MEPs discuss proposals to improve Parliament’s transparency, integrity and accountability rules. The draft report by Parliament’s Special Committee on Foreign Interference, Transparency and Accountability identifies medium- to longer-term measures to be taken and calls for them to be implemented as soon as possible as it constitutes an important first step in the internal reform process. Opening statements by Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteurs and by Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency. The transcription is the result of an automatic process. Please, check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

fight against organised crime, corruption and money laundering (T)

BILČÍK, Vladimír (EPP, SK)

LOISEAU, Nathalie (Renew, FR)

Recommendations for reform of the European Parliament’s rules on transparency: opening statements by Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteurs and by Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladim&iacute;r BILČ&Iacute;K (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, Thank you very much for the floor, Madam Chair, Colleagues, the circumstances that led to this report were not the happiest. We all remember the events of a few months ago and the serious of corruption by some members and bills that hit our Parliament. Third countries are very likely buying the opinions of a few of our colleagues.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, Let me first of all make a small comment. On a side note, I'm convinced that only a minority of our colleagues who are dishonest and resist the rules that do not belong to them. I'm proud of the vast majority of our members who do their work with honesty, integrity and good intention. It's a sign of a healthy institution and a healthy environment to take and tackle the problems that exist.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, Qatargate was, therefore also a chance to make our Parliament a more open and a safer place. I think it's obvious from the text you see in front of you that we decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Everyone will forget about Qatargate e in a moment, but what we know, and we know it, particularly painfully from February 2022, and this Russia's aggression against our neighbour and for the future Member Ukraine, our enemies will not stop at anything. We must work with this knowledge and behave accordingly. The period of innocence when we tolerate it a lot is behind us.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, What does the protection of institute agents actually mean? The answer is simple. It means ensuring that members make the decisions according to their own conscious. The Parliament is more open and accessible to all citizens make that informed choices about their representatives, and that our elections and electoral processes are secure and informed as possible.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, What are we to do about it? We will be more vigilant in the security checks of our officials. This means that if they are working with sensitive material, such as information from Ukraine, we will know that this information is in safe hands.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, Better working with service providers, it mustn't be the case that we are paying for CCTV or for security for someone whose interests are not entirely pure and clear. We need comprehensive control of all technologies used in institutions and to absolute exclusion of service providers from autocratic states. imply, we will not pay those who are suspected of being a threat to us.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, Ladies and gentlemen, Parliament must have clear rules when it sends members to represent us abroad. Official missions must have clearer rules. Any member can say whatever they like, but if they are to represent our institutions, to be the face of it externally. They can only do so in accordance with our agreed positions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, If our Member States agrees to be paid by a third country or other entity, right. But it must be done openly without obfuscation. Let the voter make up their own mind. There is much more in the report and I'll be happy, if you read it, I'll also be happy for us all to take away from it what is essential.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, If we make mistakes, we need to learn from them. Corrupt behaviour has no place in a free, democratic society. Our institutions need to match the security environment in which we are, even after the invasion of the Russian invasion to Ukraine, we must also change. We change the way we operate. I'll be glad if the Member States will be inspired, it is important for our institutions to adapt to new realities.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Vladimír BILČÍK (EPP, SK), Rapporteur, I would like to thank all of you, Madame Loiseau, for a great cooperation, and Chairman of our Committee, Mr. Glucksmann, and all those who worked in this report. I believe we are bringing solid, realistic and correct solution. And I am really pleased that in this Cmmittee we worked over our political identities. We all fall together, and I believe we will get support of a majority of this Parliament. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, Madam President, Vice-President, Colleagues, the report that we're presenting today is an opportunity to learn the lessons of what has been termed Qatargate and to change the culture of our Parliament profoundly.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, I'd like to thank my colleague and co-Rapporteur Bilčík. He and myself have been fully committed to a series of recommendations which go beyond what the Parliament has adopted so far and go beyond what the Commission proposed.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, I know that in his political group there were some concerns. I would like to say to the EPP, they should trust their co-rapporteur and vote in favour of all of the recommendations of our Joint Report. These recommendations have one objective and it is fundamental. We want to restore the trust that European voters put in us, and to do that we need to fundamentally change our the way we work and put in place more transparency for our practices and more protection for our work.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, You know, what we are facing, colleagues, is the citizens doubts about our integrity and interference by malevolent foreign actors in our decision making processes, reiterating the principle of a free mandate, which is very important for me as well, will not be enough if we do not combat these two threats with the same force.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, This is what we are proposing, and I would like to thank the other Rapporteurs who helped draft this text, especially those who improved it with their suggestions. It is regrettable that the far right of this Parliament was not did not rise to the occasion.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, Let's be frank, it is regrettable and not surprising. They make no proposal apart from the desire to lead us to believe that everybody here is a rotten egg denouncing and lambasting. They know how to do that. But when it comes to working, don't expect anything from them. This reminds me of a paper by La Fontaine, "The Council Held by the Rats", to argue or refute wise councillors abound in the man to execute this harder to find.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, Would you like an example? The funding of Islamist Associations by the European Union. A scandal? Yes. Easy to denounce. I myself did so. But, afterwards, what happens? Well, afterwards you have to work. I did it. The French government did it. And the European Commission has done it. We reacted together.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, And I would like to thank you, Mr. Jourová as well. And I would like to thank Magritte Cristina us as well for being so resolute in reserve and European funding for associations that respect European values. Not to come back to our report, and I recommendations because we don't want to be a "Council held by rats" here.