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Torsdagen den 17 december 2020 - Bryssel

4. Olafs samarbete med Europeiska åklagarmyndigheten (Eppo) och effektiviteten i Olafs utredningar (debatt)

  Puhemies. – Esityslistalla on seuraavana keskustelu talousarvion valvontavaliokunnan suosituksesta toiseen käsittelyyn OLAFin yhteistyöstä EPPOn kanssa ja sen tutkimusten vaikuttavuudesta (10008/1/2020 – C9-0393/2020 - 2018/0170(COD)) (Esittelijä: Marian-Jean Marinescu) (A8-0263/2020).

Jäsenille ilmoitetaan, että tässä keskustelussa on yksi kierros poliittisten ryhmien puheenvuoroja. Tällä istuntojaksolla keskusteluissa ei anneta pyynnöstä myönnettäviä puheenvuoroja eikä sinisen kortin kysymyksiä hyväksytä.

Huomautan vielä, että puheenvuoroja voi käyttää etäyhteydellä jäsenvaltioiden yhteystoimistoista.

Annan puheenvuoron esittelijä Marinesculle kuudeksi minuutiksi.

  Marian-Jean Marinescu, Raportor. – Doamna președintă, domnule comisar, acest dosar este un dosar, cred eu, extrem de important și sunt bucuros că am reușit să-l ducem la capăt într-un timp foarte scurt, comparat cu precedenta negociere - a durat doi ani, un an și jumătate față de șapte ani. Au lucrat foarte mulți colegi la acest dosar, eu am preluat acest dosar de la colega mea Ingeborg Grässle și îi mulțumesc pentru activitatea pe care a dus-o în acest dosar și, bineînțeles, și raportorilor din umbră.

Cred că a reușit să facem, să aducem textul la o variantă foarte bună. Bineînțeles că am avut ca principal scop colaborarea între Parchetul European și OLAF, dar, în același timp, pe baza propunerilor Parlamentului European, am reușit să introducem lucruri care vor facilita și vor îmbunătăți activitatea OLAF-ului: în primul rând, transparența în cadrul OLAF-ului, accesul la dosare, dar, în același timp, și accesul la conturile bancare în statele membre.

Avem un controlor, o structură independentă în cadrul comisiei de supervizare, care va verifica dacă sunt aplicate corect garanțiile procedurale. Avem proceduri, standarde de proceduri mai înalte pentru anumite activități. În același timp, statele membre sunt obligate să raporteze despre ceea ce-au făcut cu recomandările din cadrul rapoartelor OLAF, astfel încât să fie o colaborare cât mai bună atât între statele membre, cât și între instituții.

Sper că acum, prin această colaborare OLAF -Parchet, să avem o activitate mult mai bună în apărarea, în lupta împotriva fraudei cu fondurile europene. Dosarul a fost votat în Comisia CONT cu mare majoritate și sper că se va întâmpla același lucru și în Parlament. Mulțumesc domnului comisar pentru colaborare și cabinetului domnului comisar, a fost o colaborare foarte bună și, în același timp, și OLAF-ului pentru că am colaborat foarte bine cu ei și cele două președinții croată și germană.

  Johannes Hahn, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, I am honoured to be here today to welcome the adoption of the revision of the OLAF Regulation, which sets the stage for the work of the Office in the years to come. As the rapporteur has already said, this marks the end of seven years of discussion and negotiations. I think it is worth mentioning this and stressing the energy that the current and previous rapporteurs put into these negotiations. Indeed, we had very intense and, ultimately, very fruitful negotiations on this significant piece of legislation. All the institutions showed commitment and resolve, and it has finally paid off.

I would like to thank the European Parliament and the Council for their work on this initiative. In particular, I would like to recognise the role of the rapporteur, Marian-Jean Marinescu. Marian-Jean, your determination to close the deal proved pivotal. I would also like to thank the co-rapporteurs who supported you in all your efforts.

The OLAF Regulation needed to be revised inter alia to adapt to the new anti-fraud architecture, which now also includes the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). However, the Regulation that we have ended up with achieves much more. We have strengthened the European Anti—Fraud Office, further equipping it with the tools it needs to protect the Union budget. A reformed OLAF is key to ensuring that the next European budget and the recovery plan are subject to the best control mechanism. The revised OLAF Regulation ensures cooperation between OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and reinforces OLAF’s investigative capacity.

OLAF and the EPPO pursue the same objective of protecting the Union budget. While they do so within their own mandate, the revised OLAF Regulation ensures that they also do so in close cooperation. This cooperation relies on three pillars. First, the EPPO can rely on the support and expertise of OLAF in carrying out its tasks. Second, OLAF can launch investigations that are complementary to those of the EPPO to facilitate recovery or adopt administrative precautionary measures. Third, they exchange information before and during investigations through a mutual reporting mechanism.

