Kaheksanda koosseisu ametiaeg Lidia Joanna GERINGER DE OEDENBERG

Komisja Europejska zaproponowała nowe regulacje w dziedzinie prawa spółek, dzięki którym łatwiej im będzie łączyć, dzielić lub przenosić się w ramach jednolitego rynku. Ponadto proponowane regulacje zapewnią należytą ochronę praw pracowniczych i zapobiegną nadużyciom podatkowym.
Przyjęty dziś wniosek harmonizuje przepisy proceduralne na poziomie unijnym regulujące sposoby przenoszenia spółek z jednego kraju UE do innego oraz transgranicznego łączenia i dzielenia się spółek na dwa lub więcej podmiotów.
Nowe przepisy będą obejmowały również środki wspomagające organy krajowe w walce z nadużyciami. Tego rodzaju operacje będą objęte skutecznymi gwarancjami w zakresie zwalczania nadużyć służących obchodzeniu przepisów podatkowych, łamaniu praw pracowniczych lub narażaniu na szwank interesów wierzycieli i wspólników mniejszościowych. W razie zaistnienia takiego zdarzenia organ krajowy państwa członkowskiego, z którego pochodzi spółka, wstrzyma przeprowadzenie danej operacji, nawet na bardzo wczesnym etapie jej planowania. Podsumowując, gratuluję sprawozdawczyni Evelyn REGNER bardzo dobrego sprawozdania.

Cieszy mnie wynik dzisiejszego głosowania nad nowelizacją unijnych przepisów o ochronie konsumentów. Zatwierdzone zmiany dotyczą lepszej ochrony konsumentów przed wprowadzającymi ich w błąd internetowymi rankingami produktów oraz podwójną jakością produktów i innymi nieuczciwymi praktykami handlowymi.
Internetowe platformy handlowe i porównywarki takie jak Amazon, eBay, AirBnb czy Skyscanner będą musiały ujawniać główne parametry, które określają sposób klasyfikowania ofert proponowanych klientom. Konsumenci będą musieli być poinformowani, czy kupują towary lub usługi od firmy czy od osoby prywatnej, aby wiedzieć jaka przysługuje im ochrona w przypadku wystąpienia nieprawidłowości.
Nowelizacja dotyczy również kwestii tzw. podwójnej jakości produktów. Chodzi o sytuację, gdy produkty wprowadzane w różnych krajach do obrotu pod tą samą marką i nazwą różnią się składem lub właściwościami. Tekst zawiera klauzulę przeglądową zobowiązującą Komisję Europejską do oceny sytuacji po upływie dwóch lat od daty wejścia w życie dyrektywy, aby sprawdzić, czy podwójna jakość produktów powinna zostać dodana do „czarnej listy” nieuczciwych praktyk handlowych.

The European Parliament supported new rules to make medicines more accessible and to boost competitiveness of the EU producers. The waiver of protection certificates will facilitate to the manufactures based in the EU to produce generic and biosimilar medicines, non-branded drugs with identical or almost identical composition. Furthermore, the proposal introduces an exception to legal protection granted to the original medical product for exporting to the countries, where protection of the original medicines does not exists. It is an important step to equalise the conditions of the European medicines manufactures with the world producers and to boost competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry.
I am glad the provision on the possibility of stockpiling drugs during the last 6 months before certificate expires in the EU was passed. It will allow selling of new generic medical products in the EU just the day after the expiration of the certificate. I believe we have managed to strike a good balance between protecting the intellectual property rights, making the medicines more accessible and improving the business environment for the European producers.

The European Parliament supported the proposal to establish a digital Europe programme, which is a part of the Multiannual Financial Framework proposal for 2021 - 2027, aiming to achieve the main pillars of European digital economy - digital skills, high-level digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and transformation of public sector to the digital age.
The investments in the AI across the EU are significantly below the amounts in China and the USA. I am glad the EC identified machine intelligence and machine learning as one of the priorities and pledged to increase funds in this industry. Due to the importance of this technology to the development of future economy and society, I support the calls for creating a Commissioner’s portfolio focused mainly on the AI in the next Commission. Nevertheless, apart for settling the financing aspect, we need to address the issue of protection of big data, transparency of algorithms and making them accessible to all business and public administration in order to accelerate European research and development.
The highly skilled workers are the fundament of digital economy. Therefore, I am glad for involving the proposal for the EUR 700 million investment to requalification and advanced computing courses for students.

