Az ülések szó szerinti jegyzőkönyve

2022. február 15., Kedd - Strasbourg

17. Korrupció és emberi jogok (a vita folytatása)

  Der Präsident. – Wir setzen nun unsere Aussprache über den Bericht von Katalin Cseh (A9-0012/2022) fort.

  Leopoldo López Gil, en nombre del Grupo PPE. – Señor presidente, señor alto representante, el informe que hoy debatimos deja clarísimo que la corrupción es una amenaza para la democracia, el respeto de los derechos humanos y el Estado de Derecho. La Unión Europea debe dar ejemplo a la comunidad internacional combatiendo esta lacra a todos los niveles.

En primer lugar, a nivel interno. Por ello es necesario promover la armonización de reglas a nivel europeo y reforzar los instrumentos que ya tenemos en funcionamiento para combatir la corrupción, promover la cooperación entre la Unión, los Estados miembros y terceros países, especialmente en el ámbito judicial y policial, y permitir el intercambio de información para poder llevar a criminales ante la justicia y resarcir a las víctimas.

El ámbito de esta lacra es transversal y universal. La corrupción abarca sobornos, flujos de dinero ilícito, lavado de activos, tráfico de influencias, drogas y un largo etcétera. La injerencia extranjera en procesos democráticos y los asesinatos de periodistas, jueces y miembros de la sociedad civil son las estrategias para el silenciamiento de las denuncias de estos crímenes.

Combatir esta amenaza a nivel internacional no es tarea fácil. El aumento del autoritarismo y la desaparición de las democracias proporcionan un terreno fértil para la extensión de esta actividad ponzoñosa. Es imperativo modificar cuanto antes el actual régimen de sanciones de la Unión Europea, ampliando su ámbito de aplicación para incluir todos los actos de corrupción y crear un nuevo régimen para sancionarlos. Digamos no a la corrupción, enviando un mensaje fuerte al Consejo y al alto representante. Es imprescindible que la votación de mañana sea a favor de este informe.

  Raphaël Glucksmann, au nom du groupe S&D. – Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Vice-Président, chers collègues, combien de temps allons-nous tolérer que les tyrans dépensent chez nous l’argent qu’ils volent à leur peuple? Combien de temps allons-nous laisser les brigands de Vladimir Poutine jouir de leurs villas sur nos côtes, de leurs chalets dans nos montagnes, de leurs yachts dans nos ports?

Alexandre Babakov, vice-président de la Douma, est l’un des membres les plus pauvres du Parlement russe, selon les déclarations officielles de patrimoine. Il possède pourtant un appartement luxueux à Paris et un château dans les Yvelines. Dmitri Peskov, porte-parole du Kremlin, collectionne les appartements dans les arrondissements les plus chics de la capitale française. Denis Popov, procureur général de Moscou, multiplie les résidences sur la Costa Brava comme des petits pains. La liste est longue. Alpes, Côte d’Azur, Sardaigne, Marbella, Paris, Berlin… Tous ces grands pourfendeurs de la décadence européenne aiment nos plages et nos pistes de ski. À nous donc de leur montrer qu’on ne peut pas faire la guerre à nos portes et faire mouiller son yacht dans nos ports.

Chers collègues, la lutte contre la corruption est une priorité affichée de notre politique étrangère. Mais cela ne fonctionnera pas tant que nous accueillerons ici l’argent volé là-bas, tant que nos banques offriront l’asile au butin des pillards, tant que les États membres vendront une nationalité européenne au premier oligarque venu, tant que nos dirigeants négocieront leur retraite dorée avec Gazprom ou avec Huawei.

Chers collègues, nous exigeons dans ce rapport la cohérence la plus basique. Nous demandons une législation européenne sur la confiscation et la restitution des biens mal acquis. Nous demandons un mécanisme de sanctions ciblées contre les coupables de grande corruption. Nous demandons des règles communes mettant fin à la trahison de ces dirigeants qui, de Schröder à Fillon, se vendent à des intérêts étrangers hostiles. Nous demandons, en un mot, du courage. Voilà ce qui nous rendra puissants.

  Petras Auštrevičius, on behalf of the Renew Group. – Mr President, corruption is the economic, political and psychological aspect of human rights violations. It distorts socio—economic realities, hinders access to public goods and quality services, and creates artificial hierarchies that impose additional costs on citizens and entire societies.

The EU needs real Magnitsky sanctions that include corruption as a sanctionable offence. Our democratic allies – the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia – all include corruption under their Magnitsky legislations. The absence of corruption at the EU level is not only restrictive but also means that we lag behind our global partners.

