Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 41

Changed72.112. Takes note of the Council decision of 16 December 2022 to suspend the disbursement of EUR 6.3 billion of EU funds to Hungary; expects the Commission and the Council to lift the adopted measures only where evidence is collected that the remedial measures adopted by the Hungarian Government have proven effective in practice and, in particular, that no regression has been detected on already adopted measures; regrets that thus far the Hungarian Government has shown little willingness to fulfil the requirements of the conditionality mechanism; reiterates, however, its opinion that the 17 measures alone, as negotiated by the Commission and the Hungarian Government, are not sufficient to address the existing systemic risk to the EU’s financial interests and regrets that the Commission did not request sufficient substantial changes and safeguards to restore the independence of the judiciary and reduce the level of corruption; is very concerned about the media reports affirming that the Commission is planning to lift the suspension measures in Hungary in exchange for the government’s endorsement of aid for Ukraine; believes that the Commission should never give in to blackmail, particularly when it endangers the protection of the EU’s financial interests;

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Changed73.113. CallsRegrets that the Commission is not transparent enough about the relevant developments; calls, therefore, on the Commission to inform Parliament and the Council swiftly and regularly aboutof anythe relevantongoing developmentsnegotiations and reminds the Commission, in particular, of its legal obligations set out in Article 25(2) of the RRF Regulation and Article 8 of the Conditionality Regulation;

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Changed74.114. Is concerned by the findings of the Third Rule of Law Report on the critical situation in Poland, in particular as regards the serious shortcomings in the judiciary and the media sector; recalls that Poland’s non-compliance with the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European UnionCJEU has resulted in the payment of EUR 360 million in fines since 2021 and strongly encourages the Commission to keep withholdingrelease paymentsfunds from the RRF untilonly once all the conditions for a fullmilestones integrationrelating ofto the rule of law have been fullyfulfilled satisfied;in their entirety;

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Added115. Calls on the Commission to update the fraud reporting system for funds spent in non-EU countries; notes that the new system should take into account the specific issues that the EU faces when spending money outside EU territory;

External dimension of the protection of the EU’s financial interests

116. Believes that the proposal for the establishment of a horizontal common foreign and security policy sanction framework is complementary to the existing tools and internal and external policy actions against corruption, already endorsed in the enlargement process or within the Eastern Partnership; takes the view that a stronger engagement in international forums such as United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) will help to promote good governance and the rule of law as one of the major priorities of the enlargement process;

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Added117. Reiterates that although the EU currently stands as an observer within GRECO, it is strongly advised that it become a fully operating member, therefore i) participating in the monitoring of the implementation of widely recognised international law and standards; ii) horizontally communicating with other GRECO members on anti-fraud policies and tools; iii) sharing experiences at international level to help with the recognition of potential deficiencies of the EU’s internal mechanisms to identify corruption; and iv) optimally combat fraud by the timely activation of prevention and detection measures; requests the Council to provide a clear position on the EU joining GRECO, clarifying if there is any specific opposition to this and, if so, by which Member State;

118. Remarks that from 2021 to 2022, both the number of non-fraudulent irregularities and the financial amounts involved experienced exceptional increases; notes that the increased number of cases was due to irregularities related to the 2014-2020 IPA II in relation to pre-accession assistance for rural development (IPARD) in North Macedonia and Türkiye, and that for most of these irregularities the financial amounts involved were below EUR 10 000, while the increase in financial amounts was due to irregularities concerning IPARD in Albania; underlines that about 10 % of the irregularities were reported as fraudulent and that this percentage, which changes over time, increased significantly in 2020 (17 %), peaking in 2021 at 20 %; calls on the Commission to maintain an adequate monitoring level on these funding initiatives and to report to Parliament about possible systemic issues detected in the deployment of the resources;

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Changed77.119. Believes that funds under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI-Global Europe) for assistance in non-EU countries and the resources allocated for Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine are not adequately monitored and controlled; calls on the Commission to put appropriate measures in place, including the carrying out of more thorough checks, to ensure that EU funds sent to neighbouring countries end up benefiting those that are most in need;

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Added120. Underlines that in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, it is envisaged that the EU budget will contribute significantly to the proposals for longer-term structural solutions to Ukraine’s funding needs; stresses, in this context, the need to protect the rule of law and the financial interests of the Union and to prevent, detect and correct fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and irregularities in the use of Union funds in Ukraine, which should be based on the principles of transparency and accountability; considers that any related financing instruments should contain stringent provisions and safeguards in order to attain these objectives;

121. Highlights the fact that cooperation with international partners is crucial to protect EU funds spent outside Europe and the revenue side of the EU budget; welcomes, therefore, the working arrangements that the EPPO concluded in 2022, with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Albania, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Moldova, the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro, the Prosecution Service of Georgia and the State Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Working Arrangement on Cooperation signed with the United States Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security;

Change 48

Removed79. Reaffirms its strong belief that only by strengthening the EU anti-fraud architecture can the protection of the EU’s financial interests be effectively and efficiently pursued and enhanced, overcoming the inherent limits of the national systems which are not sufficient to counter the increasingly transnational attacks against the Union’s financial interests;

Added122. Recommends the suspension of budgetary support in non-EU countries, including candidate countries, where the authorities manifestly fail to take genuine action against widespread corruption, while ensuring that the assistance reaches the civil population through alternative channels; calls for greater priority to be given to the fight against corruption in pre-accession negotiations, with a focus on capacity building, such as via specialised anti-corruption bodies; calls on the Commission to send clear signals to candidate countries that a backlash against rule of law standards will jeopardise or delay accession to the EU; regrets the fact that, according to ECA Special report No 01/2022, EUR 700 million in financial support for the improvement of the rule of law in the Western Balkans provided by the EU between 2014 and 2020 had little impact on fundamental reforms;

Added123. Calls for international collaboration with international organisations and neighbouring countries in preventing cross-border fraud; reiterates the importance of the exchange of best practices in this context;

Added124. Reaffirms its strong belief that only by strengthening the EU anti-fraud architecture can the protection of the EU’s financial interests be effectively and efficiently pursued and enhanced, by encouraging interoperability and adjustment to a unified anti-fraud strategy framework for the Member States within the EU opting for more inflows in terms of quantitative and qualitative data analysis, so as to overcome the inherent limits of the national systems which are not sufficient to counter the increasingly transnational attacks against the Union’s financial interests;

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125. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.