[ParlTrack]

2023/2183(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Notes that the Council Decision 2022/1223 for the reuse of EUR 600 million was taken to address the food security crisis and economic shock in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; believes that in view of the exceptionally dire food security situation in ACP countries, those funds need to be complemented with appropriate measures to enhance food autonomy of local communities;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Notes that in 2022, the implementation of the EDF contributed to improvements in water and sanitation, access to electricity, access to legal aid, food security and nutrition, environmental protection, climate change mitigation strategies and natural ecosystems, health, education, and entrepreneurship/employability;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Welcomes the consolidation in 2022 of the Team Europe approach resulting in increased information flow and exchange with Member States and European financial institutions for a better coordination and more effective management of the EDF with other national, EU or partners resources; takes note of the regional Team Europe Initiatives (TEI) on the Western Mediterranean migration route, where its management group includes representatives from both DG NEAR and DG INTPA ensuring coherence of action and optimal use of financial resources;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Regrets however that according to the Court’s report the DG INTPA’s KPI on reducing old pre-financing does not take into consideration the number of years for which each pre-financing transaction has remained open, therefore the Court considers that achievement of this KPI did not reflect the difficulties it had encountered in clearing older pre-financing transactions, some of which had been open for up to 12 years; notes the Commission’s reply that as to the ageing of open invoices and pre-financings that have remained uncleared for up to 12 years, the majority of these old pre-financings are linked to litigation cases, and that the Commission has already put in place annual controls and is using a Portfolio Dashboard allowing staff to monitor these open transactions, which was updated in October 2023; calls on the Commission to provide a detailed report to the European Parliament and the Court specifically addressing these litigation cases, including an explanation concerning their origins and context, as well as a plan how to reduce and minimise litigation cases in the future; regrets that the Court did not probe the litigation cases and calls upon the Court to do so in its next audit report;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Notes with concern that by typology of errors the estimated level of errors in the financial year 2022 related to expenditure not incurred was 51 % (14,9% in 2021), to ineligible expenditure was 24 % (38,6% in 2021), to serious failure to respect public procurement rules was 16 % (14,6% in 2021), to absence of essential supporting documents was 7% (23,3% in 2021) and related to other types of errors was 2% (8,6 % in 2021); ~~highlights~~notes the Commission’s reply that most errors ~~such as~~ that could have been avoided are relevant to excess clearing (expenditure not incurred ~~is mostly~~), which is due to deinsufficien~~cies in the EU delegations’ control system~~t financial reporting provided by implementing partners in indirect management and does not affect the implementation of the projects;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Is concerned that Benin´s EDF national authorising officer awarded a contract to a consultancy company to strengthen civil society involvement in the country, in serious breach of the public procurement rules; notes with concern that according to the Commission, the Evaluation Committee used its “discretionary power” to apply a calculation method which was not sufficiently documented in the procedure; recalls that the Qatargate scandal has revealed the role of non-profit organisations and civil society in corruption; recalls that European Court of Auditors Special Report No 35/2018 warns that the Commission does not have sufficiently detailed information on how the money is spent on civil society organisations, recalls the report of the Budgetary Control Committee A9- 0446/2023 on the transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisatnotes the remedial actions taken by the Commission concerning the internal control systems of the concerned EU delegation, such as clarification of the relevant rules, a review of similar clearings and a supervision missions; calls on the Court to produce a special report on EU funds being funnelled into civil society organisations, and to propel the Evaluation Committee and its discretionary powers concerning public procurement procedures, as well as any contacts and ties between the Evaluation Committee, including its members, and civil society organisations and other non- governmental organisationsnotes that the level of error in the EU delegation in Benin accounted for approximately 30 % of the total error and that if it were not included, the total error would have been approximately 4,7 % instead of 7,1 %;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)

