Activities of Benedek JÁVOR related to 2018/2167(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2017, Section I – European Parliament PDF (270 KB) DOC (124 KB)
Amendments (51)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that Parliament's final appropriations for 2017 totalled EUR 1 909 590 000, or 19,25 % of heading V of the Multiannual Financial Framework9 set aside for the 2017 administrative expenditure of the Union institutions as a whole, representing a 3,9 % increase over the 2016 budget (EUR 1 838 613 983); stresses that this increase is largely above the Belgian inflation rate in 2017 which was only 2,65%; _________________ 9 Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020.
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that seven transfers were approved in accordance with Articles 27 and 46 of the Financial Regulation in the financial year 2017, which amounted to EUR 57 402 860 or 3,01 % of final appropriations; observes that the majority of transfers were related to the Parliament’s buildings policy, and in particular to help fund the annual lease payments for the Konrad Adenauer building project; strongly rejects the often last-minute-transfers aiming at financing the Parliament’s building policy; asks the Secretary-General and the Bureau to provide the Budget committee with all the documents, plans and contracts related to the building policy, and to publish them;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls on the Secretary-General and all responsible DGs to work together to draft a comprehensive overview of reductions in staff numbers implemented from 2014 onwards, including moves by staff from administration to political groups and among institutions; underlines that this practice of staff rotation raises the question of whether job descriptions are appropriate; is strongly concerned that excessive staff reduction leaves Members and Accredited Parliamentary Assistants (APAs) with an additional administrative burden, which is to the detriment of the actual legislative work that Members and APAs are supposed to fulfil; underlines that a paperless office and the proper use of digital technology such as digital signature also for plenary-related files, two-step- verification and electronic files would lessen the administrative burden for all parties involved and contribute to the achievement of the paper-reduction objectives and the implementation of European Parliament's EMAS policy;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Notes that the revised rules governing the payment of financial contributions for sponsored visitors groups entered into force on 1 January 2017; calls on the Secretary-General to release the assessment of these rules without delay; is extremely worried about some cases, including Elmar Brok, MEP, who, according to media reports, generated cash from Parliament visitors groups; is of a firm opinion that the rules governing the payment of financial contributions should be revised as soon as possible in order to avoid that any benefit can be generated by Members; calls on the Bureau to generalize the reimbursement based on bills for visitors groups; recalls its request to delete the possibility to appoint APAs as head of a group;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Notes with appreciation that technical solutions were created for Members who wish to use their individual page on the Parliament’s website for publication of meetings with interest representatives; notes also that the Bureau is considering whethercalls on the Bureau to extend this solution to ensure to all Members in order to that information is directly available on Parliament’s website;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Calls on the Parliament's administration to provide an overview of the 2017 appointments of high-officials; and encourages the Secretary-General to initiate additional measures to improve the transparency of and equality during appointment procedures at the European Parliament, taking into account the findings and recommendations of the European Ombudsman in joint cases 488/2018/KR and 514/2018/KR;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 – introductory part
Paragraph 30 – introductory part
30. Still strongly regrets that, according to the Court, the costs of the geographic dispersion of Parliament amount to EUR 114 million per year; takes note of the additional costs linked to Parliament’s 12 journeys per year to Strasburg, which can be broken down as follows for 2017: and also causes more than 19 000 tons of CO2 in emissions1a; _________________ 1a Peer reviewed study “European Parliament two-seat operation: Environmental costs, transport & energy” https://www.greens- efa.eu/files/doc/docs/5830c124ac32d7cfa2 44fda2739fc05a.pdf
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Reiterates its call for the European Parliament to have a single seat, in order to optimize parliamentary and institutional work and to reduce political costs; points out that the annual costs of Parliament’s geographical dispersion range from EUR 156 million to EUR 204 million and that the annual environmental impact is estimated to be as high as 19 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. RegretsConsiders unacceptable that expenditure items such as salaries and mission costs were not communicated in response to the questionnaire; drawis onf the information provided during the 2016 discharge procedure, where salaries paid for EPLO staff amounted to EUR 23 058 210 and mission costs amounted to EUR 1 383 843; assumes that these amounts have not changed significantly for the budgetary year 2017 and remains concerned that costs may outweigh the benefitsfirm opinion that the Secretary General has the duty to reply to all questions put forward by the Members; ; acknowledges the importance of effective communication in Member States but stresses the need for cost-efficiency; invites all decision-making parties involved to strive for more added value particularly with regards to running costs;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Notes that DG PERS’s lead indicator in 2017 is time to deliver; notes