By avoiding to punish high—level corruption, thus we become accomplices to human rights crimes. We fail the same people – human rights defenders and democracy activists – who we unconditionally support. Corrupt autocrats repress peaceful protests, illegally imprison people demanding basic freedoms and rights, and despite all of this, are free to use their ill—gotten wealth to maintain their power and enjoy a life of luxury, including real estate, holidays and education of their children in the West.

Together with colleagues, we have repeatedly called on the European External Action Service and the Council to put an end to such abuses, and to update the European Union Magnitsky Act to include corruption. We will insist until this done.

  Jordi Solé, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, there are a growing number of authoritarian regimes run by kleptocrats and extractive elites. They blatantly use power to enrich themselves, while repressing dissenting voices to ensure that they can continue to steal with impunity. Against this background, the EU needs to lead global efforts to end systemic corruption, which erodes human rights, institutionalises crime and perpetuates inequalities. We should take full advantage of our foreign policy toolbox in order to tackle big corruption.

But corruption is a complex and global phenomenon that, in one way or another, affects all countries and therefore requires efforts both at international level and at home. In this regard, the EU needs to be more effective in combating, within its borders, issues like tax evasion, illicit trade, banking secrecy and money laundering, shortcomings in the implementation by Member States of EU anti-corruption regulations, EU—based secrecy jurisdictions and tax havens, and certain financial and legal actors based in the EU. All this emboldens corrupt actors outside the EU and allows the disguising of illicit financial flows into the EU.

Therefore, our report includes a call to recognise the responsibility of certain EU—based individuals and entities as enablers or beneficiaries of corruption abroad and to take action. It is time for the EU to push back against the global threat of kleptocracy, and this also requires acting against complicity happening right before our eyes.

  Maximilian Krah, im Namen der ID-Fraktion. – Herr Präsident, meine Damen und Herren! Als Schattenberichterstatter habe ich mit großem Interesse die Rede der Berichterstatterin gehört, denn ich lese in dem Bericht die Worte Putin, Orbán und Le Pen nicht. Insofern willkommen im ungarischen Wahlkampf!

Das Wort, das ich aber lese, heißt OLAF, eine europäische Institution, die gegen Sie namentlich ermittelt hat wegen Korruptionsvorwürfen. Diese Art von Doppelmoral ist leider etwas, was die Vorurteile gegen das Haus bestätigt. Und dass der Kollege Glucksmann von der S&D-Fraktion den sozialdemokratischen deutschen Kanzler Schröder namentlich angreift, erlaube ich mir als deutscher Abgeordneter ebenfalls als unverschämt zurückzuweisen.

Korruption ist intransparent, und Korruption führt dazu, dass politische Abläufe beeinflusst werden außerhalb des demokratischen Prozederes. Aber warum reden Sie dann nicht von den zahlreichen NGOs und der Möglichkeit, ganz legal diese Demokratie zu beeinflussen? Der Bericht hat leider Schlagseite, und deshalb können wir ihm nicht zustimmen.

  Ivan Vilibor Sinčić (NI). – Poštovani predsjedavajući, moramo postaviti parametre kako treba, a parametri su takvi da nekoliko velikih fondova kontrolira ogroman, ako ne i sav dio ekonomije, pogotovo zapadne. Drugo, da jedan milijarder ima veću imovinu nego milijarde drugih ljudi. Govorimo o entitetima s neograničenim resursima koji su se još više povećali u ovoj krizi. Došlo je do najvećeg transfera bogatstva. Logično je, dakle i jasno, da se radi o neograničenom korupcijskom potencijalu.

Političari su donosili neznanstvene i nedemokratske odluke, mediji su širili cenzuru i strah, da bi se na kraju ispričavali. Znanost je davala često namjerno pogrešne procjene. Kolika su ugledna sveučilišta izgubila svoj prestiž u ovoj krizi. Svi su oni upregnuti u kočije marketinga. Iskorištena je, nažalost, izvršna vlast za napad na ljudska prava, na rad, na kretanje, na izražavanje, na liječenje i brojna druga.

Tražim da se temeljito istraže veze između Komisije i farmaceutskih kompanija, pogotovo od strane Ombudsmana. Ovakvu sistemsku korupciju moramo sankcionirati, inače je samo pitanje vremena prije nego sve preuzme.

  Maria Arena (S&D). – Monsieur le Président, on l’a dit, la corruption est un problème endémique. On la retrouve sur tous les continents. Elle n’est pas propre à un continent ou à une culture; elle est propre au pouvoir et à la non-transparence. La corruption est un phénomène dévastateur pour la disponibilité, la qualité et l’accessibilité des biens et des services liés aux droits humains, et il y a une étroite corrélation entre la corruption et les violations graves des droits humains.