21 a. Notes that, in 2022, 333 Recovery Orders were issued by the Commission on 293 contracts for a total amount of EUR 62.92 million;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Notes ~~with concern that~~the Court’s observation that in 2022 the Commission and its implementing partners committed more errors in transactions relating to programme estimates and grants and to contribution and delegation agreements with beneficiary countries, international organisations and member state agencies than they did with other forms of support (such as those covering works, supply and service contracts); notes, in addition, that out of the 99 transactions of this type examined by the Court, 46 contained quantifiable errors, which accounted for 86 % of the estimated level of error; takes note that DG INTPA is currently reviewing its control strategy, including reporting requirements, and exploring potential remedial measures; asks the Commission to inform the discharge authority about its revised control strategy;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Stresses that, according to Court’s assessment, the RER study does not constitute an assurance engagement or an audit and is based on the RER methodology and manual provided by DG INTPA; ~~stresses, furthermore,~~notes that DG INTPA clarifies that the RER study is meant to be a key indicator for the estimated financial impact of residual errors, i.e. it measures the good functioning of the internal control system and thus, demonstrates the Commission’s corrective capacity; stresses that, as in previous years, the Court has found limitations in the study; notes that the Court, by reviewing the calculation method used in the 2022 RER study, considered that the RER was underestimated and that the Court’s calculation yielded an RER of 1,35 % ; notes, furthermore, the Court’s opinion, as in previous years, that the RER methodology allows the contractor to rely entirely on the results of DG INTPA´s management checks, and that placing reliance on the work of other auditors is contrary to the purpose of an RER study;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes that in 2022, the ~~two~~ largest budget support recipients were Morocco and Tunisia; recalls that Tunisia denied entry to an official delegation of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in September 2023 and has been the first country torecipients of EDF payments were Mozambique, Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo, while the sectors with the highest funding were government and civil society, agriculture, evner do so; recalls that Morocco is at the centre of the Qatargate scandal and that a senior member of the Moroccan royal family features prominently in the Pandora Papers; urges therefore for the EDF support to these countries to be substantially lowered until all concerns regarding human rights abuses, corruption and tax evasion have been properly addressedgy and social infrastructures and services; notes that the implementation of the EDF concerns countries that are facing aggravating impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity and are weakened by rising debt, new and forgotten humanitarian crises and conflicts, generating growing inequality and poverty;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2183(DEC)

Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)

46 a. Recalls that global crises have generated and expanded inequalities both within and between countries, undermining social cohesion and, in this context, welcomes the development of an Inequality Marker (I-Marker) to create a sound reporting and benchmarking system on the contribution of all interventions to reducing inequalities;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2164(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes the Agency’s gender distribution with 9 men (69 %) and 4 women (31 %) in its senior and middle management (same distribution as in 2021), with 27 men (48 %) and 29 women (52 %) on its MB (an improved distribution compared to 2021) and with 203 men (39 %) and 316 women (61 %) for staff overall (same distribution as in 2021); recalls the importance to ensure staff gender balance and calls on the Agency to take this aspect into consideration with regard to future recruitments of staff and appointments within its senior and middle management; observes with appreciation the Agency’s commitment to include in its upcoming HR strategy actions that will prioritise the promotion of gender representation and diversity with the Agency, and promote leadership development programs tailored to aspiring managers; asks the Agency to report to the discharge authority about the implementation of this commitment;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2164(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Recalls that in 2018 OLAF concluded another investigation which led to findings linked to e.g. mismanagement of human resources, the resignation of the Agency’s executive director at that time and the adoption by the Agency’s MB of a governance action plan aimed at restoring trust internally and externally, reinforcing the governance structure, and rebuilding internal capacity; observes that in spite of the reorganisations performed by the Agency in recent years, issues still appear to exist ~~which may indicate to the existence of structural problems~~as the anonymous letter from January 2023 pointes out; notes the conclusions of the ECA for 2022 financial year based on the corrective actions taken by the Agency; calls in this context on the Commission to identify solutions for the performance of an independent assessment of the Agency’s recent reorganisations ~~in order to evaluate~~and expect that the ongoing audit by the IAS on Human Resources Management will provide relevant evaluation regarding the degree to which the Agency’s current organigram and distribution of responsibilities among the Agency’s middle and senior management positions are prone to risks of inefficiencies, mismanagement of human resources, and lack of transparency (including towards the Agency’s MB) among other;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2162(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes that in 2022 the total number of staff overall increased by 4,5 % compared to 2021; further notes that, in regard to the geographical balance, at the end of the year 2022, the staff of the Authority (temporary agents, contractual agents and seconded national experts (SNEs)) included 24 different nationalities of the Union; recalls the importance of ensuring a balanced geographical representation among the Authority's management and overall staff;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2162(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. NWelcomes that the Authority is close to achieving gender balance at management and staff level; notes the gender distribution within the Authority’s senior and middle management staff, with 16 out of 30 being women (53 %); notes the gender distribution within the Authority’s Management Board (MB), with 4 out of 7 being men (57 %); further notes the gender distribution within the Authority’s overall staff, with 175 out of 322 being men (54 %);

