Activities of Maria GRAPINI related to 2023/2130(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section I – European Parliament
Amendments (23)
Amendment 1 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas trust in Parliament’s integrity and the rule of law is paramount for the functioning of European democracy; whereas citizens’ rights are fully respected;
Amendment 5 #
8. Notes that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the exceptionally high level of inflation, which by the end of the year 2022 still stood at 10,4 % for the Union on an annual basis, had a profound influence on the 2022 financial year; acknowledges that all Directorates-General and the Secretary- Generalthe Parliament’s administration haves put considerable effort into the implementation of Parliament’sthe budget with a view to meeting urgent needs arising from the crisis situation; welcomes the donations of technical equipment by Parliament to support Ukraine in difficult times of war;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. The political groups receive assistance and advice from Parliament when they request; notes that in 2022 the financial departments of the political groups intensified their signatures with national delegations in order to ensure the sound management of the appropriations in line 400;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. HighlightsIs aware of the fact that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and until the gradual lifting of sanitary restrictions at the beginning of 2022, the Bureau’s deliberations were focused primarily on decisions aiming to protect the integrity of Members and staff while ensuring business continuity and implementing practical solidarity measures vis-à-vis the three host Member States of Parliament;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Stresses that transparency, accountability, and integrity are essential ethics principles within the Union institutions and particularly Parliament as the house of European democracy; notes that Parliament reconfirms trust in the Union’s decision-making process by improving transparency, ethics and good conduct in the most representative European institution through its actions;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)
Paragraph 38 a (new)
38a. Notes the complexity of activities of the DG COMM; notes the need to increase the visibility of the work of the European Parliament and to increase citizens’ trust in institution of the Parliament, which would require an increase in the budget for DG COMM;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Notes that, on 10 March 2022, the President issued a revised decision on ‘Security measures to limit the spread of COVID-19’ which meant physical presence for several activities was restored, including re-admitting visitor groups; notwelcomes the decision to increase the paid financial contributions for travel, accommodation, meals and minor local expenses by 10 % for the sponsored visitor groups in 2022; notes the decision by the Bureaucalls on the Bureau to reverse its decision to reduce the annual quota of sponsored visitors per member from 110 to 100 and from 55 to 50 for election years; highlights that the decision to carry over the unused quota from 2020 to 2022, 2023 and 2024 remained unchanged; insists to the Bureau that APAs be eliminated from the list of permitted heads of groups, leaving only a member of the sponsored group or a professional, such as paying agents or travel agencies, to take up the role, in order to prevent APAs from being compelled to take on the financial responsibility, which can amount to substantial sums of money;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47
Paragraph 47
47. Welcomes the actions taken on the fight against disinformation and information manipulation and calls to reinforce these actions in light of the upcoming elections; highlights that one of the most powerful tools against disinformation is positive, factual communication about Parliament’s work;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 a (new)
Paragraph 50 a (new)
50a. Calls for a deep reflection on the new ways of working that can reconcile the needs of Parliament’s administration (including team cohesion, internal communication and on-boarding of newcomers) with the expectations and satisfaction of its staff, which would positively impact their performance as well as the attractiveness of Parliament as an employer; highlights in this context the importance of a genuine social dialogue with the staff representatives on crucial points like a flexible work environment, health and welfare and training and career opportunities;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Highlights that ensuring a fair geographical balance is an important part of creating a truly European public service, remarks that over the years, Parliament has taken a number of measures in that respect; notes that there is still room for improvement; notes that the Bureau has created the legal framework for the organisation of nationality-specific competitions and decided to organise the first of such competitions; highlights that competitions should always be based on meritprofessional training of the person, regardless of age, gender, faith;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Recalls that, on 13 January 2020, the Bureau approved new and more ambitious targets for gender balance at the senior and middle management levels of Parliament’s administration to be achieved by 2024, meaning that women should occupyhold 50% of head of units posts, 50% of director posts and 40% of director-general posts; noterecalls that in 2022, women occupiea gender action plan for the years 2021-2022 aimed at facilitating the implementation of these targets, as well as comprehensively mainstreaming gender into all activities of Parliament, was subsequently developed and approved by the Bureau on 6 July 2020; notes that in 2022, women held 28.6 % of director- general posts, welcomes the fact that 50.8 % of director posts, and 43.5 % of head of unit posts were held by women;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54 a (new)