By an overwhelming majority, we voted in favour of the adoption of legal acts for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to Articles 290 and 291 TFE. Based on the rules anchored in the Lisbon Treaty those are the two different types of articles regarding the implementation of EU law.
The proposal, concerning 170 basic acts, introduces improvements aiming to upgrade the quality of European law-making. Those acts directly influence a few of the most important areas of EP work, such as employment, internal market or health. The institutions commits to regularly consult experts from Members States during preparations of delegated and implementing acts. The European Commission recognises the substantial importance of exchange of views with the European Parliament concerning the delegated and implementing acts, thus suggests providing systematic access for the EP experts to the Commission meetings, during the drafting phase.
I am glad the quality and better law-making procedure is in the centre of interest of the European institutions. Improving the way the EU legislates and involvement of various experts and stakeholders from all the levels of the governance are necessary to ensure the legislation better serves the interests of all European citizens and business.

The European Parliament voted to support the accession of the European Union to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications.
The Act addresses the issue of protection and abuses of a geographical name or a traditional designation for products closely tied to a specific quality or a geographical region, for example ʻKashubian garden strawberryʼ.
In practice, the protection given by geographical indications will help local producers to preserve and expend their manufactures by creating a niche market for local production and banning competitors from benefiting from a productʼs reputation.
Furthermore, accession of the EU to the Act facilitates registration of geographical indications at EU level, which will decrease administrative costs for producers and traders while expending their business abroad, and provides protection in all current and future parties to the Geneva Act. The decision to join the Act is very beneficial for Poland, since, unlike France or the Czech Republic, we are not an individual member of the Lisbon Agreement and consequently of the Geneva Act.

Skandale, takie jak LuxLeaks, Panama Papers czy Cambridge Analytica, pokazały, jak ważna jest pomoc informatorów w wykrywaniu naruszeń prawa UE i w zapobieganiu im. Ochrona informacji poufnych nie ma charakteru bezwzględnego. Takie informacje mogą zostać udostępnione np. w celu ochrony interesu publicznego. Do tej pory nie było kompleksowej regulacji dotyczącej tej kwestii na terenie UE, jednak wkrótce się to zmieni.
Cieszy mnie wynik dzisiejszego głosowania, w którym przeszły osiągnięte podczas negocjacji kompromisy. Nowe przepisy UE zapewnią lepszą ochronę osób ujawniających informacje uzyskane podczas działalności zawodowej, dotyczące nielegalnych lub szkodliwych działań.
Przepisy mają na celu stworzenie bezpiecznych kanałów zgłaszania naruszeń prawa UE (w przedsiębiorstwach oraz wobec władz publicznych), zabezpieczenia przed odwetem, takim jak zastraszanie lub nękanie, oraz stworzenie środków wsparcia, takich jak pomoc prawna i dostęp do informacji na temat procedur i innych środków naprawczych.

. ‒ In a vote on Thursday, 4 April 2019, Parliament strongly supported the report on the extension of EU rules to pipelines from third countries. An integrated gas market is one of the crucial steps in the creation of the Energy Union and it should be a focus of attention for the EU institutions.
The EU is still largely dependent on gas imports from outside the Union. We need to insist on maintaining our standards of competitiveness and transparency vis-à-vis gas pipelines from outside the EU. The high level of transparency needs to be preserved in relation to energy security. Therefore, I am glad this proposal seeks to implement key Energy Union objectives in order to address those challenges. Specifically, the amendments propose that the key bases of EU energy law (third-party access to the network, tariff regulation, ownership unbundling and transparency) be applicable to all pipelines from and to non-EU countries.
The new rules will apply to the Nord Stream 2, one of the main source of gas, connecting Russia with Germany. The change of legislation will provide clarity for traders and competitive gas for the customers.

European Parliament supported establishing the Creative Europe Programme for the years 2021 to 2027. The programme has proved as a valuable asset in connecting culture and creativity, promoting cooperation across the EU on cultural projects, facilitating movement of young artists and audience in the context of the Single Digital Market ecosystem and fostering the competitiveness of cultural and creative sector.
The Creative Europe Programme, despite it is a proportionally small programme, has a high level of ambition and wide scope or interest. Therefore, I warmly welcome the result of the votes. The programme should encourage the cultural variety in compliance with the 2005 UNESCO Convention promoting the diversity of the cultural expression.
Nevertheless, I am not convinced the budget, European Commission assigned to the Creative Europe programme, is not sufficient in order to fulfil the ambitious goals of the programme. Therefore, Members suggested increasing the envelope by one billon EUR. Furthermore, as a person who in the past organised various local cultural events, I would welcome higher representations of micro-cultural operators among the benefiters of the funds.