The reformed OLAF also has better tools to investigate fraud against the Union budget. It may access bank account information under the same conditions that apply to national competent authorities. It will conduct on-the-spot checks, pursuant to clearer rules, and benefit from an enhanced two-way cooperation with national authorities. These improvements go hand in hand with clearer procedural guarantees and the establishment of new functions to ensure their respect, like the Controller.

To conclude, the Commission welcomes the revision of the OLAF Regulation, which contributes to shaping a revamped EU anti-fraud architecture. I am looking forward to hearing the views of the political groups. May I add that I think it was very timely to have this revision adopted in the light of the now much bigger European budget, with all the possible implications this will have on where we need to protect European taxpayers’ money. Therefore, I am grateful for your commitment and, finally, all of your achievements.

  Tomáš Zdechovský, za skupinu PPE. – Paní předsedající, vážený zpravodaji, pane komisaři, kolegové spoluzpravodajové, jestli příští Politico zveřejní žebříček nejvlivnějších politiků a nebude tam Marian-Jean Marinescu, tak ho přestanu odebírat. Protože ten, kdo udělal na této legislativě tolik práce, byl právě on. Mariane-Jeane, kdyby mi to nebylo trapné, tak před tebou a všemi tvými kolegy teď pokleknu, protože jste dotáhli legislativu, která se předtím připravovala sedm let, s pomocí pana komisaře za rok a půl. A jsem velmi hrdý na to, že když jsem se rozhodoval, komu svěřím zpravodajství jako koordinátor PPE, že to bylo právě tobě, protože opravdu, Mariane-Jeane, ty jsi jeden z nejlepších poslanců EP, které v této budově a v této místnosti máme.

V této zprávě se podařilo Parlamentu dosáhnout úspěchů hned v několika věcech – byl vytvořen kontrolní orgán pro procesní záruky, který bude dohlížet i na zahrnutí DPH. Díky tomu OLAF dostane přístup i k bankovním účtům. Teď je nicméně důležité, abychom se soustředili na implementaci doporučení, která OLAF navrhuje. Pokud zjistíme, že doporučení úřadu OLAF nebyla brána dostatečně v potaz a nedošlo k žádnému zlepšení situace, budeme na to muset adekvátně reagovat.

Musíme najít další řešení, jak efektivně bojovat proti finančním podvodům, nesrovnalostem, proti střetu zájmů a proti korupci. Nemůžeme dovolit žádná systémová pochybení ani nejasně nastavené podmínky, ať už jde o finanční, právní nebo disciplinární kontroly. Koneckonců jsou to naše peníze a jsou to peníze všech daňových poplatníků.

Dámy a pánové, přeji vám požehnané Vánoce a v novém roce všechno nejlepší.

  Цветелина Пенкова, от името на групата S&D. – Г-жо Председател, г-н Комисар, скъпи колеги, регламентът относно Европейската прокуратура беше приет и трябва да влезе в сила до 2020 г. От изключително значение е и регламентът за Европейската служба за борба с измамите или накратко ОЛАФ, също да бъде адаптиран, защото за нас е важно да осигурим едно гладко сътрудничество между тези два офиса по няколко причини.

На първо място, Европейската прокуратура започва да функционира и е от съществено значение тя да има безпроблемни отношения с офиса на ОЛАФ. На второ място, обновеният регламент за ОЛАФ в момента укрепва съществуващите правомощия на институцията и същевременно затвърждава способността на ОЛАФ да извършва ефективно разследване с достъп, например, до банкови сметки, и на трето място, през следващите месеци ОЛАФ трябва да предостави уверения и актуализация относно независимостта на контролния орган и достъпа на заинтересованите лица до докладите.

Мисля, че всички разбираме защо е изключително важно да засилим позицията на ОЛАФ, като подобрим ефективността на правната стабилност по разследванията. Това ще доведе до цялостни и по-ефективни разследвания. Властите на държавите членки също не бива да остават извън този процес, а напротив, те трябва да започнат да използват по-добре резултатите от разследванията на ОЛАФ и тук това е ключово, защото само и единствено по този начин ще могат да бъдат предотвратени текущи и бъдещи злоупотреби с европейски средства.

Уважаеми колеги, през следващите години ще бъде отпуснат безпрецедентно голям обем от допълнителни средства за подпомагане на европейската икономика, за зеления преход и за всички наши стратегии, които сме развивали през последните години. Допълнителните средства ще се отпускат и за борба с последствията от Ковид кризата, но контролът на изразходването на тези средства е от ключово значение, за да могат те да бъдат изразходвани наистина по най-ефективния начин, и наистина да достигнат до европейските граждани и до най-нуждаещите се.

