39 Amendments of Eleftherios SYNADINOS related to 2017/2022(BUD)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the credibility and moral integrity of Parliament as one arm of the budgetary authority admittedly depends to a large extent on its ability to bringeffectively manage its own spending under controlwithin budgetary provisions;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that the amount set aside for extraordinary investment and expenditure in 2018 is EUR 47,6 million, maintaining the same level as in 2017; considers thatquestions whether the 2019 communication campaign ought to not be considered as extraordinary expenditure;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. EmphasisUnderlines that the largest part of Parliament's budget is regularly fixed by statutory or contractual obligations and is subject to annual indexation;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines the Parliament’s key functions are to legislate, represent citizens and scrurepresent citizens, co- legislate, scrutinise the work of other Union institutions and certain agencies and bodies, nominally approve decisions of the Commission and the Council and legitinmise the work of other instituCollege of Commissioners, while the core aim of parliamentary services is to fully support all the elected representatives in their work with respect to the aforementioned functions;
Amendment 27 #
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 and aims, and all effective efforts to strive for a more efficient use of public money are strongly encouragupported;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. WelcomAcknowledges the response to the request from the Committee on Budgets, in its resolution of 14 April 2016 on Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 20178 , and repeated in its resolution on the Council’s position on the draft general budget of the Union for the financial year 20179 , concerning medium and long-term budgetary planning, including a clear distinction between investments and operational expenditure relating to the functioning of Parliament as well as its statutory obligations (including on rents and acquisitions); __________________ 8 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0132. 9 Texts adopted , P8_TA(2016)0411.
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the creation of a working group on the procedures establishing the Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure; notes that Parliament has called for consideration to be given to a further revision of the Rules regarding internal budgetary procedures10 ; underlines the need for Members of the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets to receive unhindered relevant information relating to the estimates procedure in a timely and intelligible manner and with the necessary level of detail, in order to allow the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets to take prompt and appropriate decisions with a comprehensive picture of the state and needs of Parliament's budget; __________________ 10 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0484. Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0484.
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Reiterates its call on the Secretary- General to make, without undue delay, a proposal for presenting the budget to the general public in appropriate detail and in an intelligible and user-friendly manner on the website of the Parliament in order to enable all citizens tosupport citizens on making informed political decisions and further enable them to scrutinise and develop a better understanding of Parliament's activities, priorities and corresponding spending patterns;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Takes note ofWelcomes the ongoing measendeavoures to continue to empower Parliament's security, relating to buildings, equipment and staff, cyber- security and communication security; requests the Secretary-General and the Bureau to carry onpersevere with the Global Security Concept to continue to provide structural, operational and cultural improvements in Parliament's security;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Believes that recent events demonstrate the likelihood of cyber- attacks is constant and persistent, while the impact of potential effects has increased dramasubstantically, with the technology behind such attacks often outpacing the cybersecurity measures to combat them; considers that IT tools have become important instruments for Members and staff to carry out their workpolitical functions, but are nevertheless vulnerable to such attacks; welcomes therefore the embedding of cybersecurity in Parliament’s overall strategic management framework, and considers this will enablimprove the institution to better protect its assets and information's capacity to withstand such attacks and better protect its assets and information; warns that the Parliament will nevertheless remain vulnerable to a sustained organised attack, especially one with subversive intent;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that despite the installation of SECure EMail system (SECEM) the Parliament is nevertheless unable to receive restricted and non- classified briefings from other institutions; notes that Parliament is not in a position to develop its own Classified Information System (CIS) alone and; requests ongoing negotiations are ongoing with other institutions on this matter to intensify; invites the Secretary- General to presenport to the Committee on Budgets more information regarding the ongoing negotiations, before the Parliament's reading of the budget in autumn 2017;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. WelcomNotes the signature of a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the Belgian Government and the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the European External Action Service, and other institutions based in Brussels, on comprehensive security verifications for all external contractors’ staff wishing toprior to fully accessing the Union