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2160(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Acknowledges that the Agency has achieved a very high degree of digitalisation to increase its efficiency, eliminating paper-processes and bringing forward online solutions such as e- procurement, e-invoicing, electronic travel booking, including through the roll out in 2022 of the HR management system (SYSPER) of the Commission and the migration, in pilot phase, to the new budgetary, accounting and financial system, SUMMA; welcomes that the Agency’s SPD 2023-2025 foresees to further digitise its workflows;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2160(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Observes from the Agency's Opinion with regard to the follow-up measures taken in light of the discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency's for the financial year 2021 (hereinafter The ‘Agency's Opinion’) that the Agency has implemented several measures to reduce the cost of operations in Lille (i.e. missions and travel expenses for staff and external stakeholders have been significantly reduced) and has ended the current lease contract for Lille premises; notes that the intention of the Agency is to organise only the mandatory meetings in Lille in order to comply with the European Council decision on the double seat ‘Lille-Valenciennes’; ~~notes~~welcomes that the Agency has approved its HR strategy (2023-2027) in 2022 based on the Parliament’s observation, with a focus on improving its effectiveness and efficiency; notes in this regard the positive experience and development within the Agency with regard to the use of the teleworking regime during after the COVID 19 pandemic, leading the Agency to conclude that the new normal is that teleworking is accepted as being equal as working at the office for most of the staff, while physical presence remains key for some specific jobs;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2160(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Notes with concern the lack of gender balance within the Agency’s senior management, with 8 out of 10 (80 %) being men; notes the gender distribution within the Agency’s management board (MB), with 34 out of 64 (53 %) being men; further notes the gender distribution within the Agency’s overall staff, with 120 out of 188 (64 %) being men; recalls the importance to ensure gender balance and calls on the Agency to take this aspect into consideration with regard to future recruitments of staff and appointments within its senior management; notes the Agency’s continuous work towards closing the gender gap, with specific projects such as “Women in transport” to strengthen women’s employment and equal opportunities in the transport sector; notes in this context the Agency’s endeavours to increase the number of women in the transport sector through deliverables such as speed networking events and webinars focusing on diversity and inclusion in 2022;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2160(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)

17 a. Welcomes that the Agency strives to ensure a geographical balance of its staff members with encouraging candidates from all Member States to apply for its positions; notes that the temporary posts are published in all EU languages and the calls for application are not only published on the Agency’s website, but also disseminated at the level of Member States’ permanent representations;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2160(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)

