Daniel FREUND

Policy topics Daniel FREUND is active on

What Daniel FREUND has said (71)

• 2026-07-14 “(10:46:14 - 10:49:09): Thanks, chair, and thanks to to the 3 commissioners. I mean, I I I very much applaud how engaged the commission has been in helping the new Hungarian government in in this change, the the restoration of rule of law, democracy, and and the respect of, of fundamental values in Hungary. I would have really cherished this as well if if the engagement would have been equally strong to keep us as parliamentarians in the loop. I mean, there have been exchanges all already before the new government was even, voted into office. And, well, now it's, it's mid July, and this is the 1st time now that we that we get some info on on what's going on. And I think going forward, when when these important dates now come end of August and and and then the full assessment of the commission, it it would really be good, to keep us as legislators, fully fully informed on this. You said, mister Segrafin, that there had been no changes to to the RF plan. But my understanding is that we have gone from about 318 pages to 135. Can you clarify for me what exactly the changes are and and what we have lost in substance? And and also when the deadline comes end of August, what has to be actually implemented and and on which elements is there just promises. And the biggest the the biggest reform that we have is joining Apple. And while the notification is there, I I I I very check I cherish this quite a lot. But when does Apple actually start operating in Hungary? Because I hear maybe mid 27, but when I speak to Laura Kervisi, she says January 1 is very much possible, and we could possibly go earlier. And I think given the amount of money that we're taking talking about, to to unfreeze for Hungary, I think making sure that Apple starts working fully equipped, fully funded as soon as possible, should should really be a a key priority. 2nd question I have is on the so called child protection law. This has been found by the ECJ as a clear violation of article 2. And so far, I haven't heard from the government that we're gonna fix that and fully respect article 2. Has anyone of the commissioners heard, that this law, will be fixed? And the last 1 since, as far as I understand, the question of my colleague, Kerner, hasn't been answered yet. Does the commission still see that the judicial reforms, the judicial independence question is fully resolved? And does that not post Hungary at risk that when the EUCJ rules now that the parliament was right and that the assessment that the commission made, was was an issue, well, then €10,000,000,000, So are on the line. I would like to see an answer on on this question.”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• 2026-06-24 “Yes. Please. The floor is yours. Thanks. Maybe we can change a bit the seating order so that I don't have to feel quite as much as a backbencher, and we can still see each other next time. So obviously, VAT fraud is a massive issue that we need to address. It's honest taxpayers that are footing the bill for a few people that are looting our public coffers. And I think we will do our amendments and make a number of suggestions, but it seems to me that the number one thing that we ought to do is properly equip the European public prosecutor. And we have recently seen that some member states, particularly those that last joined the public prosecutor, I mean, we have increased the budget, but only to pay for the delegated prosecutors, not for support staff, not for IT budget, not for other kinds of expertise that these prosecutors also need to adequately do their job. So we need to talk about this. We need more budget, more resources, for the European public prosecutor to address this. Let me be very clear as well. This cannot be addressed by national police or prosecution services. We have seen it time and again that they don't see VAT fraud because it precisely happens across borders. You need to work with the services in other member states or even better, work at the European level to combat this. So we will submit the adequate amendments to this. It's a bit of a shame that the rapporteur isn't here. We all have other things on occasion to do, but then at least send someone else from your political group to follow the debate. And I very much hope, because we have seen this in the past with other reports, where we have had a fair rapporteur, that there is no proper negotiation then on compromises and on the voting list. And I think it's shameful when we do a lot of work on important topics here. And then at the end, the reports fail. So I very much hope that here there is a proper engagement and discussion, so that we have a good result at the end. Thank you very much.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• 2026-06-24 “Thanks. Thanks to the court of auditors, for for this report. I mean, the the European parliament has been very critical about certain elements of the RF. If you I don't know if the commissioner has actually read, the commission discharge report from from from last year, but it seems that you're refusing any kind of advice or counsel. I mean, you just outright reject any recommendation from the court. You ignore, the discharge recommendations that the parliament has made. I mean, when I look at the report, and I can see that in the member states that have been looked at, over 50% of the recipients are ministries and public bodies. They got over 80% of the money. I have to admit then to the court of auditors, I don't fully understand how you can say that the traceability is assured because, clearly, the money didn't end there, but it was then paid out to the actual final beneficiaries. Read the article 22 of the RF regulation where it speaks about VAT numbers and individuals that have received this money. We cannot see this. How is this possible? And I would like to hear from the court if you actually consider that this is legal. I mean, our and what again, what we have wrote written into the discharge report and voted with a large majority in this house is that the commission has an illegal interpretation of of this part of the RF regulation. They have provided guidance to the member states that has nothing to do with what the legislators had in mind when we wrote the RF regulation. We want to see who got this money. And until today, we we cannot, and the commission outright refuses to fix this. Then I think we're running into the situation that we have clearly announced in the discharge report that the parliament has given till the end of the year to see this information. And, otherwise, I I fear we're gonna end up in court over this because this is clearly not what the legislature intended. Thank you.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• 2026-03-04 “Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission 26.5.2026 Written question The Honourable Member may find in the annex a more detailed breakdown of the payments, including the respective amounts transferred and the precise dates on which the respective payments were transferred to Hungary, per budget line and multiannual financial framework programme for the period between December 2022 and December 2025. See annex : Annex”
  Conditions to access EU budget · Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• 2026-02-11 “E-000574/2026 Answer given by Mr Brunner on behalf of the European Commission The financial penalty imposed on Hungary following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-123/22 1 had accumulated to EUR 800 million by 2 February 2026 (included), comprising the EUR 200 million lump-sum penalty and daily fines accrued since 13 June 2024. To date, over EUR 726 million, including the lump sum and the first eight payment requests for the daily penalty, has been offset from EU budget transfers to Hungary. Of this amount, EUR 539 million has been definitively confirmed following the completion of the necessary legal and administrative procedures. There are no additional penalties, fines or payment obligations currently in force against Hungary with respect to judgments of the Court of Justice other than the judgment referred to above. 1 Case C-123/22: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/SUM/?uri=CELEX:62022CJ0123_RES.”
  Rule of law in Hungary · Asylum & border control
• 2025-10-22 “E-004168/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission Since 2020, the Commission has reported on Hungary’s ‘state of danger’ in its annual Rule of Law Report. As outlined in the 2025 edition, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Fundamental Law will change the constitutional rules on the ‘state of danger’ from 1 January 2026 onwards and will notably strengthen parliamentary control. The Report also notes that the Government continues to use its emergency powers extensively, undermining legal certainty and affecting the operation of businesses in the single market. Several emergency measures have an impact on the business environment and do not seem to be related to the ‘state of danger’. The Commission has launched a number of infringement proceedings in relation to certain emergency measures 1 . In addition, on 8 July 2025, in the context of the European Semester, the Council – following the Commission’s recommendation – adopted country-specific recommendations, recommending that Hungary take action in 2025 and 2026 to improve the regulatory framework by reducing the use of emergency measures to what is strictly necessary, in line with the principles of the single market and the rule of law. 1 See, for example, Cases C-499/23, C-144/24 and C-521/25. For emergency measures in the field of asylum see Case C-823/21.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law · Rule of law in Hungary
• 2025-09-23 “E-003671/2025 Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission The Commission is aware of the allegations. The Commission is not a in position to comment on individual cases that the European AntiFraud Office or the European Public Prosecutor's Office may or may not be currently conducting. This is in order to protect the confidentiality of any possible investigations and of possible ensuing judicial proceedings, as well as to ensure respect for personal data and procedural rights. The Commission is actively pursuing measures to ensure equitable access for women entrepreneurs to EU-funded renewable energy projects, as outlined in the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 1 . This comprehensive strategy prioritises gender mainstreaming and encompasses targeted empowerment initiatives designed to bridge gender disparities in sectors such as renewable energy. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0152.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget · Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• 2025-07-08 “E-002772/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission Based on the information available, there is no indication showing that gambling companies in Malta benefit from EU funding. The Commission always prioritises dialogue and supports Member States in the implementation of EU law. As the dialogue with the Maltese authorities did not resolve the matter, the Commission launched infringements proceedings. The written exchanges with Malta on this issue are therefore linked to an ongoing infringement procedure and can as such not be made public.”
