVEVA Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Emphasises the important role of the EPPO in the Union approach to combating corruption and the misuse of Union funds; expresses its satisfaction that 24 Member States participate in the EPPO and encourages the remaining Member States to do so as well, or be denied the possibility to manage EU funds indirectly; calls on the Commission to continue engaging in an active dialogue with non- participating Member States to effectively facilitate the EPPO in carrying out its tasks; emphasises the fact that such a dialogue could also be of value tomust be ongoing with the Member States that already participate in the EPPO as regards tackling difficulties in fighting rule of law violations and corruption and support them in the practical implementation of the recommendations in this regard in the annual rule of law reports; Amendment 23 # Evin INCIR Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Emphasises the important role of the EPPO in the Union approach to combating corruption and the misuse of Union funds; expresses its satisfaction that 24 Member States participate in the EPPO and encouragescalls on the remaining Member States to do so as well; calls on the Commission to continue engaging in an active dialogue with non-participating Member States to effectively facilitate the EPPO in carrying out its tasks; emphasises the fact that such a dialogue could also be of value to Member States that already participate in the EPPO as regards tackling difficulties in fighting rule of law violations and corruption; welcomes the participation of Sweden and Poland in the EPPO which was confirmed in January and July 2024 respectively; Amendment 24 # Krzysztof ŚMISZEK Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Encourages continued and enhanced cooperation between the EPPO and OLAF, recognising the complementary strengths of both agencies inin line with their respective regulations, and the obligation of OLAF to report, without undue delay, suspicions of criminal contact to EPPO, in order to enable it to tacklinge fraud, corruption and financial crime affecting the Union’s financial interests through criminal law; supports the further development of joint initiatives, information sharing and coordinated actions between the EPPO and OLAF, as such cooperation is vital to strengthening the Union’s fight againstprotection of EU financial crimeinterests and to ensuring the effective and efficient use of Union resources. Amendment 3 # Saskia BRICMONT Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1 a. Stresses that according to the Court, the 206 active investigations related to RRF funds estimated potential damages of over €1.8 billion; highlights that these investigations concern 10 Member States, with around 75% of these cases coming from Italy; shares the Court’s view that the figures presented by the EPPO confirm that the risk of fraud is present in the RRF and that they call into question the reliability of Member State management declarations in terms of reporting detected fraud and the remedial measures taken; Amendment 4 # Konstantinos ARVANITIS Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1 a. Welcomes that the EPPO brought charges in December 2023 against 23 suspects – including 18 public officials – for crimes relating to the execution of contracts for restoring remote traffic control and signalling systems on the Greek rail network, co-funded by the EU; Amendment 5 # Saskia BRICMONT Draft opinion Paragraph 1 b (new) 1 b. Commends the close cooperation between the EPPO and the Court, particularly in detecting any suspicions of criminal offences falling within its competence and involving participating Member States; reminds that such suspicions may arise either from audit work by the Court or from information reported to the Court directly by third parties; Amendment 6 # Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE, Fabienne KELLER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Lucia YAR, Moritz KÖRNER, Jan-Christoph OETJEN Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; regrets that the Commission's proposal for EPPO's budget for 2025 was not sufficient to achieve this and that the Council was not ready to give the EPPO the budget that it requested in order to fulfill its mandate properly; expects the Commission to dedicate sufficient funding for EPPO within the proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034; stresses in this regard that in 2023, the EPPO requested more than €1.53 billion to be seized, and the seizure of €1.5 billion was granted, of which final confiscations of more than €60 million were ordered by courts in definitively resolved cases, which demonstrates that the EPPO actually generates more money than it costs and therefore should receive significantly more funding to allow for more confiscations from criminals; Amendment 7 # Evin INCIR Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; the rapid increase in EPPO's workload, with ongoing cases rising by 70% and new investigations by 58% from 2022 to 2023, along with a significant rise in estimated damages, freezing orders, indictments, and convictions, highlights the urgent need for an increase in staff; without additional staff, EPPO cannot adequately protect the EU budget, fulfil its objectives to combat organized crime, or uphold the rule of law, jeopardizing contractual obligations, security, and IT operations; Amendment 8 # Fabienne KELLER, Sophie WILMÈS, Lucia YAR, Jan-Christoph OETJEN, Moritz KÖRNER, Hilde VAUTMANS, Veronika CIFROVÁ OSTRIHOŇOVÁ, Abir AL-SAHLANI, Irena JOVEVA, Malik AZMANI, Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources as the agency is understaffed; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks as the fight against organised crime, the protection of EU financial interests and the strenghtening of the rule of law are EU priorities; Amendment 9 # Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. WelcomNotes the increase in appropriations for the EPPO’s budget in 2023, amounting to EUR 64,6 million in total, which allowed for an 11 % increase in staff in that year; acknowledges that the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding and the increase in the EPPO’s membership are projected to put further strain on the EPPO’s resources; underlines the importance of additional funding for the EPPO’s budget in order for it to have the necessary means to carry out its tasks; stresses that any future budget increase must be preceded by a comprehensive assessment of needs and of the effectiveness of the spending of existing funds; source: 766.666

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