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, Transparency, Ethics, Integrity. This means declaring our assets, our additional income, our meetings, our trips. We owe this to our citizens. Introducing a truly independent ethics body with powers of inquiry and investigation. We owe this to them, sanctioning unethical behaviour. We owe that to our voters. And we know we also owe it to the vast majority, overwhelming majority of MEPs in this Parliament who feel unjustly tarnished by the behaviour of certain people.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, But, we also propose that we protect our work against the curiosity of malevolent foreign actors who want to influence the Parliament and its decisions. It's time to establish a culture in Parliament which is severely lacking a culture of security. No foreign interest representatives should not be able to wander around Parliament without checks or without restrictions as they have become accustomed to do.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, Yes, and NGOs need to make the same efforts to be transparent as we do, and those working on sensitive, sensitive issues, helping us on those need to go through security clearance. We can't just allow anybody to access this Parliament any time unless we want to lose our credibility.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, So, what I'm calling for is a cultural revolution. The world in which we are living is forcing us to do so. It's time to stop being naive. A few years ago, the daughter of a Kremlin spokesperson was working in this Parliament. Do we really believe that she wanted to become more familiar with European law?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, Every day, representatives of the People's Mojahedin of Iran are wandering around the building. Is it enough for them to be hostile to the terrible regime of the Mulá? Is it enough to forget who they are, the blood they have on their hands, their alliance with Sadam Husein or their sectarian ways regularly? Our Parliament is targeted by cyberattacks. Should we continue to sign contracts with Chinese companies because they are less expensive than others to the detriment of our security?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nathalie LOISEAU (Renew, FR), Rapporteur, In one year, we will have European elections, and preparing for these elections means setting up an exemplary Parliament in Transparency, Integrity, Ethics and Security. And that is what this report is proposing and I would like to ask you to support it. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, Madam President, Honourable Members, First of all, I would like to congratulate the Rapporteurs, Mr. Bilčík and Madame Loiseau, and indeed the whole ING2 Committee with the Chair, Mr. Glucksmann, for the timely work done only half a year after a cathartic scandal was brought to light.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, This was a very damaging scandal. It exposed the vulnerabilities of the EU and its institutions to foreign interference and corrupt practices. We need to restore citizens trust and give them guarantees that our democracy is not open to covert foreign interference. I am very pleased that today, one year before European Parliament elections, we are meeting to discuss the race to address these vulnerabilities and to reform the Parliament's rules on ethics and anti-corruption.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, It is vital for the credibility of the EU that all our institutions follow the highest standards when it comes to integrity, transparency and accountability. Let me briefly mention a number closely linked steps the Commission has already taken in the area of transparency, ethics and anti-corruption.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, In 2021, the Parliament, Council and Commission reached a major milestone in fostering a common transparency culture with the adoption of the agreement on the Mandatory Tansparency Register. I think Katarina Barley remembers it very well. Not easy, but after all done.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency,, The Transparency Register aims to increase the transparency of interest representation activities carried out at Union level. It does cover activities of foreign influence when carried out by entities without diplomatic status and intermediaries that lobby the EU institutions on behalf of third countries. Interest representatives are expected to register and provide information on their activities on whose behalf they are lobbying and on their funding sources.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, Since 2021, intermediaries, such as consultancies and law firms, are required to declare on the register their clients, including any foreign governments or public authorities and the associated revenue. The Commission will look at further measures to increase transparency. At the same time, the Commission has already taken decisive action to respond to the risk of foreign interference from new tools to counter the use of economic coercion by third countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, The rules of screening for individuals Directive investments to the imposition of restrictive measures under the EU sanctions regime. But there is a need to step up EU action to shine a light on foreign interference as part of the arsenal to defend democracy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, This is why the Commission is continuing its work on the defence of Democracy package, with the aim of tackling foreign interference while building resilience from within. It is important that we find the balance for this tool, also in the light of intensifying geopolitical tensions. That is why, as announced in June in this House, work on a closer assessment of the impact of the package is underway.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, Another step we undertook to make our institutions more transparent and resilient towards undue influence is the proposal for the Interinstitutional Agreement on an Ethics body. While keeping fully conscious of the autonomous role of each institution under the treaties, this body would develop common ethical standards for institutions to implement in their internal ethics rules for their Members.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, I am one minute beyond time and I have one more minute. I don't like not to keep the time, but what can I do? I have so much to say. I will skip the text regarding the Ethics body because I see no, you know the proposal of the Commission well. I would like to turn shortly to the fight against corruption. The Commission takes it very seriously. Only last week the Commission adopted the annual Rule of Law Report with corruption again, one of the four pillars of the exercise.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, In May, we presented a legislative proposal to update the criminal law approach to corruption in Member States. Also, of course, it refers to EU institutions. Currently, the definitions and penalties related to corruption differ too much among.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, This makes cross-border investigations more difficult and creates loopholes. Our proposal on combating corruption would close the gaps so that all kinds of corruption are criminalised, including trading in influence, abuse of power and obstruction of justice. And of course, EU politicians and officials are covered by this proposal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, The proposal aims to provide law enforcement, prosecution and judiciary with the tools they need to combat corruption, such as resources, investigative tools, and a sufficiently long statute of limitations to bring proceedings to an end. It will also ensure that immunity or privileges from prosecution can be lifted by an effective and transparent process in a reasonable period.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, At the same time, our package is aimed at the prevention of corruption, because prevention helps to create a culture of integrity in which corruption and impunity are not tolerated. It has wider benefits in promoting public trust and managing the conduct of public officials. Dear President, Honourable Members, transparency and prevention of corruption are essential to the credibility of the EU, and I am very much looking forward to the debate which follows now. Thank you very much.