Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-14-Speech-3-504-000"
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"en.20110914.31.3-504-000"2
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".
Mr President, the supplying of German-manufactured submarines to Portugal and Greece is a glaring example of the web of corruption operating at European level and that has contributed not only to the violation of internal market rules, but also to the public finance crisis in the two latter countries. This proves that effective measures need to be taken urgently to combat corruption at European level.
The crisis that we are facing, and the onerous sacrifices that we are demanding of the public as a result, particularly in countries subject to financial bailout programmes, requires a serious effort, at national and European level, to combat corruption, fraud, tax evasion, and the impunity of those who are corrupt and those who corrupt others. The Commission and the Council therefore need to recognise that the memoranda of understanding concluded with Portugal, Ireland and Greece for financial assistance present numerous opportunities for corruption, especially as regards privatisation, and the renegotiation of public-private partnerships.
The European Commission therefore has a particular responsibility to give visibility to the fight against corruption, and to prioritise this struggle through such programmes, specifically for countries undergoing financial bailout programmes, but also in general, because it weighs heavy on these countries’ budgets, on the pockets of the taxpayers, on the workings of companies and the internal market, on mutual trust between the Member States, and on public confidence in the European Union itself.
The Commission urgently needs to make progress with harmonising measures to protect those who blow the whistle on crimes of corruption, and with criminalising illicit enrichment in all the Member States, in line with the recommendations of the United Nations (UN) Convention against Corruption. At European level, we need to impose transparency and checks on financial transactions, especially for tax havens both inside and outside the EU, and European cooperation in the negotiation of agreements with offshore jurisdictions, in order to ensure information sharing
The Commission and Eurojust should create faster and more efficient mechanisms for judicial cooperation, in order to ensure that Member States exchange evidence, documents and information, thus speeding up the processing of cases under investigation or at the trial stage, so as to ensure that the corrupt and the corrupters are actually punished. In saying this, I am referring to the ineffective and time-consuming way in which judicial cooperation between Portugal and Germany has taken place in the investigation into corruption in the case of the German submarines sold to Portugal.
This Commission communication is welcome, but it must be translated into practical measures immediately, as recommended by Parliament in the resolution under consideration."@en1
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