institutions;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recalls that the last mid-term building strategy was adopted by the Bureau in 2010; questions, with much regret, why the Bureau has miserably failed to present a long-term strategy for Parliament buildings during this legislature, despite the Parliament’s previous robust resolutions; invites the Secretary- General and Vice-Presidents to present in good faith to the Committee on Budgets the new mid- term strategy on buildings as soon as possible, before the Parliament's reading of the budget in autumn 2017;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Reiterates its call for a more transparent decision-making and implementation process in the field of buildings policy, based on early information, having due regard to Article 203 of the Financial Regulation; calls in this regard for more information on the extension of the WAYENBERG crèche;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls for substantially 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; notes 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 major concern at the possible confusion regarding the amounts to be spent on studies and removals; urges the Bureau and Secretary- General to appropriately and comprehensively inform the Committee on Budgets on all subsequent steps and provide a clear breakdown of costs as soon as possible;
Amendment 57 #
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; notrecognizes the on- going practice of using the year-end ‘mopping up transfer’ (ramassage) to contribute to current building projects; considerunderstands 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 evenpose the potential risk of incentiviseing over-budgeting in certain areas;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Invites the Vice-Presidents responsible and the Secretary-General to presenomptly report to the Committee on Budgets awith a full progress report on the KAD building;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. WelcomNotes the communication campaign as a helpful effort to explaintool for a presentation of the purpose of the Union and the Parliament to the citizens; underlines, however, that this campaign should be largely limited to explaining the role of the European Union and the Parliament;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes that in advance of the forthcoming 2019 European elections, preparatory work on the communication campaign is already due to begin this year; welcomes asupports the shorter two year pre-election period for the communication campaign compared to the three year pre-election period for the 2014 European elections;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Believes the Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM) should act ondopt and implement the recommendations from the evaluation of the 2014 European election campaign11 , and prioritise the collection of data for campaign projects, per unit, based on predefined key indicators in order to measure their impact; __________________ 11 Deloitte, December 2015 study. Deloitte, December 2015 study.
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. WelcomesNotes that the work of the Parliament’s Secretariat is also aimed at empowering all Members equally in their mandates; encourages the continued development of those services which enhance Members’ ability tothe ability of all Members to perform their expected functions, in particular scrutiniseing the work of the Commission and Council and representing citizens without prejudice;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Welcomes in particular the ever increasing quality ofNotes the advice and research provided to Members and committees through the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) and the policy departments; approves of the four specific projects being developed over the medium- term in the European Parliament library, namely the digital library, improved resources for research, comparative law sources and open library; considers these projects as a means to improve support to both Members and staff, as well as facilitating access to the external research community and citizens; notes the need to maintain the corpus of the provided research and advice organised in a user- friendly and easily accessible manner;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Notes that the recently revised Rules of Procedure12 have limited Members to a maximum of three oral explanations of vote per part-session, but remains concerned about the additional costs required for interpretation that they generate; urg; invites the Secretary-General to provide a detailed breakdown of the costs related to oral explanations of vote; indicates the availability of alternatives such as written explanations of vote as well as a wealth of public communications facilities within Parliament’s premises for Members to explain their voting positions; calls, as an interim measure, for the purposes of clarifying whether disproportional additional costs are required for interpretation that they generate; indicates the availability of alternatives as provided on and stipulated by the Rules of Procedure, such as written explanations of vote; calls for oral explanation of votes to be regularly placed at the end of business each day on the plenary agenda; __________________ 12 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0484 - Rule 183(1).
Amendment 118 #
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 increasedoverall adequate;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. NotStresses that, while political groups have been exempted from these annual staff reduction measures since 201414 , the conciliation agreement on the 2017 budget included an increase of 76 posts for political groups, fully compensated by an equal decrease in posts from the establishment plan of Parliament's Secretariat; __________________ 14 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0437; Texts adopted, P8_TA(2014)0036; Texts adopted, P8_TA(2015)0376; Texts adopted, P8_TA(2016)0411.