with satisfaction that targets and methods of data collection were refined with a general positive assessment of the results; notes that objectives to improve the procedures for recruiting APAs and for admitting children to the Parliament’s kindergarten were not met, but that the difficulties that had been encountered were resolved in 2018; underlines that the process of recruiting APAs at the beginning of the next parliamentary term can be challenging and that delays have to be avoided in the interest of Members and APAs;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Welcomes the fact that promoting equal opportunities remains a key component of Parliament's human resource management policy; takes notestrongly regrets that the gender equality roadmap continues not to be fully implemented through concrete actions and a clear timeline for specific measures, especially concerning the representation of women in middle and senior management positions (40%) by 2020;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Welcomes the implementation of an occasional teleworking scheme for the Secretariat-General of the Parliament; supports the conduction of a survey on the first year of experience of teleworking and asks for the evaluation results to be shared with the Members and all the Parliamentary services; is of the opinion that if the evaluation is positive to generalised the scheme to all staff including the APAs and the staff working for political groups;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. RStrongly regrets that the number of women holding posts at the level of director- general fell from 25 % (3 posts) in 2016 to 17 % (2 posts) in 2017; notespoints out that the overall situation has not changed compared to 2006 when only the number of women holding posts at the level of director-general was 11,1%; highlights that the overall target for 2019 was set at 30% of women holding posts at the level of Director-General; regrets, furthermore, the number of women at director level remained steady from 201606 (29,6%) to 2017 at (30 % (and 14 posts); points out that the overall situation has not improved at all compared to 2006; highlights that the overall target for 2019 was set at 35% of women holding posts at the level of Director; highlights that those figures deviate largely from roadmap on gender equality and diversity; demands to the Secretary-General to report immediately to the BUDG, CONT and FEMM committees the reasons for not respecting the roadmap;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53
Paragraph 53
53. Notes the Parliament’s zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment adopted in 2017; notes also that several initiatives were and are being put in place to deal with harassment practices, in particular an updated roadmap for the adaptation of preventive and early support measures to deal with conflict and harassment between Members and APAs, trainees or other staff, an external audit of the Parliament’s internal practices and procedures, the creation of a network of confidential counsellors, and the organisation of a public hearing with experts in harassment in the workplace; expectsnotes that the results of the external audit to be communicated without delay, once available; were expected by early November 2018 and requests them to be communicated without delay, once available; further expects the full and transparent implementation of the roadmap in accordance with adopted parliamentary resolution, starting or advancing as much as possible already before the end of this legislature;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53 a (new)
Paragraph 53 a (new)
53a. Recommends a thorough revision of the Internal Rules governing missions and duty travel by officials and other servants of the European Parliament and of the Implementing measures for Title VII of the Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Union, in particular as to align the treatment of Accredited Parliamentary Assistants with that of Staff officials.
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57 a (new)
Paragraph 57 a (new)
57a. Reminds the statement by the European Parliament on the exemplary role of buildings in the context of the Energy Efficiency Directive to bring its buildings to the highest energy efficiency standard1a; calls for the development of a coherent, long-term deep renovation strategy for all European Parliament buildings, and for including standard specifications on the extraction of reusable building materials in building renovation contracts; _________________ 1a http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getD oc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA- 2012- 0306+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN uage=EN
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60
Paragraph 60
60. Supports the effort to bring the drivers’ service in-house and the progress achieved so far; notes that the procedure for bringing the drivers’ service in-house allowed for a qualitative and quantitative increase of the services provided to Members, as well as for an effective and efficient response to unforeseeable emergency situations or sudden increases in demand; acknowledges the implementation of the “E-mobility” Road Map with a view to the diversification, greening and electrification of the fleet; ; recalls the 2016 discharge resolution voted in April 2018, which states that the Bureau should not limit itself to electric cars as a more environmentally-friendly solution since there are concerns regarding their production (including the sufficient availability of the necessary resources) and the disposal of batteries at the end of their life-cycle; still regrets that Members were not informed of an analysis regarding alternative fuels such as bio fuels, synthetic fuels or hydrogen fuel cells; underlines that diversification of an environmentally friendly car-fleet would lessen dependence on one supplier and could counteract possible future supply shortages;at a direct train link now exists between the European Parliament in Brussels and the main airport and railway stations, which Members may use free of charge.