  Jurisdiction conflicts between EU and national courts · Rule of law in Malta
• 2025-07-08 “E-002773/2025 Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission The Honourable Member may find in the Annex a more detailed breakdown per programme with specific dates on which payments to Hungary were made and what amounts were transferred. The data has been sourced from ABAC (Accrual-Based Accounting System 1 ), the Commission´s financial management information system and covers the timeframe from December 2022 until December 2024. This is to ensure that only fully audited data of already closed financial years are shown. 1 https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2019-07/eu-budget-glossary-2019_en.pdf.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• 2025-04-23 “E-001620/205 Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission The Honourable Member can find the requested information in the attached Annex I 1 . 1 The information presented in Annex I was extracted on 16 May 2025, and covers the period from December 2022 to that date. Since the Annex does not cover a full financial year, the figures may differ from other official publications (e.g. the Financial Transparency System, Member States reports, others). Moreover, Annex I includes programmes managed by both the Commission and national authorities in Member States, such as ministries and public institutions – shared management, where the Member State is an intermediate beneficiary re-distributing the EU funds to the final beneficiaries. Data source: The Commission’s central accounting system (ABAC & SUMMA).”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget · Rule of law in Hungary
• 2025-03-04 “P-000905/2025 Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission The Commission kindly refers the Honourable Member to the publicly available Financial Transparency System (FTS) 1 . The Commission makes available information of recipients of funds financed from the budget on the FTS, where the budget is implemented under direct management mode. The information for the financial year 2024 will be published in June 2025. According to the FTS, there are three ongoing 2023 grants to Tesla Motors Netherlands BV under the Connecting Europe Facility. This is part of the Facility’s Alternative Infrastructure programme 2 for the deployment of charging stations for Long Distance Vehicles (LDVs) along the Trans-European transport network (TEN-T Network). The type of funding for the grants is unit contribution per charging point and relevant grid connection. The amount per project is: 21-EU-TC-Tesla EV charging (Cohesion) – EUR 14 940 000 21-EU-TC-Tesla EV charging (General) – EUR 133 780 000 21-EU-TG-Tesla EV charging II – EUR 9 860 000 SpaceX was exceptionally contracted in the name of the Commission by the European Space Agency (ESA) for two long-scheduled launches of two Galileo Satellites each (the EU constellation of Positioning, Navigation and Timing services) in 2024. The reason was the delay of the entry into service of Ariane 6, the default launcher for Galileo. The amount of the contract was published in the Official Journal of the European Union 3 . Ariane 6 entered into service in July 2024. Concerning X, the Commission (including all its services and its Representations in the Member States) spent approximately EUR 630 000 on paid advertising on the platform for the period it was owned by Mr. Musk. Since October 2023, the Commission has suspended all paid advertising or services on this platform. The suspension still applies. 1 https://ec.europa.eu/budget/financial-transparency-system/index.html The annual publications are based on Article 38 of the Financial Regulation (OJ L 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, p. 1–239), and in accordance with the third paragraph of the article, information on recipients is not disclosed in specific cases outlined therein. 2 https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/funding-opportunities/calls-proposals/cef-transport-alternative-fuels-infrastructurefacility-afif-call-proposal_en 3 https://ted.europa.eu/fr/notice/-/detail/507009-2024”
  EU industrial funding · EU funding for transportation
• 2025-01-29 “E-000411/2025 Answer given by President von der Leyen on behalf of the European Commission In 2023, the Commission had an annual budget of EUR 30 million to finance EU-wide corporate communication campaigns. Advertising is essential for informing citizens about the Commission’s work and ensuring transparency. It is one out of many activities under this budget envelope. This budget was implemented in accordance with the rules under the Financial Regulation 1 . Recipients of EU funds of EUR 15 000 and above are listed in the Financial Transparency System 2 . Photographic coverage of the activities of College members across the EU is essential for informing citizens about the Commission’s work and ensuring transparency. All photos are provided to media free of charge on the Commission’s Audiovisual Portal for news reporting or educational purposes. In 2023, the total expenditure for photographers was EUR 1.8 million, covering hundreds of events in all Member States and outside the EU. This includes salaries and travel costs. There is no expenditure for hairdressers. Make-up services are provided to prepare the Commissioners for their television studio interviews, press room appearances and video statements. Such services are included in the overall framework service contract to run the television studios at the Commission headquarters. This framework contract had a dedicated budget of EUR 88 000 for make-up services in 2023. These services are used by 27 Commissioners and they are also available for Commission staff when conducting television interviews, participating in video recordings and similar activities. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32018R1046 2 https://ec.europa.eu/budget/financial-transparency-system/index.html”
  Budget for EU politicians · Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• 2025-01-29 “E-000410/2025 Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission When the Commission President decided to use the existing room for resting in the Berlaymont to reside when she is in Brussels, she decided as well to have a monthly deduction of her allowance to cover for all expenses related to her accommodation and more. The sale of 23 buildings reduces overall building expenditure whilst simultaneously improving and greening the Commission’s real estate portfolio (in line with its climate neutrality objective) and ensuring good and modern working conditions for its staff. Starting from a total office space of 780 000 m² in 2021, the Commission aims to reach 580 000 m² by 2030. This net reduction of 200 000 m² is obtained by abandoning around 500 000 m² in buildings with low environmental performance and taking up around 300 000 m² of office space in new high-performance buildings to improve and green the Commission’s real estate. Of the 23 buildings sold, the Commission continues to occupy 17 until 2026-2027 and 3 until 2029. The Commission is actively seeking new surfaces on the market to replace sold buildings. The Commission considers leasing new buildings to be more cost-effective than retaining ownership of the buildings sold as the latter would have involved costs for renovation (with related project and legal uncertainty) and for leasing additional surfaces during renovation.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget · Budget for EU politicians
• 2024-11-13 “E-002531/2024 Reply It is not for the Council to comment on articles appearing in the press.”
  Rule of law in Hungary · Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• 2024-11-13 “E-002530/2024 Answer given by President von der Leyen on behalf of the European Commission The Commission President and the rest of the Commission delegation did not stay at the Dorothea Hotel while attending the European Political Community and European Council meetings in Budapest on 7 and 8 November 2024. There was no recommended accommodation relayed to the Commission delegation for these meetings.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Rule of law in Hungary
• “I think that's the framework in which those discussions can actually be had. And the the hesitations also I think be be addressed. So I think that would be the direction that that the council should, should work towards. The second question I have is, is indeed concerning the ethics body and colleagues have pointed out, you know, that there are some issues in this institution, but the agreement has been ratified by eight EU institutions. It's it's in force, unfortunately. Well, we're nearing almost the second birthday of of the entering into force of that agreement. We have seen a number of scandals in this House, in other EU institutions, former, uh, foreign policy chief being arrested and whatnot. I think it's about time that we start the reflection on those common standards that all our institutions said we would start reflections on. So I thank you. And you already said, you know, that there is a meeting tomorrow at technical level, but I think, you know, there needs to be a meeting at political level. Uh, you know, uh, given given how long this has taken and Parliament is a signatory to that agreement, we have not left the agreement. Uh, so I would expect, uh, you know, Legal Service has also said so there is no obstacle for us to participate. And as long as no one, you know, puts a motion to leave this agreement, we are part of the agreement. And I think we will, uh, constructively engage. So I can only encourage you, uh, to, to do that. Thank you.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thanks, chairs. Um, well, I guess echo assessed the performance of the proposed performance regulation as not very performant. Um, I think this this really still needs some work. So from the current perspective, what particularly struck me in the in the opinion, if if I read paragraph 56, the proposed framework and I quote does not include audit arrangements for the rights of EQA, Olaf and Apple in the executive summary, you also say that the proposal does not contain a sufficiently clear control and accountability framework for the reliability of reported performance information. For instance, under the proposed system, the Commission would not make mandatory checks of regularity before payment, in contrast to the RF. I would like to ask EQA if you could elaborate a bit more on on. What does this actually mean in practice for your work, for the work of Eppo, of Olaf, under these new proposed rules? And also, um, for the information that you can then provide to us as the discharge authority in comparison to, to the current arrangements we have now. And I11 comment I have to make, I mean this name of a single gateway. I find this not, not very good between the global gateway the single gate, I mean, there are so many gateways now it gets a bit confusing. So maybe we can reflect on how how this transparency portal will actually be named in the next MFF. Thanks.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank you, chair, and thanks to the Commissioner for for being here. I have questions in in on four different issues. Um, the first one is in your response to to the written question number 14, you indicate that about half a million short stay visas were issued to Russian nationals in in 2024. Uh, I don't know if you have a breakdown by member state or if you can tell me at least if, if any of the member states stick out in being particularly generous in handing out visas to to Russian nationals.”
  Legal migration
• “Thanks, chair. And thanks for the the very detailed draft report. And I think with the exception of the NGO section, I don't see any major disagreements from our side, but I would nevertheless like to highlight a few key points. For for us, for the discussion and for for amendments. So first on the on the error rate. You already outlined in the draft report in quite some detail the problem that we're facing with the constantly increasing error rate. I think maybe we should have a discussion at some point. How how we deal with that, other than just documenting the the increase, if we signal to the Commission that at some point. I don't know, maybe we can fix an error rate, at which point we would, um, postpone the discharge on NGOs. Um, so in your draft report, you say that the commission assessment concluded that there was no evidence that the entities concerned had breached their contractual or code of conduct obligations. Um, but you still portray entities receiving EU funds and then representing their interests towards the EU institutions as somehow illegitimate or even illegal. But the very idea behind funding civil society is actually that they can participate in the debate and also contribute to the political decision making to ensure a diversity of views. So I have to say, you know, three pages of language on NGOs in the draft report. I really cannot see how how that is in any way proportionate to to the situation or the problem at hand. So I'll submit some amendments on that on Hungary.”
  Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “Thank you, chair. And thanks also from my side to to the Court of Auditors for for the excellent preparatory work and to to the 15 commissioners and many directors generals that answered both our oral and written questions. We have a draft report now, and I would like to outline six, six priorities, um, that, uh, that I think, um, not only myself, but also given the questions that colleagues have have posed and the discussions that we have that I think will guide the discussions around the commission discharge. The first and biggest issue, I think, is, uh, is the RF and transparency of final beneficiaries. Ica has identified serious and persistent audit and control deficiencies in the RF. They cannot determine an error rate because of these deficiencies, but they estimate that it would be definitely above the materiality threshold of 2%. And the massive accountability gap resulting from the lack of reliable and complete information on final beneficiaries on RF funding is is a real issue that we have discussed not only as part of this discharge, but also previously. And I think we have to clearly say that. I mean, obviously the the fault mostly lies with the member state, but the gap is also not accidental and also results from the commission's own interpretation of, uh, you know, and the guidelines that they have provided provided on final recipient, which I think and I think many colleagues here share is not in line with the underlying RF regulation.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Was Prime Minister. This did not work. The commission established at the time that there was a conflict of interest. That conflict of interest was never resolved until the day that the Czech voters voted him out of office again. So so I'm not sure whether just trusting that he will sort this out will will will do the trick. So so the question is, what will you do to make sure that no conflicts of interest arise? Will the Commission once again suspend all payments to Agrofert and its subsidiaries? And I, I ask you actually, how much money Barbers Company currently receive. The answer of the commission was, well, go check on the check website. And my question is a bit I mean, if you don't seem to know how much money is getting, how do you actually monitor for conflicts of interest and the and the respect of, of the financial regulation?”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thanks. Um, we would like to get a full overview of how much EU funding went to which spyware company, um, actually including some details that we cannot just get on the on the financial transparency system. You refer to that, uh, in, in one of your replies to written questions. So let me ask you if you could please provide us in writing with an overview of all commercial spyware and surveillance company which received EU funds between 2021 and 24. Ideally broken down by year, company funding stream and then also the decision making authority that would benefit our discharge exercise if that would be possible. I see that you agree. The next question I have is to Commissioner Kubilius. Um, so in the reply to question number seven, you wrote that since 2021, the EU has been spending around €400 million on new defence technologies, including AI, drones and so on, while €1.5 billion on more traditional defence. When I look at, uh, what what is happening on the battlefield in Ukraine, it seems that it's changing rapidly and that these new technologies, drones in particular, are playing an ever increasing role, and also the development cycles are very fast. So I wanted to ask a bit, can can you give us some more context why comparatively, so little money is going into these new technologies and so much in in the more traditional if you want older technologies and if that is something that we need to adapt, um, in, in the future. Yeah, that would be interesting to hear.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thanks, chair. Thanks to our two members of the European Court of Auditors. And to both commissioners for for being here today. Miss Virkkunen, I have some questions around the funding of spyware. I myself was a target last year. An attack with with Candiru. We've had an entire special committee in this House in the last mandate with a number of recommendations. A number of colleagues have been targeted, both from third countries but also from within the European Union. So, given that spyware in the wrong hands can be used for quite severe human rights violations, violations of EU values and so on, I think that funding spyware or the use of spyware is a is a quite sensitive area, right? And I would like to ask a bit how how the commission looks at this and controls and makes sure that the funding we provide for spyware is, is is not misused or is not having a vastly negative impact. So there is one example for of of verint systems. So this is a company that has received a €15 million from, from the European Union. And during the funding period, Amnesty International found that the company was supplying communications interception gear to South Sudan. Another NGO, Privacy International, found that the company was supplying systems capable of tapping phone and internet traffic to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. I mean, are these kind of things? I mean, does that then have any kind of impact on the contract? I understand for a company to be listed on the Ada system, there has to be a court conviction basically in an EU court. But when countries when when these kind of companies or beneficiaries of EU funds contribute to human rights violations in third countries. Does that have any kind of impact and how do you actually monitor that? Beneficiaries of EU funds like these spyware companies are in full compliance with human rights and EU values. Uh, while they they receive EU funds.”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “Thanks, chair. And thanks to to the Court of Auditors for for this report. Um, I'm very much with my liberal colleague on, on this one. Obviously, this report comes at a time where where there is a heated debate that's often quite devoid of of of facts. So it's good that the ECA brings some facts and figures and actual material to to this debate. I have to also admit that just having a report on on NGO funding already, you know, for everyone that just reads headlines and doesn't actually go through the hundreds of pages of the report, you know already just by the fact that there is this report, there is a feeling of, oh, there might be something wrong with NGOs and lots of people have and continue to use that. And that is dangerous because indeed, a free and vibrant and outspoken civil society is part of the building blocks of a functioning democracy and an open liberal society. So I think in general, the report is good. What irritates me a bit. And I'm going to ask about that to to the reporting member is there is indeed quite a focus on what information is in the financial transparency system. I mean, qualifying that as opaque when there's 38 different data points that NGOs are asked for.”
  Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “And I think, um, I mean, we also discussed that in a number of, of exchanges with, with the commissioners. I think it needs to be absolutely clear that the existing rules need to be fully applied and respected, that, you know, documents, whether they be emails or paper documents or text messages, you know, need to be treated under the applicable rules, both for archiving but then also for for making these available when, when someone requests access. Uh, and this this goes for, for all levels of the commission. But it obviously also applies at the highest level, be it the commission president or the fellow commissioners. And I think, uh, to be quite open and frank with colleagues, um, I think this is an issue that we shouldn't just leave to, to those colleagues that, in any case, want to damage, uh, the European Commission or the European Union as a whole. Uh, This is an issue that that all of us need to have a look at and make sure that things are happening according to the rules. The fourth element I want to mention is, um, the conflict of interest situation that we have with a returning prime minister in in Czechia. The commission had in the past established that there is a, that there was a conflict of interest. Um, also, this Parliament has taken quite clear stands in a number of resolutions on on this.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “So taken together, I think that these shortcomings are fundamental and that if we would take a separate discharge decision on the RAF, I am not sure I could recommend to discharge the RAF for 2024. Um, what I would propose now or what I, what I do propose to colleagues is, um, that we set a very clear deadline of, of six months, uh, and that, uh, you know, we give the commission and the member states an additional six months to provide us with meaningful information on who has gotten, uh, these RAF funds. Some member states have actually done that, but in many of them there, the list is is quite useless and inaccurate. Uh, and that if, um, if within these six months we don't have this information, um, then, uh, then Parliament would consider taking the matter to the European Court of Justice. The second area, uh, is the protection of the rule of law and the EU, and the link to the EU budget. We have a deteriorating rule of law situation and a number of member States, and thereby a risk for the financial interest in the Union. We have the the conditionality regulation applied in one member state, but there might be additional member states.”
  Discharge of EU institutions and agencies
• “Thanks, chair, and thanks, Commissioner, for for being with us today and answering our questions. The first question I have is on an issue that has kept this committee busy several times already over the past years. It's about guest houses, and not so much the ones where you can go spend your vacation on a on a farm, but the ones basically where we pay for a nice house for local politician, friend of prime minister or something like that, and you can't even rent it. We had a hearing about guest houses, including with the commission here in 2022. And since in your written reply, you said you basically don't know how many of such guest houses were funded in what member state. I wanted to ask if you can detail a bit, what has the Commission actually done since that hearing in 2022, to make sure that these problems with guest houses. Don't keep coming up here for us in this committee.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “So I'm all for for transparency, just to say, look, you know, invite your colleagues, for example, to publish their meetings with civil society. You know, we have an obligation. Ep is at about 80% of members reporting their their lobby meetings. So I think improvements to be done there on the side of the Parliament as well. And I would like to hear from the, from the Court of Auditors. My understanding is that every single recommendation that has been made as part of that report actually applies to all beneficiaries. I know this was an NGO report, but if you could clarify that. And the second question I have is to the commission so on, because this is somehow related to the whole discussion on life. And there was a Commission statement on the 1st of April on on life funding. And you talk in that statement about that undue lobbying activities have have been detected. I've already submitted a written question as well. I would just like to know what that is. I have not heard of a case of undue lobbying activities funded with life funding, but if that could be clarified, I think that would be helpful.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thanks. Um, second area of question is in relation to the written question number 20. This is on Libya. So you have indicated to my question that since 2019, there were two result oriented monitoring missions carried out in Libya. But in a reply to a written question from my colleague Tineke strike that she has recently submitted, you speak of six such missions. Can you clarify whether it's 2 or 6?”
  EU humanitarian missions
• “How do we make sure that that the right people are only in here with 27 ministers? It's reasonably large group where also things could, uh, could get in the in the wrong hands. If you could answer to that that I appreciate the second question I have is on security clearance. Um, you know, some of your staff, uh, given what they do, they need a security clearance, which, as I understand, is provided by by the member state services, since the EU can't do that. But I've also heard examples that, for example, when Hungarian staff asks for security, security clearance, you know, and when they are, for example, not affiliated with the government party, they don't get the security clearance. Is that an an issue that you have come across? And how do you deal with that, that you know, the the situation back in a member state doesn't influence the career prospects of, uh, of civil servants. And the last question that I have on the, on the modernization of, of the delegation network, um, I mean, you you have outlined the difficulty that if you want to strengthen your presence somewhere, you need to take it somewhere else. But for me to understand a bit the the reduction of presence that you plan in the Balkans, particularly in the accession countries. Uh, it seems to me that there is quite a number of posts, uh, being, being cut. How does that fit with our, uh, geopolitical ambitions in that area? Thanks.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “Thanks, Commissioner. Uh, the next question I have is to Mr. Sakala. So I understand that the commission usually organizes a so-called results oriented monitoring missions. Rom missions, um, which are often the the only way for the missions on the ground to actually see the projects. And so, I mean, since the mission budgets of our delegations have been drastically cut in recent years, I understand that in 2024, the wage increase for contract agents has meant that the budget for ROM missions has, uh, has been needed to to be cut and that this resulted that as of April 24th, uh, no such missions have actually taken place. Could you confirm whether that is the case and how many ROM missions have been conducted overall in 2024, in comparison to to previous years? And can you maybe then also say, I understand that a new contract for ROMs has now been made as of spring 25. When will these kind of missions, uh, resume? And how do we make sure if if if no control missions have taken place for at least part of 24. Uh, that, um, that the projects that were carried out fully, fully respected, uh, the, the rules and have actually been well executed. Thank you.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “And while I see that the government has the right intentions, good plan, good staff to put this in place, but I also hear from organizations on the ground and from experts that that so far the actual improvements on the criticism on on rule of law, independence of the judiciary, that in practice it hasn't improved as much as it should have. Uh, and I think that's an issue that we need to keep a close look at on the final Beneficiaries. Transparency in the RF. I mean, I think you find the the right language for me. The question is a bit I mean, we have criticized this time and again the commission doesn't seem to see a problem. Question is, are we on this one as well? Should we consider something else than just, you know, voicing our criticism? Again, I think we might have to consider an infringement procedure, um, that the RF regulation is not properly implemented. And the final point I want to make is on, uh, the former director General Holloway. There have been allegations circulated in the in the press, the Olaf report, uh, having gone to the commission already last summer. But, uh, Olaf apparently did not share its findings, neither with eppo nor with any national prosecutors when there seems to be, um, indication for, for for corruption. Uh, and I think that's, that's also something that we need to to follow up with if, if, if Olaf does not properly, uh, you know, forward cases as, uh, as the rules indicate.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thanks. Um, in your answer to question five, this is about commitment versus payment appropriations. We see, you know, that there is quite a large Gap between those. You have detailed expenditures for the years 21 to 24. And I wanted to ask, what's your reading behind this? Why why is the actual payout so much lower than than the commitments? Are there any structural issues, any anything that needs to change there to to make sure that we don't just commit, but that we actually get the money into the right spots?”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Well, I was speaking to the Republic of Moldova, the European Union, at the same time. They didn't take the decision to leave the, uh, the. Committee of the Independent States of the former Soviet Union. So they need money. They need something like 380,000.”
  EU-Moldova relations
• “Well, let me just insist again, member states, most of them did not provide the information you need to use the tools that you have to to make them comply with the regulation. And that brings me basically to the second question, which is the prevention of conflicts of interest. If we do not even know who the beneficiaries are, we cannot. And you cannot check whether there might be conflicts of interest, right? If we do not know how many of the next check Prime Minister's companies are accessing these funds, you cannot check whether there might be a conflict of interest in the awarding of these funds. So, I mean, you said in the in the replies to my written question, uh, you know, when I ask, how do you guarantee the absence of conflicts of interest, you basically said that you rely on the member state checks, but the Court of Auditors has just told us that these member state checks are are not functioning very well. Uh, so I kind of really want to hear how that works. And maybe we start with Mr. Gregor. Um, in your experience, the member states authorities, uh, does this work? I mean, the commission has said that they have uncovered three conflicts of interest, two in Czechia and one in Slovakia. Is is that an adequate number for €85.3 billion of EU funds spent on the RF in 2024? On on the amounts of conflicts of interest?”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank you, chair. And thanks, professor, for for the presentation. Thanks for the updated checklist and the work of of the Venice Commission. I think we do have a rule of law crisis in the European Union. There are regressions on the rule of law in a number of member states. I wanted to ask you if if you would have to name a country or a couple of countries where where you see that, you know, based on your checklist the situation is most alarming or where you see the fastest decline. If, if, if that's something that you could enlighten us with, I would be very interested. I would also like to ask, I mean, you have now updated this checklist. Do you think that the European Commission needs to update then its its methodology for the rule of law report? Is there anything that you would find that that would need changing. And the last question I have is, I mean, the regular reporting, the close analysis, all of that is, is, is important. But then we also need to act. And my colleague has already pointed to the fact that certain political groups are not present here in this debate. It's the the political groups that either protect the governments that are attacking the rule of law, or are themselves also voting against the rule of law here. And they're often framing, you know, what the EU does on rule of law. This is a political attack on the sovereignty of of member states. It's a left wing conspiracy to take money away from Hungarian citizens or whatnot. But, you know, when it comes to discussing the details, the actual methodologies behind, you know, our or your assessment of the rule of law. Well, then they're not they're probably because they don't have any argument. But. But what would you recommend us as, as Parliament or more widely as the European Union? What more should we do to better protect the rule of law in the Union? Thanks.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Colleagues. Mr. Caspary the breaching of the dam by your party in the Bundestag. We know this in the European Parliament and for some now, now, for some time now. If you've got used to that, let me say what groups you're increasingly building majorities with. We have three groups on the European Parliament the ECR with the PSP, with the PS from Poland, PFA with the corrupt Putin, friends of Viktor Orban and ESM with the AfD, a very far right party. None of the parties believe in democracy or good industrial policy. From Arduino to Merkel. Europe was always at the centre of the policy of the union, and you're giving that up for a few cozy majorities with Pierce, Orban or the AfD, because you don't want to look for compromises in the centre. You know that it works better. Weber. In 2018, he made an election campaign for Viktor Orban. Why are we where are we today? Why is this error made time and again? If in the Netherlands, in Italy, in Austria and France, we can see what the effect has on the conservative parties that collapse if they open up the doors to the far right. We as Democrats, as pro-Europeans, must find majorities in the centre, not with those on the far right or the extremists, so that the European Union can function. Thank you.”
  EU political integration
• “Winkler. I understand now that we have moved for the accredited lobbyists for, for a daily activation of the badge. I'm not entirely sure I understand the logic. Why? I mean, if there is an issue, the parliament can deactivate badges or reject entry at any moment anyways. What exactly is the advantage of of daily activation? And I understand that lobbyists have to to sort of declare on the machine what purpose their, their visit has, whether they're attending an event or meeting individual members and things like that. Is, is this data that is being collected? There is is that use by anyone? Is it available anywhere? What what purpose does. I mean, I'm very much for transparency, but what is this for. Because I, I'm not sure it's it's available anywhere. And then I wanted to ask, since the interinstitutional agreement on the ethics body entered into force a bit over a year and a half ago now. Are any preparations ongoing for a first meeting. And how often do you remind the vice president in charge of the legal obligation for us to implement interinstitutional agreements?”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Um, I think this might have played a role in the worst results that a DG near staff survey has ever produced. Um, so I think this this is something that we really need to look at. And the sixth and final point that I want to mention is the tracking of climate and biodiversity spending. Uh, the European Court of Auditors has repeatedly documented that the Commission systematically overestimates the positive climate effects of EU spending, and at the same time, the existing methodologies fail to capture negative effects, including environmental harmful subsidies such as, for example, under the Common Agricultural Policy. So tracking only the positive effects leads to a structural overestimation of the union's budget contribution to the climate and biodiversity objectives. So we need to reiterate the court's recommendations. Independent ex-ante verification of climate and biodiversity coefficients, systematic publication of project level data and transparent reporting on environmental harmful expenditure. Looking forward now to to comments and the different amendments, of course, of colleagues and looking forward. Then on a good collaboration so that we can get this process through the different votes in committee and plenary. Thank you very much.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “I think that would be helpful. I mean, given that Mr. Babbage was leading his country's negotiations over the last MFF, so it would be interesting to to clarify the potential conflict of interest. You know, if he negotiated how much money he was basically then going to receive in this current MFF period, then now to check how how much money he did actually receive. And just to reiterate, last time the Commission established that there was a conflict of interest between him receiving these EU funds and sitting at the negotiation table for the MFF. The negotiation process is is starting again. We're heading into the same situation. And last time this was not resolved, neither by the Commission nor by the Council. So I mean, what happens if we just run into the same issue? Is there a plan in the commission this time to, to deal with with, with that situation, if the same conflict of interest arises again?”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “And given the hearing we had in this committee just last week, Slovakia is is one of them. We're also debating that in plenary next week. So, um, in general, I think that the the Commission is, is not doing what it should to protect the financial interest in these deteriorating rule of law situations. Uh, we have also another text already asked the commission to do more, uh, including on Hungary. And, um, I also criticize the lack of transparency in this decision making. There is on paper a solid framework, but the Parliament has too often been given only the bare minimum of information. Often we only learn about things from the media. And I think it is absolutely crucial that we as discharge authority are fully informed. And it's also important that the Commission actually fully justifies and independently takes these kind of decisions, because if the impression develops that there is any kind of political motivation in these decisions, that is a very severe, uh, risk for the reputation of the Union and for our institutions. The third aspect that I would like to mention is, um, is is transparency at the European Commission, particularly when it comes to access to documents. Um, there have been a number of controversies. Uh, the text messages, for example, of, of the commission president. There was even a court case about the Pfizer text messages.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thank you Commissioner. Next question concerns your your role on competition enforcement. One one thing that has puzzled me for for a while is that the EU so far is is is not going against the near monopoly of, of media ownership in Hungary. There is an almost complete control by by a structure that's called CsmA. So far the the answers that I have gotten from including your your predecessor in this role was that that this doesn't in a way impact the European media landscape because Hungary is a reasonably small member state and there is still free media elsewhere in Europe. But looking at media concentration, sort of, regardless of language, seems seems a strange approach to me, because if you look at Hungarian language media, well, there is clearly a monopoly here. And I think given that the Hungarian competition authorities, obviously under order from Orban, do not intervene on this monopoly, isn't this something that the EU needs to look at? And isn't this something for for you as competition commissioner to look at?”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “Then I have a question on the Special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union. So I understand that the position has been vacant for a while, but it might be imminent that there be an appointment. There has been criticism from from colleagues here in the House in, in the past, and there are rumors now on a, on a potential candidate. I would just basically like to know, if you can assure us that the selection process will obviously be fully transparent and that there will not be a candidate, uh, with a record of, of undermining universal human rights. And, um, you know, how transparent exactly you can be on, on that selection process. You know, if there is a candidate that has faced certain issues before with very fast promotions and stuff. I think it would be good for for the procedure to to not face too much criticism if you know there is clear selection criteria. Candidate list and so on. So um, maybe even some consulting with the European Parliament before the appointment. So I'd like to hear your reassurances on that. Thank you.”
