Greco (2006) 14E
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DIRECTORATE GENERAL I œ LEGAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT OF CRIME PROBLEMS Strasbourg, 21 July 2006 Greco (2006) 14E 29th Plenary Meeting of GRECO (Strasbourg, 19-23 June 2006) SUMMARY REPORT Secretariat du GRECO GRECO Secretariat www.greco.coe.int Conseil of l‘Europe Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex +33 3 88 41 20 00 Fax +33 3 88 41 39 55 I. Opening of the meeting 1. The 29th Plenary Meeting of GRECO was chaired by the President, Drago KOS (Slovenia) and by Isabelle VAN HEERS (Vice-President, Belgium) for a certain number of items on the agenda. 2. The President opened the meeting. He welcomed all representatives, referring in particular to those who had been newly nominated. The list of participants appears in Appendix I to this report. II. Adoption of the agenda 3. The Plenary noted that examination of the draft Second Round Compliance Report on Estonia was postponed to GRECO 30 (October 2006) and that revised draft terms of reference for a working party on anti-corruption recommendations and best practices would be considered in the future only if additional financial resources became available. The agenda was adopted as it appears in Appendix II to this report. III. Information provided by the President 4. The President would present GRECO‘s Sixth General Activity Report (2005) to the Committee of Ministers at a hearing on 21 June (969th Meeting of the Ministers‘ Deputies). 5. He drew attention to the results of Bureau 35 (cf. Greco (2006) 11E) and reported that Bureau 36 would make proposals to GRECO 30 (October 2006) as to ways in which GRECO could contribute in a visible manner to the International Anti- Corruption Day (9 December 2006). 6. Finally, he reported on the latest developments regarding the Law on the Incompatibility of Holding Public Office with Profitable Activity which foresees the dismantling of the Slovenian Commission for the prevention of Corruption. A decision by the Constitutional Court as to the constitutionality of the law was expected by the end of the year. In the meantime, the Commission would remain fully operational. IV. Information provided by the Executive Secretary 7. The Executive Secretary reported on the following developments since GRECO‘s 28th Plenary Meeting (May 2006): - following the declaration, on 3 June 2006, of independence of the Republic of Montenegro, a request for accession of the Republic to the Council of Europe had been submitted to the Committee of Ministers and had been sent to the Parliamentary Assembly for opinion. The Republic of Montenegro had notified its succession to all treaties to which the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was a party, including the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No 173) making it ipso facto a member of GRECO. The Republic of Serbia continued the membership of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in the Council of Europe; - Belarus - not a Council of Europe member State œ had deposited its instrument of ratification of the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 174) which would enter into force in respect of Belarus on 1 July 2006. Before membership in GRECO becomes effective, the issue of privileges and immunities enjoyed by GRECO evaluation teams will need to be resolved; 2 - having ratified the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173) and its Additional Protocol (ETS 191), Switzerland would join GRECO on 1 July 2006; - the Russian Federation was considering accession to GRECO before the end of its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers in November 2006 and Italy also appeared to be considering accession; - Carlo CHIAROMONTE and Spyros TSOVILIS would both leave GRECO‘s Secretariat to take up posts elsewhere in the Organisation and Christophe SPECKBACHER was rejoining the Secretariat. V. Joint First and Second Round Evaluation procedure Draft Joint First and Second Round Evaluation Reports on Azerbaijan and the Republic of Serbia 8. Having heard introductory presentations by the members of the Evaluation Teams (cf. list of participants) and comments by the representatives of the countries concerned, a first reading of the draft evaluation reports (paragraph by paragraph) and plenary discussions followed. A second reading of revised drafts prepared by the Secretariat in the light of the debates preceded the adoption of the reports. 9. GRECO adopted after two readings the Joint First and Second Round Evaluation Reports on Azerbaijan (Greco Eval I-II Rep (2005) 5E) and the Republic of Serbia (Greco Eval I-II Rep (2005) 1E). 10. The authorities of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Serbia were invited by GRECO to authorise, as soon as possible, publication of the reports. VI. First Round Compliance procedure Draft Addenda to the First Round Compliance Reports on Bulgaria, France and Germany 11. The draft Addenda to the First Round Compliance Reports on Bulgaria, France and Germany were based on information provided by the authorities of the countries concerned as required by the conclusions of GRECO‘s First Round Compliance Reports. Following a detailed reading, GRECO adopted the Addenda to the First Round Compliance Reports on Bulgaria (Greco RC-I (2004) 3E Addendum), France (Greco RC-I (2003) 10E Addendum) and Germany (Greco RC-I (2004) 1E Addendum) and thus terminated the first round compliance procedure in respect of those countries. 