Activities of Marco VALLI related to 2017/2022(BUD)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2018 PDF (1 MB) DOC (122 KB)
Amendments (20)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that the share of Parliament’'s budget in 2018 should be maintained under 20% of heading V; notemust provide for an optimisation of current resources and must also be significantly reduced through as many savings as possible; regrets that the level of preliminary draft estimates for 2018 corresponds to 19,06%, which is just barely lower than that achieved in 2017 (19,26%) and the lowest part of heading V in the past nine years; underlines that the forecast level of inflation for 2017 should not be considered as the main benchmark for increases of ordinary expenditure; asks for substantial weighted cuts, to eliminate money waste and in order to make savings without affecting legislative work; notes that there is still space for savings in order to fully compensate the increase due to legal obligations;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. NoteRegrets that the amount set aside for extraordinary investment and expenditure in 2018 is EUR 47,6 million, the same level as in and that the level of that expenditure has not been reduced compared to 2017; considers that the 2019 communication campaign ought to not be considered as extraordinary expenditure, due to the cyclical nature of elections which occur every five years;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises that the largest part of Parliament's budget is fixed by statutory or contractual obligations and is subject to annual indexation; in this regard, calls for an annual indexation based on an average of the current indexation rate of all Member States and underlines that the annual indexation should not be applied to the salaries of Members or to salaries of Union staff members with the same or higher wage; calls for a 15 % reduction tothe M monthly salaries of Members, as well as to their daily allowances in order to give a strong signal to European citizens, who are facing a difficult economic, social and historical moment, and to progressively reduce the current negative perception of the Union politics;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that savings compared to the proposal of the Secretary-General are required in areas which are not related to these key functions, and all efforts to strive for a more efficient and transparent use of public money are strongly encouraged;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Regrets the decision to provide the President of the European Parliament with a close protection service composed of 12 body guards; asks for a revision of that decision;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls for more information on the project to renovate the Paul Henri Spaak (PHS) building, specifically any opinions from external contractors on the necessity to renovate the building, which has had a short 25-year lifespan; noteregrets the level of appropriations proposed by the Secretary- General in 2018 concerning studies, preparatory projects and works, and the provision of assistance to the project management team; expresses concern at the possible confusion regarding the amounts to be spent on studies and removals; urges the Bureau and Secretary- General to inform the Committee on Budgets on all subsequent steps and provide a clear breakdown of costs as soon as possible; asks for a new independent estimate of the expected costs and not to take in charge the foreseen amount proposed by the Bureau on 3 February 2017;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Considers 2018 to be a critical year for the Konrad Adenauer (KAD) building, as it will mark the end of the work on the East site and the start of work on the West site; notes that the budget allocated to cover the management of this large-scale project has had to be revised in order to strengthen the teams which monitor the progress of the work; notes the on-going practice of using the year-end ‘mopping up transfer’ (ramassage) to contribute to current building projects; considers that while this may be a pragmatic solution to reduce interest rate payments, it nevertheless exists in tension with the transparency of building projects within the Parliament’s budget and could even incentivise over-budgeting in certain areas; calls for the use of ramassage to be stopped and for the presentation of realistic estimates of expected expenditures;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Cstresses that the 2014 campaign for the elections promoted by the Parliament didn't provide the expected results, with a slight decrease in participation in the European elections; considers the total amount proposed for the communication campaign for the 2019 elections to be too high, with EUR 25 million of expenditure in 2018 and EUR 8,33 million in 2019; notes that a higher amount of financial commitments are required in 2018, nevertheless considers that the distribution of appropriations could be adjusted by lowering spending in 2018; asks for the total cut of the proposed amount and invites the Secretary-General to use the internal communication services to promote a cost-free web campaign on social networks;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. In preparation for the ninth legislature, calls on the Secretary-General to submit to the Bureau a more precise list of expenses defrayable under the General Expenditure Allowance (GEA), as well as suggesting measures to improve the accountability of this expenditure, using best practice cases from national delegations in the Parliament and Member States; calls for an annual expenses sheet from each Member; believes that Members should also be able to provide links on the Parliament website to places where they currently publish their spending records; reiterates that the improved transparency of the GEA should not require additional staff in Parliament's administration; asks that the next revision of the Statute of Members will include the proposal of an annual mandatory publication of the use of the GEA;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26 a. Believes that Members should set an example to citizens who are facing the disastrous consequences of the economic crisis in several Member States and therefore calls for a reduction of at least 15% in their salaries and benefits, including the GEA;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Considers that the current envelope of EUR 24 164 per month for parliamentary assistance per Member is more than adequate and should not be increasedshould be reconsidered and decreased to an appropriate level, such as the 2015 level;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. Calls for a transparent and appropriate use of reimbursement of the Members' travel expenses and recommends incentivising the use of economy class both with regard to air transport and to rail transport; calls for full transparency in this regard, above all concerning travel by car within the Member State of election and recommends, with regard to such travel, at the end of the mandate, the publication of all reimbursement requests submitted over the five years of mandate, such as dates and the kilometres travelled;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27 b. Firmly believes that the Parliament chauffeur service should be used by Members exclusively for reaching Parliament’s premises from the airport or station or vice versa, by using Parliament minivans and minibuses, and calls for a restricted weekday budget for taxi reimbursement requests; recalls that Members have the opportunity to freely use rail transport in Belgium;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. NoteRegrets that the proposed expenditure relating to political parties amounts to EUR 32,4 million and the proposed expenditure relating to political foundations amounts to EUR 19,3 million, totalling EUR 51,8 million or 2,6% of the Parliament’s budget for 2018;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Considers that recent controversies surrounding the funding of European political parties and political foundations have exposshowed and demonstrated weaknesses in existing management and control systems and calls for a complete annulation of those expenditures;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Believes that European political parties and foundations should become moretotally reliant on own resources and reducecut their dependency on the Parliament’s budget; considers that the 85% upperany limit of contributions or grants should be progressively loweredtotally cut; maintains that an increasingonly a complete reliance on own resources would lowereliminate the risk to the Parliament’'s budget in recovering amounts erroneously or fraudulently spent;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)
Paragraph 40 a (new)
40 a. regrets the high cost of the Parliament information offices located within the Union and in Washington; asks for a substantial reduction in the costs related to the 36 EP information offices through their merger with national parliaments;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Recalls Parliament’'s resolution of 20 November 2013 on the location of the seats of the European Union’'s Institutions17, which; regrets that the estimated the costs of the geographic dispersion of the Parliament to bare between EUR 156 million and EUR 204 million and equivalent to 10% of the Parliament's budget; emphasises the environmental impact of the geographic dispersion is estimated to be between 11,000 to 19,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions; underlines the negative public perception caused by this dispersion, and therefore firmly reiterates its position in calling for a roadmap to a single seat to be discussed at the next Treaty revision and no later than 2020; underlines that a single seat solution would allow important savings with regard to the costs related to the missions of Members and staff , on which firmly recalls transparency and an appropriate practice; __________________ 17 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0498.
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Considers that further savings can be made on furniture expenditure, givenand deplores the large increase from the 2016 outturn to the 2017 budget, which has not only been maintained but slightly increased to EUR 6,18 million in 2018;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Calls upon the Secretary-General and the Bureau to instil a culture of performance-based budgeting across Parliament’s administration, following the positive example already put into practice by the Directorate-General for Finance (DG FINS); urges all parties involved in the drafting of the Parliament's estimates to identify negative priorities in order to identify money savings and to free up spending for the Parliament's core responsibilities; considers this exercise particularly vital in the context of Parliament key functions to legislate, represent citizens and scrutinise the work of other institutions;