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
Paragraph 61
61. Is concerned that the cost/benefit assessment of prices and qualby the high quantity of single use plastics and plastic waste generated by European Parliament canteens and cafeterias and urges the administration to explicitly of the food in Parliament’s self-service canteen remains unbalanced; is disappointed at remove the possibility to offer plastic wrapped and single use plastic products for the upcoming call for tenders on catering; notes the difference in quality between canteens serviced by one and the same service provider; is of the opinion that this aspect needs closer monitoring and therefore calls for a user satisfaction survey to be launched;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
Paragraph 64
64. Strongly condemns the escalation of tensions, which culminated in a 45- minute interruption of plenary work in Strasburg and no and the lack of noticeable efforts for de- escalation; welcomes the agreement that was initiated by the Secretary-General and from the Secretary-General; welcomes the agreement which lead to the re- establishment of regular interpretation activity;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 12 a (new)
Subheading 12 a (new)
General Expenditure Allowance (GEA)
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
Paragraph 68
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
Paragraph 68
68. Takes note of the Bureau’s decision with regard to the General Expenditure Allowance to apply the agreed modifications only after the 2019 elections; takes note of the activities of the Bureau in relation to the General Expenditure Allowance, in particular by creating an ad hoc working group for defining and publishing the rules concerning the use of this allowance; regrets, however, that the only decision taken by the Bureau relates to a non-exhaustive list of eligible expenses which will, moreover, only apply to the newly elected Members after the 2019 elections;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
Paragraph 68
68. Takes note of the Bureau’s decision with regardactivities of the Bureau in relation to the General Expenditure Allowance to apply the agreed modifications only, in particular by creating an ad hoc working group for defining and publishing the rules concerning the use of this allowance; regrets, however, that the only decision taken by the Bureau relates to a non- exhaustive list of eligible expenses which will, moreover, only apply to the newly elected Members after the 2019 elections;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 a (new)
Paragraph 68 a (new)
68a. Furthermore, regrets that the Bureau did not implement the additional proposals that were adopted by the plenary in its resolution on the Discharge 2016 (P8_TA(2018)0124), and its resolution on the General budget of the EU for 2019 (P8_TA(2018)0404), namely: – the need to define, expand and publish the rules concerning the use of the GEA (which requires, inter alia, an exhaustive list of eligible expenses); – that all receipts pertaining to the GEA be kept by Members; – that the unspent share of the GEA be returned at the end of a Member’s mandate;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 a (new)
Paragraph 68 a (new)
68a. Furthermore, regrets that the Bureau did not implement the additional proposals that were adopted by the plenary in its resolution on the Discharge 20161a, and its resolution on the General budget of the EU for 20191b , namely: – the need to define, expand and publish the rules concerning the use of the GEA (which requires, inter alia, an exhaustive list of eligible expenses); – that all receipts pertaining to the GEA be kept by Members – that the unspent share of the GEA be returned at the end of a Member’s mandate; _________________ 1a P8_TA(2018)0124 1b P8_TA(2018)0404
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 b (new)
Paragraph 68 b (new)
68 b. Calls in addition on the Bureau to make the following, additional changes concerning the GEA on top of those already adopted by the plenary: – A 5% sample checks of the GEA spending by the European Parliament's internal auditing; the final results and the findings should be part of the annual internal audit report published by the European Parliament ; – The need for Members to publish, on an annual basis, an overview of their expenditures by category(communication costs, office rental, office supplies ...); – The admission of an independent auditor in charge of the annual check of the accounts and the publication of an auditor’s opinion;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 b (new)
Paragraph 68 b (new)
68b. Calls in addition on the Bureau to make the following, additional changes concerning the GEA on top of those already adopted by the plenary: – A 5% sample checks of the GEA spending by the European Parliament's internal auditing; the final results and the findings should be part of the annual internal audit report published by the European Parliament; – The need for Members to publish, on an annual basis, an overview of their expenditures by category (communication costs, office rental, office supplies ...); – The admission of an independent auditor in charge of the annual check of the accounts and the publication of an auditor’s opinion;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 e (new)
Paragraph 68 e (new)