12. GRECO noted with satisfaction that the authorities of Germany authorised the publication of the Addendum. 13. The authorities of Bulgaria and France were invited by GRECO to authorise, as soon as possible, publication of the Addenda. VII. Procedure under Rule 32, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure 14. GRECO adopted the Final Overall Assessment of Information provided by the Delegation of Georgia pursuant to Rule 32, paragraph 2, al. (i) of GRECO‘s Rules of Procedure (Greco Eval I (2005) 4E Final) and thus terminated the first round non-compliance procedure in respect of that country. The authorities of Georgia were urged to authorise, as soon as possible, the publication of the assessment. 3 (III. Second Round Compliance procedure Draft Second Round Compliance Reports on Finland and Poland 15. The draft Second Round Compliance Reports on Finland and Poland had been prepared on the basis of Situation Reports forwarded by the relevant authorities and in consultation with Rapporteurs designated on behalf of Slovenia and Sweden for Finland and Bulgaria and Germany for Poland. Following a detailed reading, GRECO adopted the Second Round Compliance Reports on Finland (Greco RC-II (2006) 2E) and Poland (Greco RC-II (2006) 5E). 16. GRECO noted with satisfaction that the authorities of Finland authorised the publication of the compliance report. 17. The authorities of Poland were invited by GRECO to authorise, as soon as possible, publication of the compliance report. IX. Third Evaluation Round WP-ETS 173 18. Isabelle VAN HEERS (Belgium), Chairperson of GRECO‘s Working Party (WP-ETS 173) on the incriminations provided for in the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173), the Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 191) and on GPC 2, presented the working party‘s Final Activity Report. The report included a draft Questionnaire and also dealt with matters related to the scope of evaluations and priority issues, indicators, composition of GRECO delegations, evaluators and on-site visits. She outlined, in particular, the structure and content of the draft Questionnaire. 19. GRECO adopted, with amendments made in the light of the debate, the working party‘s Final Activity Report (WP-ETS 173 (2006) 2 Final), including the Questionnaire related to Theme I of the Third Evaluation Round (—Corruption Offences“). WP-PF 20. Drago KOS (Slovenia), Chairperson of GRECO‘s Working Party on Transparency of Party Funding (WP-PF), presented the working party‘s Final Activity Report. The report included a draft Questionnaire and also dealt with matters related to priority issues, indicators, composition of GRECO delegations, evaluators and on- site visits. During the ensuing debate, Ms Ingrid VAN BIEZEN, the working party‘s Scientific Expert, provided further information to the plenary. 21. GRECO adopted, with amendments made in the light of the debate, the working party‘s Final Activity Report (WP-PF (2006) 8 Final), including the Questionnaire related to Theme II of the Third Evaluation Round (—Transparency of Party Funding“). Following the meeting, delegations would be invited to signal any issues regarding the Questionnaire that might require further explanations so that the Bureau could decide on practical ways to deal with them. X. Budget 2007 22. The Executive Secretary informed GRECO that the draft Budgetary Proposals for 2007 submitted to the current plenary meeting had been prepared by the 4 Secretariat and approved by the Secretary General in accordance with the Organisation‘s internal procedures. 23. As was the case last year, the proposals included 2% efficiency savings as required by the Secretary General following the request of Council of Europe member States. Moreover, the provisions were based on GRECO‘s current membership; expected additional accessions to GRECO, as indicated in paragraph 7 of this report, could not be taken into account at this stage. 24. Preparation of the budgetary proposals had required considerable effort and restraint. It had, for example, not been possible to foresee funding for a Start up- workshop to provide training for third round evaluators, nor for a Working Party on anti-corruption recommendations and best practices. However, in order to allow GRECO to continue to provide high quality services to its growing membership and to ensure the proper conduct of its forthcoming evaluation round, an increase in budgetary provisions in the years to come would clearly need to be envisaged. 25. An inflation reserve had been included. Other changes to note compared with the 2006 budget were, first, that due to the launching of the Third Evaluation Round, work in 2007 would focus on analysing replies to questionnaires and holding on- site evaluation visits.