Activities of Ramona STRUGARIU related to 2021/2167(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2020
Amendments (21)
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the EU has planned a period of unprecedented levels of spending and investment under NextGenerationEU, which will also create significant links with the private sector, therefore making it even more crucial for the EU institutions to have a decision-making process founded on full transparency and on the most stringent ethical rules in order to prevent conflicts of interest and corruption cases;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas according to the Ombudsman, the Commission’s failure to finalise a ‘sustainability impact assessment’ (SIA) before concluding the negotiations on a trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur constituted maladministration; whereas the Ombudsman’s findings confirmunderlined that the Commission had disregarded its own guidelines on the use of SIAs and violated the principles set out in Article 21 TEU, which also apply to trade policy;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas the Commission’s strategy in dealing with petitions refers to its 2016 Communication entitled ‘EU law: Better results through better application’, whose rules establish no administrative procedure or practice concerning petitions; whereas the Commission’s approach, resulting in its systematic refusal to take action on individual petition issues and on petitions concerning areas under Article 6 TFEU can amount to maladministrationis at odds with the provisions of Article 227TFEU and is creating frustration and disappointment for citizens, undermining at the same time the possibility to identify systematic shortcomings regarding EU law occurring in Member States;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets the fact that the Commission did not provide adequate explanations to the Ombudsman’s requests on key elements of its work during the COVID-19 crisis; criticises the fact that in relation toalls on the Commission to clarify its decision-making on emergency public procurement, the Commission did not clarify its approach on how it ensured transparency on the appointments procedure of the members of the various committees, as well as on their independence, and on how it monitored the use of the negotiatedin order to ensure full transparency of the proceduress;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to ensure full transparency on all details of the research into, and the development, purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, by publishing non-redacted versions of the Advance Purchase Agreements and the Purchase Agreement and by making the disclosure of all details in future contracts concerning COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 technologies mandatory; acknowledges the competitive nature of the market for vaccines, as well as the request of the manufacturers to introduce non-disclosure clauses; points out that these realities must be weighed against the interest of the European citizens to have clarity and transparency concerning these agreements; emphasises that any lack of transparency in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic is at odds with citizens’ right to information and fuels disinformation and distrust;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. EncourageSupports the Ombudsman to continue performingin her work to ensure that citizens can fully exercise their democratic rights by, inter alia, directly participating in and following in detail the decision-making process within the EU institutions, as well as by having access to all the relevant information as also stipulated by the CJEU’s case law;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Ombudsman to adoptWelcomes the Ombudsman’s action when it comes to requests on the Commission to provide public access to documents related to recovery and resilience plans of Member States, which are of significant public interest, relating to unprecedented amount that will be allocated under Next GenerationEU; welcomes that the Commission has already made extensive material about the Recovery and Resilience Facility available; stresses that more transparency and strengthened oversight ofby the implementation of the rules and procedures concerningrelevant authorities is needed in this respect, including strengthened oversight by EU Ombudsman of the administrative procedures concerning the EU funds; calls on the EU Ombudsman to explore, together with ENO members, other possible actions within their competence on supervision of the allocation and use of EU funds under NextGenerationEU, in order to protect Union citizens’ rights against possible conflicts of interest and corruption cases, as well as violations of the rule of law, contributing to ensuring the integrity, full transparency and democratic accountability of the EU institutions;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. DeeplyUnderlines that the transparency of the legislative process represents a core element of any representative democracy; regrets the fact that the Council’s current practices with regard to its decision- making process are still marred by a lack of transparency; deplores the fact that the Council is persisting in preventing citizens from having direct and timely access to its legislative documents, while the legislative process is ongoing, in breach of citizens’ right to participate effectively in the decision-making process;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Reiterates its call for the publication of all trilogue documencalls that the European Parliament in its resolution of 17 January 2019 on the Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry OI/2/2017 on the transparency of legislative discussions in the preparatory bodies of the Council of the EU 1a supported the Ombudsman’s proposals on legislative transparency; calls on the Council to improve further legislative transparency, particularly by recording and publishing Member State positions and by making available more trilogue documents; urges the Council to step up its transparency efforts in order to uphold citizens’ democratic rights, as full transparency at all stages of the legislative process, including in the informal negotiations between the three main EU institutions, is crucial to enabling citizens to hold their elected representatives and governments accountable; _________________ 1a P8_TA(2019)0045
