Activities of Malin BJÖRK related to 2021/2122(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of European Asylum Support Office (now European Union Agency for Asylum) for the financial year 2020
Amendments (3)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the downward trend in the number of interim workers compared to the total number of staff; highlights that one of the reasons underlying the dependency on interim staff was also the delay of the adoption and entry into force of the Regulation establishing a European Union Agency for Asylum (the ‘Regulation’); welcomes that an agreement has been reached in this regard and that the new legal framework will allow the new agency to employ remunerated experts; underlines that in order to decrease this dependency, the Office carried out an active dialogue with the Commission; regrets that only short term solutions could be identified and that the Office was allowed to employ 58 contractual agents in 2020 only for a period of one year, until the envisaged adoption of the Regulation; notes however, that due to the delay in the adoption of the Regulation, the Office found itself in a difficult situation, as the agreement did not allow it to extend these contracts until the entry into force of the new legal framework; notes with regret a serious lack of foresight on behalf of the Commission when designing and allocating these posts to the Office; underlines that the situation created had a negative impact on the recruitment capabilities and activities of the Office; underlines furthermore that in 2020, the Office had 16 vacant management posts, ten of those had been occupied on an acting basis for more than one year; highlights also that this is at odds with the Staff Regulations, which limits the duration of temporary management appointments to one year;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Draws attention to that the Court found that the procurement procedures for the Office’s rented premises in Rome, carried out in 2016 and 2017, were irregular; reminds that under Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 (the 'Financial Regulation') the Office was required to carry out market prospects before renting premises and it did not do so, and as a result, all subsequent payments made in connection with this contract are irregular, and that in 2020 the associated payments amounted to EUR 266 523; further notes that in 2020 payments amounting to EUR 911 325 were made in connection with procurement procedures declared irregular by the Court in previous years (i.e. procurement for rented premises in Lesbos, for interim workers in Italy and for external experts) and that these payments are irregular according to the Court's findings;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Urges the Office to comply with the Court's observations and take action in order to comply with the required legal obligations; notes that any further delay in this will cause even greater reputational damage;