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Petr Ježek
Born in Prague in 1965. A graduate of Prague’s University of Economics, Petr Ježek joined his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as a diplomat. For some ten years, he held relatively high posts related to the country’s ties with the EU, e.g. heading the Foreign Ministry’s European Integration Department and serving as Deputy State Secretary for European Affairs. He also worked as chief of staff of then Czech Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla. In 2014, Petr Ježek was elected Member of the European Parliament on the ballot of the ANO 2011 party.
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Members of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) on Monday approved an opinion, authored by Petr Ježek, on the annual report the protection of the EU’s financial interests and fight against fraud. The text defines the LIBE Committee's position on the Committee on Budgetary Control’s annual report on the fight against fraud within the EU budget.
The annual report, compiled by the Commitee on Budgetary Control (CONT) for which Petr Ježek served as LIBE’s rapporteur, calls on the European Commission, the European Council and the Parliament to swiftly reach an agreement on the PIF directive, which would allow the use of criminal law to fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests.
The issue of including VAT fraud in the directive is at the heart of discussions between the institutions. Given that estimated losses on VAT collection in the EU amount to 168 billion euros, the stakes are high, especially for some countries like the Czech Republic. It is thus of utmost importance for the EU and its Member states agree on the best way to resolve this major issue, according the Petr Ježek.
The report also underlines the need to address European citizens’ concerns over the rise in perceived corruption levels which could seriously damage their trust in democracy. All EU institutions must therefore lead by example and maintain the highest standards on transparency, integrity and conflicts of interest.
Petr Ježek’s report therefore calls on the European Commission to add a chapter on the performance of the EU institutions in fighting corruption in its second anti-corruption report, to be published in early 2016.