Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-14-Speech-3-508-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110914.31.3-508-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, thank you for this chance to discuss corruption. I will try to answer the whole battery of questions that the different groups have submitted to me.
The contact-point network against corruption will be a very valuable resource for us, but more needs to be done in terms of specific deliverables and the focus of the EU contact-point network against corruption. We are intending to work closely with that network. We do not include in this any specific provisions on transparency, but of course transparency and accountability are, and will remain, key guiding principles when we adopt legislation.
Finally, I would like to stress once more – just as I did in the contacts we had before this report was prepared – that I really appreciate Parliament’s support, as well as the pressure that it is bringing to bear on the Commission and the Member States. Only by continuing this pressure will we achieve results. Your commitment and your recommendations, as published today and in the future, will be considered by the Commission. I will do my utmost to include them in further work. I make a commitment to you that I will keep you informed of all these steps.
I am proud that we adopted the anti-corruption package just before the summer. It is an important step towards setting out an anti-corruption policy at EU level, but we still have a lot of work to do. Let us face it: there are lots of rules, directives, regulations and international conventions, but what is lacking is not regulation: it is a commitment. It is a political will to have zero tolerance of corruption in all the Member States. That will does not exist to a sufficient degree.
For that reason, in the preparation of the anti-corruption report, the Commission will focus a great deal on the implementation and effectiveness of this. We will highlight in an objective manner the achievements, as well as the vulnerabilities, of the Member States’ anti-corruption efforts. We will focus on a number of cost-cutting issues of particular relevance at EU level, as well as issues that are specific to each Member State, which will be highlighted by country analysis and tailor-made recommendations. The effectiveness of the implementation will be assessed against a number of quantitative and qualitative indicators. We will collect and analyse information from various sources, building on the existing mechanism – GRECO, OECD, UNCAC, civil society and different networks.
We will be assisted in this work by a group of experts. This group will be set up by the Commission soon, following an open call procedure. We hope that we can include people from a variety of backgrounds – law enforcement, prevention of corruption, civil society, research, the private and public sectors, international organisations, etc. There will also be a network of local research correspondents consisting of representatives of civil society and academia. The Commission is planning to adopt the decision to set up the framework for the work of this expert group by the autumn, so that experts can be selected and start work as soon as possible. I know that you are expecting us to come up with the report next year, but I must tell you that it is not possible to produce a thorough, high-quality report before 2013.
We have analysed the option of bringing forward a legislative proposal under Article 83 of the Treaty, as you have mentioned. This could be an option in the long run, but for the moment we need to focus on implementation. That is why a legislative solution would be premature. Compared to other policy areas in which we have taken legal initiatives, we know relatively little about the extent and the implications of this issue. Long and intensive evidence-gathering, careful comparison with existing legal documents, and thorough analysis of the potential impact of a legislative solution would be needed to agree on common definitions and minimum sanctions. Also, as you have acknowledged, the main problem with anti-corruption policy is uneven implementation. Minimum standards on anti-corruption policies have already been defined through international instruments, but effective results are still missing and this is due to the lack of political will.
As part of the package, the Commission also adopted a report on the implementation of the framework decision from 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector. That report indicates that the quality of transposition remained uneven, notably as regards criminalisation of all elements of active and passive bribery and reliability of legal persons. Moreover, even for those Member States who had transposed such provisions, the information on the actual track record is rather scarce.
The Commission will therefore continue to work with Member States on improving enforcement and will monitor further progress. As regards other key international anti-corruption instruments such as the UNCAC, the two Council of Europe conventions and the OECD anti-bribery convention, they all have a dedicated monitoring mechanism and we will seek synergies and cooperate with them.
Regarding all the other international instruments – and you are aware of them – there are differences in implementation. Some Member States have not ratified and some have. In this context we have called upon the Member States to ratify the legal instruments without further delay, and we will keep on monitoring this in the report, calling upon Member States to do the necessary ratification. This will be monitored in the anti-corruption report, in the tailor-made individual recommendations to Member States. That report should therefore try to generate additional political commitment to ensure compliance with EU and international commitments. We are presently not intending to submit draft conclusions to the Council, as these matters have been addressed through the recently adopted anti-corruption package.
The report will be equally applicable to all 27 Member States. The specific circumstances of each Member State will be considered in the country analysis and the shortcomings found will subsequently be reflected in the tailor-made recommendations, but we do not intend to set up flying squads to send to Member States."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples