13 Amendments of Charlie WEIMERS related to 2021/2115(DEC)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes growing instability and the rise of unprecedented challenges in the international environment, which increased demands on the Union to act as a global player;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Notes with grave concern that the total financial impact of all reservations by Directors-General to declarations of assurance amounted to EUR 1219 million for 2020, 16% higher than in 20191a; _________________ 1aAnnual Management and Performance Report 2020
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes with grave concern that the total financial impact of all reservations by Directors-General to declarations of assurance amounted to EUR 1219 million for 2020, 16% higher than in 20191a; _________________ 1aAnnual Management and Performance Report 2020
Amendment 6 #
1 b. Notes with grave concern that the financial impact of the reservations for the policy area 'External relations' increased from EUR 16 million in 2019 to EUR 21 million in 2020; calls for immediate action to be taken by the Commission to address this issue;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Notes with grave concern that the financial impact of the reservations for the policy area 'External relations' increased from EUR 16 million in 2019 to EUR 21 million in 2020; calls for immediate action to be taken by the Commission to address this issue;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Finds scandalous the EEAS publication of the tender1aaiming to organise EU Study Tours of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States during the year 2020 in full pandemic and amounting to 400 000.00 EUR; stresses that, according to the tender, the EEAS has requested accommodation arrangements and related services three times a year for an average of 15 participants visiting Brussels and other EU Member States cities; _________________ 1aEEAS/DELUSAW/2020/OP/0007 - https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft- display.html?cftId=5854
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights the central role played byNotes that the European External Action Service (EEAS) in conducting the Union’s external policy and welcomes that it lived up to the many challenges over the 10 years of its existence; notes, however, thathas existed for 10 years; stresses that Member States are facing an economic downturn in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, therefore calls for enhanced EEAS performance has to be underpinned by a corresponding staff increase; calls for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to deliver on the Union’s external policy prioritiachieved solely through increased cost- efficiency and optimisation; calls for surplus resources to be returned to net paying Member States;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the remaining gender and geographical imbalances within the EEAS staff, despite slightly positive trends in previous years; reiterates the importance of ensuring a balanced distribution of staff in terms of gender and geographical origin within different categories and grades, particularly at middle and senior management levels; points also to a remaining overrepresentation of some Member States’ diplomats among the Heads of Delegation and calls for further efforts to address those imbalances;
Amendment 22 #
4. WelcomesTakes note of the ECA’s Special Report on Disinformation affecting the Union anwhich concluded that "it has not delivered calls for implementing the ECA recommendations in the Union’s action plan against disinform its intended results" and that "there is no monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework accompanying the EU action plan and the European democracy action plan, which undermines accountability" and that "the plans include generic objectives that cannot be measured, several actions that are not time-bound and no provisions for evaluation"; stresses the continuous need to fightefficiently expose foreign propaganda and expose disinformation and malicious foreign influence; underlines the importance of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force and calls for providing it with the necessary financial and personnel resources, especially with regard to the Chinese origins of Covid-19;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines the importance of Member States coordinating public diplomacy and strategic communication as an integral aspect of the Union's external relir international cooperations and an instrument to communicate itstheir shared values and interests and to enhance the Union’s visibility; calls on the EEAS to continue its efforts to modernise its approaches and invest in new skills and capabilitie, increase cost-efficiency and cut costs.
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Welcomes the findings of the Court of Auditors in their Special report no 07/2016 that EEAS owns buildings that it does not use, considers that EU delegations and EEAS buildings would be a natural place to start cutting costs and requests a detailed review to be carried out to identify delegations that could be closed or merged to enable further cost reductions.
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Deplores that the EU continues to reward blackmail by giving EUR 700 000 to the unrecognised Lukashenko regime in connection to the migration crisis at the EU’s external borders; calls for an immediate reversal of policy as there are reasonable indications to suspect that Lukashenko will use EU money for further hybrid warfare activities against Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57 a (new)
Paragraph 57 a (new)
57 a. Seriously questions the purchase projects envisaged in D.R. Congo (offices), Afghanistan (plot of land), Mali (offices) and in the UK (Residence)1a; requires a justification note from the EEAS regarding the eventual guarantee of its private property over the planned purchase of the land in Afghanistan given the Taliban practices to seize public and private estate; _________________ 1a Working document on the real estate policy of the European external action service in 2020(article 266.11 of the financial regulation)