  EU engagement with Christian communities inside and outside the EU
• “So even for really tiny grants already, NGOs have to to fill out quite, quite a bit of information. Having been working for an NGO in a in a past life, I know how endless reporting there is every hour of of work for on a commissioned project, for example, has to be detailed with what staff has done, what during that hour. So if the conclusion from, you know, the commission not making that available or individual organisations not playing by the rules is that we drown beneficiaries even more in bureaucracy. I'm not sure we're doing ourselves a service. Anyways, beyond the financial transparency system, NGOs are also on the tender portal when they apply, and all those interacting thusly with the EU institutions are on the transparency register. So if you put that information together, which again the commission you know, I'm all for interlinking different databases. There is some elements of that but you can improve that. But then you have 123 data points on on these NGOs, particularly on those that receive more than just a couple of thousand euros from, from the EU, classifying any of that as opaque and particularly in any way creating the impression that that is the fault of NGOs, I think is really quite bizarre.”
  Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “It seems to me that with the re-election, this conflict of interest is in a way reinstated and not resolved as of today. Uh, so so I think it's good if, uh, if the Parliament sends a clear message that, you know, if if the situation that we had in the past reappears, it does need to be resolved. It cannot just be ignored. And I think the easiest way to resolve this is that the Commission, as they have actually done in the past. Halt all payments to any kind of organization structure company that is controlled or owned by the Prime Minister. Um, so, so so that we we eliminate this conflict of interest. The fifth element, uh, I want to mention is, um, is the commissioner, uh, for, for for health and animal rights, Mr.. Varhelyi, uh, we had a bit of trouble getting getting that hearing going. Uh, but but then in the end, we, we had that, um, as, as we discussed also during that hearing, um, it seems that during his management of, of DGs also during the budgetary year of, of 2024, uh, there there were issues, particularly with filling senior management positions in the DGS. He oversaw six out of the nine senior management positions were vacant for for multiple years, sometimes for years, including the director for Ukraine, support for for two and a half years, the director of Southern Neighbourhood Department, vacant for for full four years, including during the Hamas attack on on on Israel.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank you chair. Thanks, Mr. Gregor, for for being here with us and reporting today. And thanks to the two commissioners as well. I have two areas of questions and I'd like to ask the first one. Then you reply and then then we come back to the second. The first area that I think we need to talk about is the transparency of the largest beneficiaries. You said, Commissioner Dombrovskis, transparency is important for you. We as legislators fought very hard to actually see who are those that benefit the most from these €650 billion in the IMF. And I have to say, today, I can only feel cheated on this because the list that we're seeing is, quite honestly, ridiculous. I had made the example in the past that in France, the largest beneficiary by far was the Agence de paiement. You said rightfully now in your introduction, that you have gotten back to the member state and requested better information. Now, the largest beneficiary in France is the Banque Public de Investissement. The second one is the investment program of the Finance Ministry, and the third one is the National Authority on Vocational training. So again, we're here just with ministries. And if I go through the member states, it's the same picture time and again in Austria, the Chancellery is among the largest beneficiaries in Malta. It's the office of the Prime Minister. I mean, this is not these are not the beneficiaries. I doubt that the office of the Prime Minister of Malta is either pushing digitalization in the office or renewable energies, or the green transition. We want to see who are the actual beneficiaries of of these funds. And I think that the Commission really needs to do more to, to deliver that. If the member States do not abide by article 25 of the regulation, then I think, you know, then you have to start infringement procedures. If member states don't deliver that, that information. I'd like to hear what what the plan is on on the final beneficiary. Transparency.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thanks to. To finish off to two questions to Commissioner Hoekstra. The first one is, I mean, we we have the do no significant harm principle. I would like to understand if there is a specific tracking mechanism to make sure that in the EU budget you know, any, any kind of activities or subsidies that might be harmful to climate or biodiversity. If, if, if this is tracked and, and then somehow monitored and then specific question there are studies that point to the existence of biodiversity harmful subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy in, in particular through the area based direct payments to farmers. So how do we make sure that these direct payments do not contribute to doing significant harm, be it on climate or on biodiversity? And should there be any, any kind of tracking on on this. Thank you.”
  Direct payments to farmers (pillar 1)
• “I guess part of the reason, unfortunately, there has to be more checks and more rules is that people keep frauding those rules or finding ways around. So then you have to make a new rule so that people, you know, don't enrich themselves. Speaking of which, I have one very concrete question to Mr. Coletti. Um, I understand that Mr. Nicolas Croce is still a paying agent in the Parliament. I just checked on the website. He still seems to be paying agent for some members of the Rassemblement National. I understand that in the financial regulation, it clearly says that a person or entity should be excluded by the authorising officer responsible where it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the person or entity is guilty of grave professional misconduct or of the commitment of an irregularity. I understand also that from the French court's ruling, Mr. Koch has well, and it's in French confirme la culpabilité pour les faits. Confirms the guilt for corruption and attempted corruption in the framework of the 2012 election campaign. By a French court. The financial regulation says someone that has been convicted of fraud should not be a paying agent for paying out hundreds of thousands of euros to, um, assistance to the Rassemblement National. How come we still accept him as as a paying agent in this house? Can you enlighten me on that?”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank you. President. Ladies and gentlemen, in budgetary control committee. Obviously, it's especially important that the money of taxpayers is protected especially well. And when I look to our own house here, unfortunately there's a lot of misuse. Marine Le Pen has been condemned. The investigation against the previous Afd's group. The ID group is still ongoing. We've seen examples of Mr. Anderson's website, about 60,000 being spent on that. I don't know why you need to spend that amount of money on a website. Maybe it surprises you less if you realise that actually the money went to an AfD local politician and some of the transfer didn't go to the corporate account, but to the private account. In recent days and weeks, again and again, we're seeing investigations coming to light that the AfD is not just pocketing money, but also members of their own family are being given jobs. And it seems in the European Parliament this has happened. Borsdorf. Jungblut. Others have used family members who are being employed. We need to do something against this and hence it might be a good idea that we get Eppo Olaf and the Parliament administration be giving enough money to do something.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Maybe I can ask my own questions. You can. Um. Thank you, chair. And thanks to the to the presidency to to be here and outline the, the program. Um, I'm actually going to start on, on the question of, of unanimity. And we have discussed this with preceding, uh, presidencies as well. I have a bit the impression that, you know, what we hear in these presentations from the council is still a bit the old world. Uh, but I fear, you know, when we see how unreliable our former partners in the US have become, questioning the entire territorial integrity of member states. Uh, when we have Russia continuing the onslaught in Ukraine. We live a bit in a difficult in a different world. Um, you yourself said that a big priority for, for Cyprus in this presidency is enlargement, but enlargement is basically made almost impossible. If Viktor Orban has, I don't know how many dozens of vetoes on, on on Ukraine accession, for example. So I think this is a debate that we need to have, you know, based on this new realities. And I would very much appreciate if I mean, we made a report on treaty change in this House was adopted with a solid majority. And we haven't heard back from the council in its been over two years now. Right. And I think we need to start that debate. I know there is hesitations. I know there's questions. There will always be right. But we need to have that debate. It needs a simple majority to start that debate. Council, parliament, commission, national governments.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you, chair. And thanks, commissioner and high Representative, for for answering our questions here today. I heard you on the on the signal chat with with foreign ministers and your plea for, uh, agility and the room to speak. And and I can fully support that. But there are also rules on on access to documents in the regulation, also in the charter of uh, of fundamental rights. So we have heard before from, from you that there is nothing of substance that is being discussed, uh, in, in, in those chats. And the problem is that when you ask some of the foreign ministers then to release those messages of non-substance, then they say, well, it contains confidential, highly political information, somehow that doesn't really go together. Um, so so for me, the question is still I mean, the commission has just lost a court case on, on access to to to messaging. At the end of the day, we have to find modus operandi that allow the flexibility and modern technologies for for communication, but that also ensure that there is record keeping when when sensible things are discussed. And, uh, you know, under our regulation that can be accessed, uh, by us here in the Parliament, also by others that that might ask for it. So I still want to ask you, I mean, is it just the foreign ministers? Is it also staff? Do you manage this yourself or is it someone of the staff that makes sure? I mean, we have also seen examples in the US where all of a sudden the wrong people, uh, are in certain signal groups.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thanks, chair. Thanks to the European Court of Auditors and thanks to the three commissioners that you are here. I'm going to start, uh, questions with, uh, with commissioner, cos if you don't mind, or rather, since we're looking at 2024, mostly with, uh, with your predecessor. So in 21, there were reports that according to more than a dozen officials from multiple institutions and an analysis of internal documents that your predecessor, uh, has overseen a push to play down concerns on rule of law and human rights in EU candidate countries. Could you confirm whether the Commission has received any complaints in relation to former Enlargement Commissioner Varhelyi or his cabinet on on any of this. We're going to do ping pong.”
