Activities of Josep-Maria TERRICABRAS related to 2017/2044(BUD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2018
Amendments (13)
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Considers that, as regards AMIF, priority should be given to projects supporting asylum seekers and integration of migrants and refugees; acknowledges the positive contribution of regional and local authorities as well as civil society organisations in that regard, and asks for the Union and the Member States to support their actions including by granting them direct access to AMIF;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Deplores the increasing Union financial support to third countries such as Libya or Turkey to prevent migration, despite concerns related to the human rights situation in those third countries;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Stresses the significant role played by civil society organisations in saving the lives of migrants and asylum seekers at the external borders as well as in safeguarding, promoting and implementing their rights; calls for more financial support to be given to strengthen the activities of civil society;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2 d. Deplores the fact that AMIF funds are currently used by Member States to operate internment centres for foreigners for the purposes of return operations; underlines that some of these facilities, for example in Spain, have been criticised by civil society for degrading treatment and physical assaults by police officers, discrimination on grounds of nationality, lack of care for members of vulnerable groups, and disregard for the health of the inmates;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Regrets the significant budget reduction for the Internal Security Fund (ISF) (35,6 % in PA); stresses that in light of the continued security threat in the Union, ISF funding should be sufficient to aid Member States in dealing with threats to internal security; highlights the need to sufficiently fund efforts to improve information sharing and to fight cybercrime;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Regrets that part of the budgetary envelope initially foreseen for the Dublin reform in 2018 was redistributed to reinforce security measures such as strengthening the equipment pool of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency or increasing the Eurosur funding; calls for increased funding for reception and integration of migrants and asylum seekers;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Deplores the fact that, in the context of the Union Passenger Name Records (PNR) system, the Commission proposes an additional amount of EUR 70 million of funding to assist Member States in setting up their passenger information units on top of the EUR 50 million already provided through the ISEC 2007- 2013 programme; notes that according to a recent Commission implementation report, only four Member States have fully functional or almost functional PNR systems in place despite the political pressure put on the European Parliament by some Member States in 2015-2016 to adopt the PNR Directive as soon as possible; calls on the Commission to redistribute this funding to more cost- effective projects;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Regrets that more than EUR 115 million for the Entry-Exit System and more than EUR 55 million for the ETIAS have been already earmarked in the ISF for 2018, despite the fact that these systems have failed to demonstrate their cost-effectiveness, proportionality and practical feasibility and also raise severe data protection concerns;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes the proposed increases in the DB 2018 for expenditure and establishment plans for all agencies in the area of Justice and Home Affairs classified as holding “new tasks”; regrets however that the increases proposed are lower than those requested by most agencies; stresses the importance of staff increases for eu-LISA and Europol; welcomes the budget increase for the European Data Protection Supervisor in view of the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation1 .; calls for a budget increase for Eurojust due to the increased requirements for judicial cooperation in the Union, in particular in light of the establishment of an EPPO; underlines that the additional financial resources for Europol and Eurojust should be invested preferably into the funding of Joint Investigation Teams; _________________ 1 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC ( General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Welcomes the substantial increase (+530%) of the budget for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency's supporting operational activities (Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer), which are related to the strategic cooperation with Frontex's Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights and the setting-up and running of the complaints mechanism;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Believes that there is no direct link between migration and terrorism in Europe; asks for increased funding to fight against the phenomenon of radicalisation leading to violent extremism within the Union; considers that this can be achieved by promoting integration and fighting against discrimination, racism and xenophobia;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Calls for additional human resources to be allocated to the EASO in order to support an enhanced mandate to transform EASO into a fully-fledged agency which is capable of providing the necessary operational and technical assistance to the Member States;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Calls for additional human resources to be allocated to the Fundamental Rights Agency; regrets that the Fundamental Rights Agency's mandate still limits its role in support of fundamental rights; underlines that the Fundamental Rights Agency should be able to offer opinions on legislative proposals on its own initiative and that its remit should extend to all areas of rights protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, including, for instance, issues of police and judicial cooperation;