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Considers that the regretful loss of 136 posts from the Parliament’s Secretariat in 2016, due to the annual staff reduction and the respective increase of political group staff posts, may create difficulties foraffect the provision of services by the Parliament’s administration; calls on the Secretary- General to provide more information regarding staff reduction measures last year, and to evaluate the consequences of budgetary decisions on the functioning of the institution;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Welcomes, in light of these reduction measures,Notes the proposal to convert 50 permanent AST posts into 50 permanent AD posts, which has a negligent budgetary impact, albeit limited; notes in addition, the proposal to convert three temporary AST posts into three temporary AD post’s in the President’s cabinet;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Considers that interpretation and translation are essentiparamount to the effectiveness and pivotal to the functioning of the House; re-iterates Parliament’s position expressed in its abovementioned resolution of 14 April 2016 that the Secretary-General should make further rationalisation efforts and proposals, such as extending the use of translation and interpretation on demand, as well as examining the potential efficiency gains from utilising and investing on latest language technologies, and assessing the impact of the revised framework for staff interpreters in improving resource- efficiency and productivity;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Welcomes the continuation ofNotes the measures taken by the Parliament to introduce Irish as a full official language by 1 January 2021; notes in this regard that no further posts will be required in 2018; nevertheless askinvites the Secretary-General to continue to consult Irish Members with a view to possible resource-efficiencies, without compromising the guaranteed rights of Members;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Urges the Secretary-General to build on the existing cooperation agreements between the Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, with a view to maximising synergies by identifying other areas in which back office functions could be shared; calls in addition, for the Secretary- General to undertake a study on possible proposals on synergies in back office functions and services that can also be made between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council and consequently proceed with initiating the establishment of the respective cooperation agreements;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Considers that recent justified controversies surrounding the ad hoc interpretation of the rules regarding the funding of European political parties and political foundations have exposed weaknesses in existing management and control systems which could lead to accusations of bias; notes that those potential failings directly lead to questions on how the system of checks and balances is best served;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Believes that the entry into force of Regulations (EU) No 1141/201415 and (EU) No 1142/201416 will provide additional control mechanisms and disillusioning bureaucratic layers, such as the requirement to register with the Authority for European political parties and political foundations; considers however that there is furthersubstantial room for improvement to these measures; notes that parties and foundations will begin to apply for funding under the new rules in the budgetary year 2018; believes that the fairness and the balanced and non- partisan nature of the new rules remains to be seen upon their application; __________________ 15 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 1). 16 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1142/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 as regards the financing of European political parties (OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 28).
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Highlights that a number ofcertain issues have been identified with the current system of co-financing, in which contributions and grants from the Parliament’s budget for both parties and foundations cannot exceed 85% of eligible expenditure, with the remaining 15% to be covered by own resources; notes for instance that shortfalls in membership contributions and donations are often balanced by contributions-in- kind, despite difficulties in determining both their value and their necessity in realising the work programme of a party or foundation;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. BelievesSupports the idea that European political parties and foundations should become more reliant on transparent own resources, including donations and membership contributions, and reduce their dependency on the Parliament’s budget; considers that the generous 85% upper limit of contributions or grants should be progressively lowered; maintainbelieves that an increasing reliance on own resources would loweris ethically justified; notes that the risk to the Parliament’s budget in recovering amounts erroneously or fraudulently spent; would also be decreased if the percentage contributions or the amounts per se also decreased; notes that any decisions on increasing reliability on own resources is based solely on an understanding of how political parties should ethically function and should not impact on the pluralistic nature of democratic participation;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Notes the ongoing dialogue between the European Parliament and national parliaments; calls onfor this to be strengthened in order to develop a better understanding of the contribution of the European Parliament and the Union in Member Statesignificantly strengthened and further normalised;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Notes the request for external studies and opinions in order to support the work of committees and other political bodies in analysing the possible impact of Brexit; emphasises that until the negotiations on the UK’s exit from the Union are concluded the UK remains a full member of the Union and all the rights and obligations of membership remainas stipulated by the Treaties and other agreements remain fully binding and in force; underlineexpects therefore that the decision of the UK to withdraw from the Union is unUK's withdrawal procedures are not likely to have an impact on the Parliament’s 2018 budget effective on 2018;
Amendment 190 #
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 estimated the costs of the geographic dispersion of the Parliament to be 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; believes that there is an impact on both the productivity and the effective and rational functioning of Parliament; underlines the negative public perception caused by this dispersion, and therefore; reiterates its position in calling for a mutually agreed roadmap to a single seat; __________________ 17 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0498.
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Continues to stably question the added value of the LUX Prize, particularly given that the participants in a survey to determine the awareness and perceptionawareness of the prize wereis largely limited to some Members and film-makers;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Calls upon the Secretary-General and the Bureau to instil a culture of cost effectiveness and performance-based budgeting across Parliament’s administration, following the positive example already put into practice by the Directorate-General for Finance (DG FINS); urginvites all parties involved in the drafting of the Parliament's estimates to identify and propose negative priorities in order to free up spending for the Parliament's core responsibilities; considers this exercise particularly vital in the context of maintaining Parliament's role, key functions to legislate, represent citizens and scrutinise the work of other institutionand overarching aims;