  EU enlargement
• “Thanks, chairs. Um, well, I guess echo assessed the performance of the proposed performance regulation as not very performant. Um, I think this this really still needs some work. So from the current perspective, what particularly struck me in the in the opinion, if if I read paragraph 56, the proposed framework and I quote does not include audit arrangements for the rights of EQA, Olaf and Apple in the executive summary, you also say that the proposal does not contain a sufficiently clear control and accountability framework for the reliability of reported performance information. For instance, under the proposed system, the Commission would not make mandatory checks of regularity before payment, in contrast to the RF. I would like to ask EQA if you could elaborate a bit more on on. What does this actually mean in practice for your work, for the work of Eppo, of Olaf, under these new proposed rules? And also, um, for the information that you can then provide to us as the discharge authority in comparison to, to the current arrangements we have now. And I11 comment I have to make, I mean this name of a single gateway. I find this not, not very good between the global gateway the single gate, I mean, there are so many gateways now it gets a bit confusing. So maybe we can reflect on how how this transparency portal will actually be named in the next MFF. Thanks.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank thanks. Chair. Just, uh, two points since, um, well Mr.. Since the question wasn't answered, if you if you could provide a written answer, that would be great. And for Madam Ko, since there was, in part of the question, a bit of confusion between the current spying investigation and previous allegations of, uh, you know, possible leaks or, uh, or undue influence on country reports, if you, if you could just also confirm in writing that there has been no internal complaints raised against Mr. Varhelyi, that that would be much appreciated. And then just last words. I mean, since the commissioner in question is still part of the current college, this committee has requested a hearing with him as well. So maybe you can take it back to your colleague that we would very much appreciate if he comes join this committee as well for for some questions. Thank you very much.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thank you, chair, and thanks to to our candidate for for being here and exchanging with us today. I have two quick questions. The first one, what do you see as the most urgent structural weaknesses in the EU's financial governance that you think the the European Court of Auditors should, should address? And the second question that I have is, um, according to my understanding, the European public prosecutor has now taken the Court of Auditors to court over non cooperation on on an investigation, on non lifting immunities. And I'd like to hear what your take on, on this is and whether that's a good or a bad sign that that there there seems to be uh yeah. Non cooperation between these two EU institutions. Thanks.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “So I think you have to adapt those guidelines so that we get the information from member states that we need. And I have to say, for me, it doesn't matter that much whether it is for the audit purpose or for the transparency purpose. For me, the lack of transparency is an indicator that I think that the data that you as Court of Auditors and also you as commission get from the member states, probably has the same degree of faultiness that the data that they publicly provide has. I have no indication to the contrary so far. So we need to fix both, and we need to make sure that we get the actual data. So I think if if we don't want to have very negative language in the discharge in the end on this, we need to go back to the member States, and they need to make a real effort to provide us with information who the actual beneficiaries of the RF were. And I think that is not something that we can postpone just to the next MFF. We're still paying out 40% of the RF this year. And this House wants to see who who this money goes to. Thanks.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thanks, chair. And thanks to Raquel for for leading us in these negotiations so far. Negotiations that are that are not easy. I have to admit that it's frustrating to see how how the presidency and member states, I think more broadly, you know, are basically not listening either to, you know, what a broad majority here in the Parliament wants, but also, more importantly, what citizens and voters out there want, and that is that corruption offences are more, more seriously leading to to accountability, that also those in the highest political office, when they commit corruption and political corruption offences, that they are held accountable and facing justice. And I think that that will be the task for us going forward in these negotiations, making sure that the council just doesn't water everything down that that the Parliament has put forward, but that those that commit these kind of crimes are actually held accountable. Thanks.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thanks, chairs. Um, well, I guess echo assessed the performance of the proposed performance regulation as not very performant. Um, I think this this really still needs some work. So from the current perspective, what particularly struck me in the in the opinion, if if I read paragraph 56, the proposed framework and I quote does not include audit arrangements for the rights of EQA, Olaf and Apple in the executive summary, you also say that the proposal does not contain a sufficiently clear control and accountability framework for the reliability of reported performance information. For instance, under the proposed system, the Commission would not make mandatory checks of regularity before payment, in contrast to the RF. I would like to ask EQA if you could elaborate a bit more on on. What does this actually mean in practice for your work, for the work of Eppo, of Olaf, under these new proposed rules? And also, um, for the information that you can then provide to us as the discharge authority in comparison to, to the current arrangements we have now. And I11 comment I have to make, I mean this name of a single gateway. I find this not, not very good between the global gateway the single gate, I mean, there are so many gateways now it gets a bit confusing. So maybe we can reflect on how how this transparency portal will actually be named in the next MFF. Thanks.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “So that means there were also no concerns, for example, that sensitive information or documents had been leaked to to candidate countries or inadequate relations with with individual accession countries or member states. None. None of that. Uh, in in during the tenure of, uh, of your predecessor.”