  Katalin Cseh, on behalf of the Renew Group. – Madam President, first of all, let me congratulate the colleagues in this House, in the Commission and in the Council for updating the European Anti—Fraud Office (OLAF) regulation and legally fine—tuning the working relations between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and OLAF. Now we have made the legal background ready for their effective functioning in the future. This is truly a great accomplishment.

However, at the same time, in this discussion about the effectiveness of European anti—fraud efforts, let me highlight the very simple but still crucial concern: still insufficient funding. This may sound technical, but for my constituents it’s a painfully obvious problem. According to the latest report by OLAF, financial irregularities affect 4% of payments in Hungary. This is 10 times the EU average. But whenever I cite this number to my voters, they very often ask the question: wait a minute, only 4%? Then I explain that the capacity of OLAF only allows them to monitor a small fraction of payments – 5% or 10% – but in fact it is possible that this number is much higher, we just don’t know, and the fact that we don’t know is in itself very problematic.

Now imagine that this already underfunded institution now has to administer EUR 750 billion in recovery funds. How can they do that?

We have also launched the European Public Prosecutor’s Office with really ground—breaking powers but, also in EPPO’s case, inadequate staffing and funding is still a problem.

Let’s be clear: protecting our financial interests has costs. That’s a fact. But this cost is an investment in the future. It’s an investment in recovering this money, and spending more on anti—fraud operation is actually saving us money. So, let’s consider this in the future and let’s fight with every method possible for higher funding for these institutions in order for them to protect our European financial interests.

  Jean-François Jalkh, au nom du groupe ID. – Madame la Présidente, Monsieur le Commissaire, mes chers collègues, la proposition de règlement dont nous discutons aujourd’hui a pour but de définir quelle part du gâteau sera laissée à l’OLAF, l’Office européen de lutte antifraude, après la mise en place du Parquet européen. Elle s’efforce, par la même occasion, d’apporter des remèdes aux dysfonctionnements parfois graves constatés ces dernières années dans le fonctionnement de l’OLAF.

Les plus attentifs se souviendront que les principaux acteurs de la lutte antifraude dans l’Union européenne n’ont pas ménagé leurs critiques envers l’Office, qu’il s’agisse de la Commission européenne, de notre Parlement dans ses différentes décharges, de la Cour des comptes européenne ou du comité de surveillance de l’OLAF.

Si l’OLAF est théoriquement censé effectuer ses enquêtes en toute indépendance, la Cour des comptes n’a pas manqué de nous rappeler, par exemple, que la promotion professionnelle de ses agents était assurée par la Commission européenne. Drôle d’indépendance, en vérité! Dans un excellent rapport, le Parlement français avait aussi conclu que l’Office ne pouvait en aucun cas prétendre réunir les critères rigoureux exigés d’une autorité administrative indépendante.

Je vous ferai grâce des noms d’oiseaux échangés entre l’Office et son comité de surveillance ces dernières années. Le peu de considération de l’Office pour son comité de surveillance augure mal de la sérénité des rapports futurs entre l’OLAF et le Contrôleur européen de la protection des données.

C’est promis, juré, craché: l’OLAF cessera de faire des écoutes illégales comme dans l’affaire sur l’enquête contre le commissaire Dalli, qui a abouti au renvoi en correctionnelle en Belgique de son ancien directeur. Finies, les perquisitions clandestines de nuit dans les bureaux de certains députés à l’insu de ces derniers.

La mise en place du Parquet européen, si elle témoigne clairement d’un abandon de souveraineté des États nationaux, nous est aussi présentée comme une amélioration importante des droits de la défense pour les personnes mises en cause. Rien n’est moins sûr au vu des prérogatives totalement disproportionnées reconnues à l’Office futur: reconnaissance des dénonciations anonymes, possibilité pour l’Office, en dehors de toute enquête préliminaire ou de toute information judiciaire, d’accéder aux lignes téléphoniques privées et aux comptes bancaires des agents et des élus, acteurs de l’Union – ce qui révulsait la très respectée Mme Grässle, ancienne présidente de la commission du contrôle budgétaire.

Où est l’état de droit? Avant de faire la leçon à la Pologne, à la Hongrie, au monde entier, commençons par balayer devant notre porte! Certains États refusent de passer sous les fourches caudines du Parquet européen. Les ressortissants de ces pays disposeront pour leur part de moins de droits, au mépris des valeurs fondamentales de l’Union. De belles batailles juridiques en perspective.

(Keskustelu keskeytettiin)