68e. Calls furthermore on the Bureau to make the following and additional changes concerning the general expenditure allowance on top of those already voted by the Plenary: – A 5% sample checks of the general expenditure allowance spending should be introduced by the European Parliament's internal auditing; the final results and the findings should be part of the annual report published by the European Parliament; – The MEPs should publish, on an annual basis, an overview of their expenditures by category(communication costs, office rental, office supplies...); – the admission of an independent auditor in charge of the annual check of the accounts and the publication of an auditor's opinion;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 c (new)
Paragraph 68 c (new)
68c. Urges the Bureau to implement the democratic will of the plenary concerning the GEA as soon as possible; furthermore, urges the Bureau to immediately reconvene the working group in order to reform the GEA by developing new rules for greater transparency and financial accountability;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 d (new)
Paragraph 68 d (new)
68d. Regrets, however, that the based on those clear and democratic votes the working group of the Bureau could only agree on a non-exhaustive list of eligible expenses, and on the need for each Member of Parliament to have a separate bank account dedicated to funds received as part of the GEA;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 f (new)
Paragraph 68 f (new)
68f. Recalls Article 62 of the Decision of the Bureau of 19 May and 9 July 2008 and the Decision of the Bureau of 5 July and 18 October concerning implementing measures for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, which stipulates that "the sums paid", including the General Expenditure Allowance, "shall be reserved exclusively for the funding of activities linked to the exercise of a Member’s mandate and may not be used to cover personal expenses or to fund grants or donations of a political nature" and that "Members shall pay back any unused amounts to Parliament"; calls upon the Secretary-General and the Bureau of the European Parliament to ensure that those provisions are fully implemented and complied with;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 g (new)
Paragraph 68 g (new)
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 h (new)
Paragraph 68 h (new)
68h. Recalls that on 23 October 1997, in its resolution on the general budget for 1998, Parliament called upon its Bureau to request the Court of Auditors to investigate Parliament’s voluntary pension scheme, which led to the issuance of the Court of Auditor’s opinion No 5/99 dated 16 June 1999 on the “Pension Fund and Scheme for Members of the European Parliament”; calls now on the Bureau tour gently request the Court of Auditors to produce another such opinion on the pension scheme and fund in 2019;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 i (new)
Paragraph 68 i (new)
68i. Recalls that, in a note to the Bureau dated 8 March 2018, its Secretary-General accepted that the pension fund linked to the Members’ voluntary pension scheme “will exhaust its capital well before the end of the pension obligations and possibly already by 2024”; calls therefore upon the Secretary-General and the Bureau, while respecting fully the Statute for Members, to urgently establish with the pension fund a clear plan for the Parliament assuming and taking over its obligations and responsibilities for its Member’s voluntary pension scheme immediately after the 2019 elections;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72 a (new)
Paragraph 72 a (new)
72a. Calls on the Secretary-General to investigate the legal foundations and potential ramifications of the Voluntary Pension Fund and in particular, whether the European Parliament as guarantor is legally and financially sustainable, as the Voluntary Pension Fund is a Luxembourg investment fund, rather than a regular pension fund; underlines that this investigation should be carried out by an independent party;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 13 a (new)
Subheading 13 a (new)
Protection of whistleblowers
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 a (new)
Paragraph 73 a (new)
73a. Recognises that whistleblowing is crucial in preventing and deterring unlawful activities and wrongdoing; notes there were no parliamentary whistleblower cases in 2017 and of the three in 2016, all were accredited parliamentary assistants and were dismissed by their respective Members; emphasizes the vulnerable position accredited parliamentary assistants and interns employed by Members hold in respect to internal whistleblower protection rules; notes with great concern the Secretary-General’s acknowledgement that “whistleblowing rules are applicable to accredited parliamentary assistants but the Parliament cannot provide employment protection”; urges the Secretary-General to address this situation and fulfil the European Parliament’s legal obligation under Staff Regulation to protect whistleblowers for all Union staff classifications; urges the Secretary-General to apply comparable remedies to accredited parliamentary assistant whistleblowers to those accredited parliamentary assistants who are victims of harassment, such as post transfer and salary payment until the end of their contract;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 13 b (new)
Subheading 13 b (new)
Code of conduct for Members, transparency and Ethics
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 a (new)
Paragraph 73 a (new)
73a. Repeatedly raises its concerns about the current code of conduct for Members since it does not offer sufficient safeguards in order to avoid conflicts of interests; strongly believes that Article 3 of the Code of Conduct for Members should be rephrased to include a clear ban on Members holding additional jobs or other paid work; rules should be further improved in order to avoid conflict of interest for former Members engaging in lobbying activities directed towards the European institutions during the period of time receiving transition allowance;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 b (new)