  EU enlargement
• “Thanks, Commissioner. I mean, so far the discussion has been a lot focused on the on the non-governmental organization, part of the life beneficiaries. But there are other beneficiaries as well. There are companies, for example, that receive money from from the life funding. And as far as I understand, some of those companies also have advocacy work mentioned in their in their operating grant annexes. But so far the commission hasn't really talked about that. There is only ever the talk of, of of the NGO part. I'm particularly wondering because some of these life funding beneficiaries or their corporate structures then then also employ, it seems, members of the European Parliament. And I wanted to ask if the Commission actually checks whether beneficiaries of EU funding, maybe particularly under life, if there is any kind of check whether these structures then employ members of the parliament or members of other EU institutions, and whether that might constitute a conflict of interest. Thanks.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “The second area of questions that I have are the written questions 17 to 19. This is the Agrofert complex you answered basically on on my question, how you make sure that the article 61 of the financial regulation is respected, that the Commission trusts that the Czech Republic will keep on ensuring the respect of these principles and rules. And I mean, in German we say is good, control is better and.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thanks. Next, I have a question on staff reallocation within DG comp. This was question number 30. You say that you establish a new directorate for enforcement on the DMA with 48 full time equivalent staff, largely based on internal reallocation from other departments. So I'm I'm very much supportive of properly enforcing the DMA. I think also this house. But, you know, if this staff comes from somewhere else that was previously, previously doing other competition enforcement work, I would like to know if you can give a bit more detail on where the staff was actually taken and whether there's any risk in those areas that were now enforcing less the, well, the previous work that they were doing. Thank you.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank you, chair, and thank you for organising this important exchange with the experts and our colleagues from from national Parliament. Mr. McGrath, thanks. Thanks for being here. And congrats again for for your election. I have a question on what I think is the, the, the biggest innovation that we have seen in the defence of the rule of law in the last five years, the conditionality mechanism, and so far it has only been used once. And I would say, given the amount of money that is currently blocked in Hungary, reasonably timidly, because it only concerns a very small share of the budget, although the arguments under the conditionality procedure very much outline problems that affect all funds, and that all funds in Hungary are under under corruption and misuse risk. So the the 17 measures that the Commission has negotiated with the government, not a single one of these in now two years of frozen funds, not a single one of these conditions has been fulfilled. There has been no reform that has been accepted by by the commission to this day. So I'm wondering a bit, you know, if if clearly the pressure is so far doesn't lead to any risk being taken away, is it then not time to increase the pressure and better defend those funds that still to this day are still going to Hungary, still under a huge risk of corruption and misuse?”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “So in in 23, the European Parliament adopted a resolution following some of these revelations and asked for an independent and impartial investigation. Has. Has such an investigation taken place?”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “So the draft report outlines the commission has frozen funds to Hungary under the CPR and the conditionality. Um, but this discharge report comes at a moment where the Hungarian government has basically undone the judicial reforms on which the unfreezing of 10 billion were, were based. Um, we have seen in the Libe committee where we had invited the integrity authority, and it's being put under so much pressure that they no longer engage in any meaningful way with the EU institutions, it seems, and the integrity authority, of course, being one of the central conditions to unfreeze funds under the conditionality. So rather than progress, I think we're seeing regression. And I think there should be a clear message from, from this committee, um, that, you know, if Hungary is is falling even further behind, then, then the pressure from the EU needs to be increased. On harassment, there's both former and current commission staff that have come to me with serious concerns about the commission's handling of harassment. Uh, out of the 32,000 employees, only five cases of psychological harassment and five cases of sexual harassment have reportedly been recognized in the past 18 years. So either the commission is is the is the most harassment free employer on this planet. Or we have serious institutional blind spots here. And I think that's that's something that we should address. So, um, on the release of RF funds to Poland, um, I think we should address the fact that the Commission might have prematurely released some of the RF funds to the new Polish government.”
  Discharge of EU institutions and agencies
• “Yeah, yeah. If you could maybe clarify that in writing, that would be great. Um, and there were two recent incidents where the Libyan coast guard actually shot at, uh, humanitarian vessels. Do you have any knowledge whether any EU funded material was involved in, in those incidents?”
  Asylum & border control
• “I'd like to to thank, uh, the shadows and members for for the feedback. I'm very much looking forward to to to the concrete amendments and then we'll discuss based on that. Um, I think I mean, some of the criticisms that we have heard here, I mean, there's a whole there's a reason why, uh, you know, these reports are written by by politicians, and there is a system of where this goes from one political group to another. There is, uh, you know, in, in the setting of priorities and stuff, uh, political color to, to be seen. I think that is to be expected in, in a parliament of, of elected members, not unelected bureaucrats as, as some, uh, sometimes accuse this institution. Um, but I have to say that, uh, you know, if you've actually read the report, this is based on the findings of the European Court of Auditors on our oral and written questions that we have posed to the Commission on on solid findings with budgetary impact. For example, if there is rampant corruption in individual member states, that has very much an impact on the financial interests of the Union and is therefore be, you know, to be discussed and looked at in this in this report. And I think, you know, naming a country like Hungary in that context is is something, something that this Parliament has, has done for for many years, and I think will will continue to do as, as long as Orban continues stealing EU, EU funds. So, so, so much for me. And as I said, looking forward to the next steps in the procedure. Thank you.”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “So so the last question on, on this area is that there is a number of major co-funded infrastructure projects in the in the Western Balkans. Reportedly, some of these have been hand-picked by your predecessor. And as far as I understand, there are some concerns. Many of these projects actually had just a single bidder in the in the tendering procedure. And some also may appear to contradict the green agenda for the Western Balkans. Is there is there any special look into the projects that have been authorised in the Western Balkans by by your predecessor?”
  Funding for EU Neighbourhood
• “Thank you, chair, and thanks again for for everyone to be here. I have to come back to, to the topic that we heard from quite a few of the of the shadows and colleagues in general, this, this question of the final beneficiaries. And I think I mean, the reason I replied to you, Commissioner, while you were speaking earlier. I mean, there is a difference between the actual regulation and the guidelines that you have developed based on the regulation. I actually think that the guidelines you provide to member states, they completely go around the intention of the co-legislators. When we drafted article 25 A, we speak of VAT identification number and tax identification number of the final beneficiaries. So very clearly this is not a Prime Minister's office. This is not a ministry. It's a final beneficiary. If you then provide guidelines that speak of anything before contractors or subcontractors. Well, that is clearly not what the co-legislators wanted. I think that these guidelines have to be corrected. That is the reason. Mr. Dombrovskis, when you said that 70% of the supposed final beneficiaries are public entities, they are not the final beneficiaries. They are paying agents that are handing this money out to actual companies, to actual final beneficiaries.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “I think we're talking about two different things, I think. You now refer to to the spying allegations and the investigation that has just been started. But I'm asking about, you know, basically there have been allegations in the past that there was an undue influence on country reports, for example, or other documents that were drawn up by Commissioner Varley in his time as enlargement commissioner. And and I'm actually wondering, well, one, whether there have been any complaints and two, if there has been any. I mean, how does the internal oversight work within the commission that a commissioner doesn't just, you know, deviate completely from from the commission's political line or the thinking, let's say, of other commissioners? How how does that work? Uh, to to check that all the rules are respected by by every commissioner.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Mr. chair, and thanks to Madam Wilmoth as well to lead us on on this mission in Slovakia. I had the pleasure to go twice in quick succession, both with the Budget Control Committee and then with the monitoring group. And I have to say, what struck me the most is, is this triple attack that that we have witnessed on the ground. So the abolishing of the Special Corruption Prosecution Service, combined with the abolishing of the National Crime Agency, combined with the reforms of the penal code, that seems to have led to hundreds of of convicted corruption offenders walking free and many also seeing the ongoing investigations stopped because of the, uh, the legal changes. None of this, to me, points to an improvement in the fight against corruption, to say the least. Uh, my impression is that including EU funds are today at greater risk in Slovakia when the specialized corruption service is gone. And having met the former head of that corruption prosecution service twice, and hearing how much the the number of indictments, the number of cases launched has declined. I think we have to seriously worry about the management of of EU funds in Slovakia. So as a as a result of both those missions, we we now, you know, I mean, Tomas and I are going to count right after, uh, to, to also present that mission report. But, but having those two mission reports on the table now, I think it's time for Parliament to update the resolution that we did in April last year and and clearly voice our criticism of what we have seen on the ground and our worries for the management of EU funds in the country. Thank you.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law