Pourtant, le régime mondial de sanctions n’a pas inclus la corruption en tant que telle dans les phénomènes de violation grave des droits de l’homme. Je pense qu’il est nécessaire de corriger le tir et d’intégrer la corruption dans ce mécanisme.

Je donne un exemple: les États-Unis, en 2020, ont sanctionné un certain M. Dan Gertler, magnat israélien agissant en République démocratique du Congo qui a volé plus de 4 milliards de dollars au peuple congolais par des opérations minières opaques. Quand les États-Unis ont sanctionné M. Gertler, l’Union européenne, ne le sanctionnant pas, lui donnait accès à des opérations qui n’étaient plus possibles aux États-Unis. Ainsi, grâce à ce paradis que représente l’Union européenne pour les corrupteurs, il a pu continuer à voler l’argent du peuple congolais.

Des exemples tels que celui-là, il y en a des centaines aujourd’hui dans le monde, que nous acceptons sur le territoire européen. Nous devons en finir avec cela.

  Karin Karlsbro (Renew). – Herr talman! Kommissionär! Kollegor! EU:s medlemsländer måste leva upp till de demokratiska värderingar som de skrivit under. Rättsstatens principer skyddar inte bara individens rättigheter utan är avgörande för att bekämpa korruption och maktmissbruk. EU-kommissionen måste ta i med hårdhandskarna mot länder som Polen och Ungern som bryter konsekvent mot rättsstatens principer och där korruption kan frodas när institutioner försvagas och monteras ner.

Jag har sagt det förut och jag säger det igen. EU är ett samarbete, inte en bankomat, och länder som bryter mot spelreglerna ska straffas hårt. Korruption är ett hot mot demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter. EU måste sopa rent framför egen dörr och hålla rent hus mot dem som vill använda våra friheter, vår ekonomi och våra institutioner för korruption och ekonomisk brottslighet. EU är ingen frizon för korrupta skurkar. De ska träffas av sanktioner som svider hårt.

  Daniel Freund (Verts/ALE). – Mr President, too many Europeans think that corruption is something that happens far away, that leaders stealing from their citizens is something that doesn’t happen in the European Union. Too few Europeans, unfortunately, know that we make it possible. European banks launder the money. European accountants develop the shell companies structures to hide the money. European real estate companies help to create safe havens for the stolen assets, and European countries provide the golden visas or sell the passports that allow people to enjoy the stolen proceeds.

But this does not only create devastation in the rest of the world. It actually has a real impact on our citizens because, for example, it inflates real estate prices in pretty much every city on this continent. So this is one of the direct effects that global corruption has on the life of our citizens, and this has to stop. The EU must not be a safe haven for stolen assets. Dirty money should not be allowed and should not be welcome on our continent, and the EU should lead the fight against kleptocracies, wherever they exist.

I think Katalin Cseh has made an excellent list of things that we can do to be better in that fight against kleptocracy, and we should get going right away on putting this into place.

  Alessandro Panza (ID). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, come purtroppo spesso accade in quest'Aula si usa un tema importante per fare della bassa propaganda. Ritengo che sia fondamentale però analizzare il nesso tra diritti umani e la corruzione, come affrontato nel testo, anche se in alcune parti l'approccio usato è astratto e contaminato da troppa ideologizzazione, ma lo sappiamo.

Come ad esempio, a mio avviso, sarebbe interessante e necessario approfondire il tema della corruzione anche nel campo dell'accoglienza dei richiedenti asilo. Episodi di corruzione nella tutela dei diritti umani in questo campo non sono più tollerabili. È risaputo che questo tipo di attività è stata al centro di numerosi fenomeni di illegalità, generando non pochi danni agli enti pubblici e alle persone che realmente necessitano di tutela internazionale. Troppi si sono arricchiti grazie alla corruzione in questo ambito.

Temi come questi dovrebbero essere al centro dell'azione del Parlamento. Accantoniamo per un attimo le ideologie e agiamo in modo incisivo e pragmatico contro la corruzione di chi si incensa a protettore dei diritti umani e degli ultimi, ma poi ha come unico interesse pianificare atti di corruzione per arricchirsi.

  Isabel Santos (S&D). – Senhor Presidente, a corrupção representa uma evidente fonte de violações dos direitos humanos e de ataques à democracia que minam o Estado de Direito e as instituições. Sendo um fenómeno global, o seu combate deve fazer-se presente de forma transversal em todas as políticas da União Europeia.

Já aqui foram falados muitos casos de corrupção, espalhados por diversos países com os quais a União Europeia mantém laços. Quero aqui lembrar o caso do Azerbaijão, onde a família Aliyev mantém um regime corrupto e cleptocrático com o beneplácito da União Europeia, através de alguns dos seus comissários, como dois que, recentemente, visitaram o Azerbaijão.