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to ensure an approval process for ‘active substances’ in pesticides, which is fully transparent and free from conflicts of interest, committing to put an end to the use of all synthetic pesticides by 2035 at the latest, as well as immediately prohibiting the export of pesticides that have been banned in the EU and stopping the import of foodstuffs produced outside the EU using such unsafe chemicals; notes that the European Citizens' Initiative entitled 'Save Bees and Farmers' has gathered over 1 million signatures across the EU and that this initiative calls for a phase- out of synthetic pesticides in the EU, for measures to restore biodiversity, and for support for farmers to transition to sustainable agriculture; asks the Ombudsman to continue investigating the systems in place at EU level to make sure that the current policies and procedural safeguards in this field guarantee the highest levels of human health and environmental protection, and that the collection and examination of scientific evidence is fully transparent, accurate and free from conflicts of interest;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Ombudsman to launch an inquiry on the Commission’s strategic approach in dealing with petitions, as its action is only limited to issues it considers of strategic importance or which reflect structural problems, founded on an arbitrary methodology and vague criteria, which can breach citizens’ right to good administration and is at odds with the Commission’s duty to oversee the correct application of EU law throughout the Union, arising from Article 17 TEUtherefore excluding individual cases;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Strongly criticises the Commission for its failure to finalise the SIA before concluding the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations; underlines that this meant that the Commission concluded the negotiations without appropriate and updated informarecalls the Parliament’s position abouthat the potential social, environmental and economicsocial impacts of the proposed agreement and without properly taking into account the views of all stakeholders, which must represent an additional reason to stop the adoption offree trade agreements must be thoroughly assessed prior to the conclusion of trade negotiations; calls on the Commission to step up its efforts with regards to the shared pre-ratification commitments between the EU and the EU-Mercosur trade agreementcountries, particularly in the area of climate change and deforestation ;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Criticises the decision of those Member States, which held the Presidency of the Council, to use corporate sponsorship, as it causedentails serious damagereputational risks to the EU’s image, stressing the importance for the future to refrain from any sponsorship; considers paramount the adoption of the most stringent rules preventing such practices from taking place with a view to safeguarding the reputation and integrity of the Council and of the EU as a whole;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Commends the Ombudsman’s work to protect EU citizens’ right to access documents held by the EU institutions; considers it paramount to guarantee full transparency and full public access to the documents held by the EU institutions in order to ensure the highest levels of protection of the democratic rights of citizens and their trust in EU institutions; believes that revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20012 must take place as a matter of priority; regrets the fact that EU legislation on access to documents is very much obsolete, thereby also hampering the Ombudsman’s activities on this matter; _________________ 2 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Commends the Ombudsman’s work to protect EU citizens’ right to access documents held by the EU institutions; and to provide citizens with documents in all EU official languages ; considers it paramount to guarantee full transparency and full public access to the documents held by the EU institutions;, believes that revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20012 must take place as a matter of priority; regrets the fact that EU legislation on access to documents is very much obsolete, thereby also hampering the Ombudsman’s activities on this matter; _________________ 2 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Notes that there was a slight increase of the number of complaints addressed to the European Ombudsman during the past years, which shows that more citizens are now aware of the existence of the institution and the very useful work it does to defend public interest;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20 b. Welcomes the fact that in 2020, the average length of the inquiries of cases closed by EU Ombudsman was 5 months, an improvement compared to the previous year where it stood at 7 months;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20 c. Notes with satisfaction that 57% of the cases were closed in 2020 in less than 3 months and the cases for which it takes up to 18 months to be solved represented only 1% , while it was 10% in the previous year and 27% in 2013; appreciates therefore the efforts to solve the issues raised by the citizens and calls on all concerned institutions to respond to requests from the Office of the European Ombudsman in a timely manner;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20 d. Notes that the number of complaints that are outside the European Ombudsman’s mandate has remained relatively stable throughout the years (1420 in 2020, 1330 cases in 2019, 1300 cases in 2018); notes that, according to the 2020 Report, most of these complaints do not concern the EU administration; welcomes the efforts of the Office to better inform citizens about the European Ombudsman’s mandate; points out at the same time the need to improve communication and awareness about the various forms of complaints citizens can use at national and European level; stresses the role the Parliament and its Members should also play in this regard;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20 e. Takes note that pandemic also affected the work of European Network of Ombudsmen(ENO); appreciates the initiative of the European Ombudsman to organise online meetings with a view to sharing experiences and promoting best practices in the crisis response; encourages further cooperation between the members of EON, including in the area of promoting future parallel inquiries;