Paragraph 54 a (new)
54a. Notes with satisfaction that, as requested in the 2021 discharge resolution, At its meeting of 10 July 2023, the Bureau requested to introduce the possibility for a negotiated termination of contract between a Member and their APA, for cases where it is necessary to terminate the contract of an APA for reasons other than a loss of trust;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
55. Acknowledges that the work of APAs is an integral part of the work of Members and therefore of Parliament; notes that following the adoption of the APA statute in 2009, their status over the years has been recognised; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls for due adherence to the rules in place; notes, that since then, APAs participate in official missions to Parliament’s three places of work; the complexity of the agenda in official missions in third countries would require authorisation for accredited assistants to participate;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55 a (new)
Paragraph 55 a (new)
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70
Paragraph 70
70. Takes note of the measures implemented in order to lower Parliament’s energy consumption, such as reducing maximum heating temperatures in office areas and increasing minimum cooling temperatures, switching off the heating and cooling systems during the weekend and public holidays, reducing the lighting of building facades and decreasing indoor lighting levels; acknowledges that the measures are to be reassessed as the energy crisis evolves and should always grant the wellbeing of staff;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81
Paragraph 81
81. Recalls that the Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences (DG LINC) is responsible for providing linguistic, technical and logistical support for meetings and conferences; notes that by 31 December 2022, there were 554 staff members, of which 443 were officials, 29 temporary agents and 82 contract agents; highlights that the quality of the interpretation provided has a direct impact on the message conveyed to the citizens of the Union;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83
Paragraph 83
83. Highlights that demand for DG LINC services started increasing considerably as from the beginning of 2022 while COVID-19 restrictions were still in place; acknowledges that this put pressure on resources as more interpreters, technical support and complex planning operations were needed due to social distancing and other restrictions; takes note that the effects of inflation had an impact on the remuneration of external conference interpreter agents; notes that the increased cost of interpretation was partially mitigated by remote interpretation of Strasbourg plenary sessions from Brussels; with the aim of improving working conditions, primarily better sound quality and a limitation on the number and duration of interpreting hours of remote speakers;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84
Paragraph 84
84. Takes note that interpreter representatives contested the working conditions applicable to interpreting for remote participants due to the impact on the health and well-being of interpreters that resulted from remote interpretation for long periods of time, in particular the reported hearing problems; recalls the duty of care owed by the European institutions to their workers; ; highlights that the resulting industrial action in the summer and autumn of 2022 led to interpreting stoppages, affecting remote speakers; remarks that interim Interpreter Working Arrangements for meetings with remote participation entered into force on 17 October 2022; notes that they allowed for restoration of interpretation for remote speakers while maintaining the reduced weekly working hours for interpreters, thus resulting in a reduction of the service provision; notes that social dialogue aiming to establish a permanent framework and full restoration of interpretation services was ongoing at the end of 2022 and was concluded in 2023;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84 a (new)
Paragraph 84 a (new)
84a. Stresses that, under Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, Members have the right to speak in the official language of their choice, which reflects European cultural and linguistic diversity and also makes the Union institutions more accessible and transparent to all Union citizens; welcomes the exceptional work done by interpreters in 2022, ensuring, as far as possible, that public debates are interpreted in all official EU languages;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 85 a (new)
Paragraph 85 a (new)
85a. Appreciates the need for interpreters for the Head of Delegation to participate in official missions to third countries;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 107
Paragraph 107
107. Recalls thatWelcomes the internalisation of general security services in Luxembourg which entered into force on 1 January 2022; confirms the difficulty of attracting and recruiting specialised staff from all Member States in the security field with the conditions offered under function group I; recalls the particular situation in Luxembourg, where the salary offered in this function group is lower than the national minimum inter-professional wage, forcing Parliament to resort to social compensation;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 114 a (new)
Paragraph 114 a (new)
114a. Considers that harassment of the parliamentary assistant by other parliamentary assistants or Parliament officials should also be taken into account;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117 a (new)
Paragraph 117 a (new)
117a. Acknowledges that Parliament is not involved in the management of the Fund’s investment portfolio but expresses its concern regarding press reports about the investments made by the Fund in controversial sectors and the potential reputational risk for the institution;