Peço ao Senhor Comissário que esclareça que tipo de diálogos foram mantidos entre estes dois comissários e o Sr. Aliyev. Peço que isto seja esclarecido e que se adote, rapidamente, o mecanismo de sanções em matéria de corrupção.

  Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the Commission. – Mr President, this was an interesting debate, which testifies to the need to keep our attention on the nexus between corruption and human rights and our external action. Let me highlight once again our commitment, as the European Union, to fight against corruption at global, multilateral, regional and country level, whilst always addressing the very real link with human rights.

Our approach is comprehensive, whilst acknowledging that there is no one—size—fits—all approach to dealing with corruption and appropriate solutions must always be context-specific. We, as a union, have an impressive toolbox at our disposal, which we are strengthening further. You, as a House, have your budgetary control powers, the rule of law mechanism, OLAF, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ombudsman. We also have the money.

For the next seven years, we plan to support work on anti-corruption in all its forms in the vast majority of partner countries across the world, and we are also committing more funds to our human-rights-defender programmes and the civil-society organisations that can be valuable allies in this global effort.

The European Union is not a paradise to kleptocrats, as Ms Arena said. The European Union will be hell for kleptocrats, and I take this opportunity to salute the work of the rapporteur because her report matters.

  Katalin Cseh, rapporteur. – Mr President, colleagues, this is my first text as a rapporteur in human rights, and I have to say I’m very proud of it. Together with my great shadow rapporteur colleagues, we managed to put together an extensive, but also ambitious, set of recommendations that draws up a clear strategy for the Council and for the external services to follow.

I believe the two main strengths we have in this report are its pragmatism, but also its complex approach. It is indeed a pragmatic text because I am convinced that the way to pursue a value-based EU foreign policy is not only through big words, but also through practical instruments. For instance, we should never forget that we are a market of 450 million people, and this gives us very concrete tools to promote our values across the globe. We can leverage our trade agreements, our financing programmes and the corporate value chains to promote our human rights and good governance all across the globe.

And the other important message, I believe, is that global problems are interlinked and we have to see them in their complexity. Take just the example of climate action, human rights and anti-corruption. Communities all around the world suffer from polluted air, deforestation, polluted waters, and the very fact that it happens to them is an attack on their rights. But from the Philippines to Colombia, there is always a network of corruption in the background: oligarchs, bribery, organised crime.

We need to recognise these links so that we can step up to fight for the environment, and we need our mandatory due-diligence law to make sure that no European companies are complicit in these crimes because the health of our planet also depends on the health of our democracy.

And finally, this Parliament stands with the activists, with the human rights defenders, with the investigative journalists worldwide who are on the forefront of this fight against kleptocracies. Designing programmes to support them by all financial and legal means possible is one of the key priorities of this report.

  Der Präsident. – Die Aussprache ist geschlossen.

Die Abstimmung findet am Mittwoch, 16. Februar 2022, statt.

Schriftliche Erklärungen (Artikel 171)

  Kinga Gál (NI), írásban. – Cseh Katalin jelentéstevő ellen az Európai Csalás Elleni Hivatal (OLAF) nyomozást folytat európai uniós közpénzeket érintő csalás megalapozott gyanúja miatt. A Cseh Katalin vezette cég és a családjához köthető vállalatok üzleti köre a megalapozott gyanú szerint a hazai és uniós fejlesztési forrásokat csalárd módon elcsaló céghálózatként működtek. Így az ő nevével jegyzett korrupciós jelentés az emberi jogok területén hiteltelenné válik. A korrupcióval szembeni hatékonyabb fellépés szükségessége nem kérdés úgy az Unión belül, mint azon kívül. De minden szempontból megkérdőjelezhető, hogy az EP külügyi antikorrupciós jelentését egy súlyos, több milliárd forintot érintő csalásgyanús ügyben érintett politikus neve fémjelezze.

A jelentés maga több elfogadhatatlan elemet is tartalmaz. A minőségi többségi szavazásra való áttérés az Unió külpolitikájában ellentétes az uniós alapszerződésekben foglaltakkal, így számunkra teljességgel elfogadhatatlan. Az Unió közös érdeke, hogy megmaradhasson a kis tagállamok súlya és szava. Márpedig a többségi szavazás bevezetésével ezen nemzetek a számukra is fontos kérdésekben lennének megfosztva az EU emberi jogi politikáját érintő befolyásolásának lehetőségétől, illetve attól az alapvető joguktól, hogy egyenlő esélyekkel és azonos mértékben képviselhessék szuverén nemzeti érdekeiket.