The petition to stop the biannual change of time was signed by 4 million European citizens and the European Parliament supported their calls. Originally, the clock change was introduced as a tool to save energy, but nowadays, in my opinion, it has more negative consequences than positive ones. Therefore, I support the ending of the seasonal time change as soon as possible.
Health issues, sleep disturbance, obstacles while travelling, administrative costs for various sectors, difficulties for the logistics industry, a higher rate of car accidents and the worsening of childrenʼs performance in school classes are the main arguments against preserving this system.
As a member of the PETI Committee I have investigated numerous petitions tackling this issue and am thus convinced that the time change is a real burden for EU citizens.
The proposal does not prioritise either of the two times. It will be up to Member States to decide whether to implement summer time or winter time. I hope that European governments will sufficiently coordinate their decisions among neighbouring countries so as not to damage the internal market or make travels abroad less comfortable.

. ‒ The European Parliament voted in favour of the directive for sales of goods online. It is another piece of legislation contributing to the high level of protection of customers, which is one of the main values of the EU.
Since the amount of e-commerce grows by more than 10% every year, I believe the adoption of further regulations regarding online trade is crucial to promote fair business practices online.
The report provides a harmonised right to free reparations and replacement for defected goods and calls for implementation of appropriate means on the level of Members States to inform customers about their rights. The report also consolidates the rules regarding termination of contracts. The trader is obliged to provide a user-friendly digital way to end the contract and the terminations should become effective 14 days after the notification.
The unification of rules is vital in creating a well-functioning internal market, where all consumers and traders are aware of the rights and obligations while shopping cross-boarder. Moreover, small and medium enterprises benefit from the harmonisation, since they do not need to comply with 28 different rules while expanding their business activities to other states of the EU.

This proposal is strengthening the internal market and facilitating exchange of materials and documents while solving law disputes cross-border. Only in 2018 there were about 3.4 million proceedings with a cross-border dimension which might be concerned by this legislation. The regulation establishes an EU-wide system for fast and direct exchange of evidence between courts, while using modern technologies, such as remote communication technologies.
I am glad that a strong wording on the protection of the rights of interrogated persons was introduced to the Commission text. We must make sure that the person to be heard provides consent with the videoconference, his or her personal data are sufficiently protected and that all relevant documents can be transmitted during the hearings to all participating parties. Any personal data that are not relevant to the specific case should be erased without delay.
Furthermore, members endorsed broadening of the term ‘court’ in order to broaden the scope of the Regulation to other institutions such as enforcement authorities or notaries.

The proposal on service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters complements the other pieces of legislation strengthening cross-border cooperation. Improving the system of transfer of documentation will contribute to faster and more effective handling of judicial procedures. Furthermore, modern technologies make it possible to cut the cost of the exchange of documentation. Participation in proceedings in a different country already generates significant costs, therefore we should try to lower them at every possible stage of the process.
In order to protect the rights of defendants, in case a court proceeds in the absence of a defendant, a court needs to make sure all the possible channels of communication, including e-mail, SMS or private social media, are used to send alert messages that proceedings have been initiated.
As regards the transfer of documents by electronic means, we supported the proposal to establish a decentralised IT system to exchange documents between different parties of the dispute. I welcome the introduction of an independent system, but we must guarantee a high level of security and protection of privacy and personal data.

This resolution reacts on the growing interest in use of products derivate from cannabis and its components for medicinal purposes. Firstly, it is necessary to emphasise that this resolution presumes it will be the doctors who will control the prescription and decide who should use the product. This proposal does not deal with the question of recreational use of cannabis.
The rules on use of medical cannabis significantly vary across the European Union and the decision regarding legality is in the Member States’ competences. Nevertheless, we need a European framework with clear indication to the Member States to support legalisation of medical cannabis in the whole EU. We have seen a situation when people with permission to benefit from a cannabis-based treatment have to travel to a different Member State to receive the medicine.
I believe we should make sure the cure is available locally or accessible distantly in order to avoid further costs. The whole EU framework must also address high standards and quality of the distributed products. Moreover, I believe that a common European approach, well-balanced question of legality and sufficient education regarding medical cannabis will boost the research in the field for the benefit of all patients.

The Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the report on deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in the year 2018. The Committee within its parliamentary work organised numerous hearings and fact-finding visits related to the submitted petitions during the past year. Due to the expected Brexit in the end of March 2019, a significant number of events organised by the Committee dealt with the rights of British and European citizens after the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
I believe that, in the further work of the Committee on Petitions, we need to deepen cooperation with members of national parliaments when dealing with citizen’s petitions and initiatives. Brussels is often criticised as far from everyday citizens’ problems and petitions are one of the most crucial instruments bridging this chasm. Therefore, particularly nowadays, with the rising narrative of the populists, it is of the utmost importance to improve the dialogues with European inhabitants.
At the same time, both the European Parliament and the European Commission must respect the deadlines and react to petitions within the set timeframe. Delays would only create tension and distrust from the EU citizens.

