Activities of Saskia BRICMONT related to 2023/2182(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agencies for the financial year 2022: performance, financial management and control
Amendments (9)
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Recalls that the Court examined potential ‘revolving door’ situations in its audit 2022 and asks that this topic, as well as the associated risk of conflict of interests, to be followed up and included in its future annual reports; is concerned that agencies are particularly prone to the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations, in particular due to their governance model, which includes boards; expresses deep concern that the EU legal framework applicable to managing ‘revolving door’ risks lacks clear requirements on compliance and monitoring, and that it do not apply to members of the agencies’ management boards; urges the agencies to ensure that internal rules managing ‘revolving door’ and potential conflict of interests risks are put in place and fully and correctly implemented; expresses strong concerns about the cases identified in Europol, Frontex and the European Commission;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Considers that the EU legal framework for managing ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interests risks should define a common legal basis defining a minimum level of requirements to prevent such situations, as well as the manner in which monitoring compliance of current and former staff with the ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest requirements should take place; welcomes that FRA and Europol are two of the nine EU decentralized agencies that have provisions covering the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations in relation to members of its board, and requests that such provisions are fully implemented to prevent any potential future ‘revolving door’ case; calls on all EU agencies to take over this practice and implement provisions covering the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations; calls on the Commission to propose changes to prevent any risk of ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest; welcomes that most agencies publish the declarations of interest of their senior management and members of their respective management boards; recalls that such declarations should have a clear format allowing for the listing of any interests that may come in conflict with the nature of the position occupied; calls on the remaining agencies to follow this model and publish yearly declarations of interest of the above-mentioned representatives without further delay;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7 c. Reminds that cooperation among JHA agencies must be fully transparent and accountable; requests all JHA agencies to take measures to ensure full compliance with EU transparency rules as well as with financial regulations, fundamental rights and data protection and sound budgetary management standards; considers that the disclosure of meetings and interactions between JHA agencies and third parties when this can be ensured without prejudice to its operational activities, contributes to ensuring transparency by JHA agencies; urges JHA agencies to step up efforts in this direction;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7 d. Calls on all JHA agencies to take into account sustainability in their overall business processes in order to improve the agencies’ environmental performance, and to report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 e (new)
Paragraph 7 e (new)
7 e. Regrets the lack of gender balance and diversity in the Management boards and within the staff of some JHA agencies; calls on all JHA agencies to ensure a gender balanced distribution on all levels of staff; further calls on all JHA agencies to take into consideration geographical balance when conducting their recruitment procedures and report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress achieved; further calls on all JHA agencies to develop internal policies and practices to ensure inclusiveness and diversity, and prevent any type of discrimination; asks the Court to systematically inform about it in its future reports;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 f (new)
Paragraph 7 f (new)
7 f. Urges all JHA agencies to implement a clear anti-harassment and anti-racism policy to prevent and firmly condemn any such behaviour within the organisation;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 g (new)
Paragraph 7 g (new)
7 g. Recalls that whistle-blower protection within EU agencies is very important and should be in line with directive (EU)2019/1937; insists that a strong transparency and whistle-blower culture should be encouraged;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 h (new)
Paragraph 7 h (new)
7 h. Is strongly concerned by the special report published by the European Ombudsman concerning the time the European Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents; considers that the delays in dealing with access to documents requests are leading to a lack of democratic scrutiny and accountability; considers that EU staff members should, in general, be aware that their work can at any point be scrutinised by the public and should think of transparency as the default approach; calls on all JHA agencies and the European Commission to address recommendations by the European Ombudsman in this regard as a matter of priority;