Paragraph 73 b (new)
73b. Notes the Commission’s proposal of 23 April 2017 on Protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law; supports the Parliament’s corresponding report adopted in the Legal Affairs committee on 20 November 2018; laments that Union staff are not part of the material scope of the proposed directive; recognises that protections in the Legal Affairs committee report would afford more protections than in the Parliaments’ own internal rules; urges the Secretary- General to bring these internal rules into line with the parliament’s position on the proposed Directive;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 d (new)
Paragraph 73 d (new)
73d. Deplores the breakdown of the inter-institutional negotiations on the reform of the EU Transparency Register and regrets that it is the European Parliament that is being blamed for the stalling of the negotiations given its refusal to introduce the obligation on rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs to publish information about their meetings with lobbyists; calls for a reform of the Staff Regulations so that political group staff are covered by lobbying transparency obligations; and reiterates its call on the bureau of the Parliament to enable a space on the European Parliament website for Members to publish their schedules meetings with lobbyists should they chose to do so;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 e (new)
Paragraph 73 e (new)
73e. Highlights that transparency and freedom of information are enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights which establishes the right to access documents held by the European institutions and calls for an external review of the Parliament's transparency levels using key open government indicators with a view to increasing the already high standards of transparency; recalls that the reform of Regulation 1049/2001 is long overdue; and calls on the European Parliament administration to regularly publish – in an open source, machine- readable format, the results of committee and plenary votes;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 f (new)
Paragraph 73 f (new)
73f. Calls for a reform of the Parliament's ethics Advisory Committee so that it is empowered to initiate investigations and proactively check the declarations of interest of Members; proposes that it be composed of independent experts and requests an assessment of the costs involved in setting up an independent office for ethics and integrity;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 77 a (new)
Paragraph 77 a (new)
77a. Underlines the costs, emissions and health and safety issues created by Strasbourg transport boxes (“canteens”) and suggests their immediate removal in view of available IT solutions such as print-on-demand, system approaches such as paperless office and IT equipment such as tablets and laptops;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
Paragraph 82
82. Welcomes the Parliament’s positive contribution to sustainable development through its political role and its role in legislative procedures; is aware of its own environmental impact which the institution tracks and continuously ameliorates through the EMAS Certification and its environmental policy;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82 a (new)
Paragraph 82 a (new)
82a. Underlines the impact of European Parliament staff mobility on local air quality and calls for concrete actions to be implemented ensuring transparency and action towards a positive contribution of the institution during pollution peaks at all sites;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83
Paragraph 83
83. Commends the Parliament’s commitment to green public procurement (GPP); notes that in 2017, 40,71 % of the contracts were classified as green, 10,96 % as light green and 48,33 % did not have any environmental dimension; calls for a mandatory consultation of the GPP helpdesk for all calls for tenders and for setting an ambitious target for green contracts to mainstream and fully exploit the potential of GPP in the European Parliament;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84
Paragraph 84
84. Welcomes the creation of a sustainable mobility working group in the European Parliament and the introduction of first measures such as the pilot-project of electric scooters for work- related journeys between the Union institutions’ buildings but also for commuting between home and work; notes, however, that the vehicles’ performance is lower than expected; encourages the Parliament to make sure the contractor will improve the vehicles’ capabilities, particularly the battery;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84 a (new)
Paragraph 84 a (new)
84a. Welcomes, in the context of the energy and climate policy of the Union for 2030 and beyond, additional measures to decrease the emissions and offset unavoidable emissions in order to become 100 % carbon neutral institution; calls on the Parliament to lead by example and develop further CO2 offsetting policies for the European Parliament's premises;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90
Paragraph 90
90. Welcomes the fact that the independent external auditor for the political groups issued only unqualified opinions; highlights that this is a positive development in contrast to the Parliament discharge procedure for the budget year 2016, where the independent external auditor issued a qualified audit opinion in the case of one political groupthe ENF group (European of Nations and Freedom) ;