On Thursday 30 January 2019, the European Parliament approved in a vote an Annual report on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests in 2017. I am glad that fraud decreased by 21% compared with 2016, mainly thanks to the work of OLAF and national and European institutions defending the financial interests of the EU. The fight against corruption and financial crimes is one of the fundamentals in strengthening trust of European citizens in the EU institutions.
It is regrettable that not all the Member States managed to adopt a sufficient anti-fraud strategy and that the system of reporting and collecting data across the EU is not standardised. Differences in the procedures hinder our abilities to compare and analyse data across borders.
I welcome the adoption of the Protection of the Union’s Financial Interests Directive and the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, even though only 22 Member States decided to participate. Those crucial steps complement the architecture of fraud prosecution in the Union. Nevertheless, eliminating issues such as the involvement of criminal groups in cross-border fraud, currency counterfeiting or the smuggling of cigarettes remains a challenge for us to deal with in the years to come.

. – The Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of a report on cross-border restitution claims of works of art and cultural goods looted in armed conflicts and wars. Approximately 80 to 90% of antiques sale worldwide involves pieces of art of illegal origin. Trade with art from non-EU countries can be potentially abused to finance terrorism. Therefore, it is necessary to stop illicit trafficking of art from war and conflict zones, such as Libya, Syria or Iraq.
Unfortunately, no EU legislation clearly regulates restitution claims for cultural goods by individuals, which fall under rules of public international law. Moreover, the legislation governing the check of origin on work of art or cultural goods differs in various Member States, which in many cases hinders smooth cross-border restitution claims. I believe the European Commission should revise and harmonise the rules on provenance research, such as adjusting the principles on access to public or private archives containing information needed to identify accurately the exported culture object.
The reform of the processes and rules is not only necessary in order to deal with still unresolved cases of restitutions of Nazi-looted art, but also to create a solid legal framework for future cases.

. – We voted in favour of the report on the Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry OI/2/2017 on the transparency of legislative discussions in the preparatory bodies of the Council of the EU.
The openness and access to information is one of the basic values of the European Union. A high level of transparency is crucial in fighting fake news and speculation and in keeping people’s elected representatives accountable. The requirement for clarity of the legislative process and the possibility to participate at any stage is anchored in the Treaties.
I believe the European Parliament has managed to fulfil those conditions with online-streamed meetings of Parliamentary Committee meetings. It is regrettable that Council has not adopted similar measures and that the majority of negotiations are held behind closed doors. Furthermore, unlike in the Parliament, a substantial proportion of documents are not published or classified under the marking ‘LIMITE’.
European institutions are repeatedly attacked for a lack of democratic deficit. The Council should react to the suggestions envisaged in the report and adjust its working processes to the principles of parliamentary democracy as described in the Treaties, and fulfil its role as a second Chamber in the EU legislative procedure.

. – We voted in favour of the resolution on situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2017. Members emphasised the issued related to rule of law, migration, women´s rights, media freedom, and racism and hate speech.
The separation of powers and independent judiciary are the fundaments of democracy. However, the case of weakening of those values have occurred in few States of the Union and it is regrettable, that we have not manage to solve those disputes. Every such a violation brings distrust and undermine the creditability of the EU. I am glad that upholding of rule of law in every Member State is at the centrum of attention of the European institutions. The European Commission and the Council should continue the evaluation under Article 7 and react if necessary.
Even though we have progressed enormously in a question of women’s rights in the past years, the fight for full gender equality is not by far finished. The Member States must attempt to eliminate and prevent any form of violence against women and girls. Furthermore, an action should be taken in some States regarding family planning rights, promoting gender equality in education, politics, business and every aspect of human lives.

The European Parliament voted in favour of the report on activities of the European Ombudsman in 2017. During the previous year, the office of the European Ombudsman helped more than 15 837 citizens. 12 521 cases were resolved through guidance at the Interactive Guide, which is on the Ombudsman’s website, 1 135 were transferred for further advice, and the remaining 2 181 were dealt with as complaints by the Ombudsman. 447 inquiries were opened, including 433 complaint-based ones, 14 on own initiative and 363 inquiries were closed.
The main concerns were related to the area of transparency, accountability and securing public access to information and documents.
I hope that the institution of the European Ombudsman will continue its great work and EU citizens will be further supported in full enjoyment of their rights. The EU institutions and agencies should attempt to improve the speed in responding to the Ombudsman’s critical remarks. Furthermore, I support the Ombudsman’s concerns regarding updating the rules governing the transparency of EU lobbying activities and the call for making the EU transparency register obligatory for all EU bodies.