32 a. Welcomes the continued efforts of the Agency in strengthening its communication, implemented through various channels to reach the largest public possible; notes the development and launch of the new ERA website in November 2022, which provides a clearer, streamlined, and modern tool to present the Agency’s contribution to the railway sector and EU citizens at large; acknowledges the Agency’s efforts of organising 9 webinars and preparing several publications and videos in 2022; welcomes that the Agency maintained a strong presence in the media and increased its social media following in 2022;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2157(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Notes that the Centre reported to have 2 women (22%) and 7 men (78%) in its senior management, while it has 20 women (37%) and 34 men (63%) in its management board (MB); notes that the staff overall is composed of 36 men (38 %) and 58 women (62%); recalls the importance to ensure staff gender balance and calls on the Centre to take this aspect into consideration with regard to future recruitments of staff, and appointments within its senior management; a~~nd nominations within it~~sks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Centre's MB;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2153(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Notes that in September 2022, the Authority set out its strategy for the period 2023 – 2026, in which it has identified strategic priorities to focus on, including strengthening the resilience and sustainability of the insurance and pensions sectors, and ensuring the strong and consistent protection of consumer interests across the European Union;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2153(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Observes that as regards day-to-day business practices, the Authority has implemented a range of measures to enhance cost-efficiency, such as hybrid working, desk-sharing, modern video conferencing solutions that has prompted the reduction of business travel; notes that in order to preserve institutional knowledge, expertise and efficiency in executing core tasks, the Authority further enhanced its integrated Talent Management System that allows for strategically aligned HR processes, better sourcing of candidates and more leveraged learning and development; invites the Authority to provide the discharge authority with data and figures regarding the impact of that system;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2153(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes the Authority’s gender breakdown reported for 2022 with 15 men (65,20 %) and 8 women (34,80 %) in middle and senior management positions and in its Management Board, and 104 men (53,60 %) and 90 women (46,40 %) in its overall staff; recalls the importance to ensure gender balance and calls on the Authority to take this aspect into consideration with regard to future recruitments of staff and appointments within its senior and middle management;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2153(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Welcomes the fact that in 2022 the Authority continued the implementation of the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Strategy (adopted in 2021) and its detailed Action Plan in line with the adopted EUAN Charter on Diversity through initiatives that cover cross- cutting measures such as, among others, collaborating with other institutions, attracting and selecting a more diverse workforce, preventing discrimination, harassment, conscious and unconscious bias, and monitoring diversity and inclusion related data; notes that in 2022, one alleged harassment was reported, but the case was closed without further actions since, upon preliminary assessment, no prima faciae evidence was found;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2153(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Notes with satisfaction that the Authority remained deeply committed to improving staff well- being and work-life balance, with positive outcomes seen in staff engagement and satisfaction; notes that the key areas of focus included flexible work arrangements, teleworking, lifelong guidance and career development, wellness programs and supportive management;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2152(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Not~~Welcomes that in 2022 the Institute supported the Union policymaking by monitoring gaps and trends in gender equality through the launch of the Gender Equality Index, and organized its first Gender Equality Forum where various panel discussions, workshops and experience sessions were featured by high- level political decision-makers and members of civil society; notes further that the Institute produced a policy brief regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on young women and men providing recommendations to engage and empower the youth; notes in addition that the Institute published the ‘Artificial Intelligence, platform work and gender equality’ report showing that artificial intelligence and platform work have the potential to improve gender equality in the economy;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2152(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Notes that the Institute completed the annual performance appraisal exercise for all 62 staff and ensured that staff members were offered appropriate training opportunities aimed at improving their skills and competencies; welcomes that in order to promote and facilitate professional development in the Institute, 19 different group training programmes were organised in 2022 with 414 participants, while 20 statutory staff members undertook 42 individual training courses; notes that the Institute continued to promote language training for its TAs, CAs, SNEs and trainees, reimbursing up to EUR 500 per staff member; encourages the Institute to keep focusing on career development by developing a long-term HR policy on offering specific training possibilities for career development;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2152(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. ~~Notes~~Welcomes that the balanced gender distribution which was achieved in 2021 in senior and middle management (2 men (50 %) and 2 women (50 %))~~, and~~ was maintained in 2022, and notes the recurrent unbalanced gender distribution on the management board (8 men (21,62 %) and 29 women (78,38 %)) and among staff overall (14 men (29,17 %) and 34 women (70,83 %)); reiterates its call on the Institute to ensure gender balance in the future; acknowledges, nevertheless, from the Institute’s written replies that, in order to improve gender balance among its staff, it has taken concrete pro-active steps and measures such as, among others, increasing the reach of vacancy notices to attract more diverse talent pool or the use of gender sensitive wording in vacancy announcements to attract the attention of both women and men; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Institute’s management board;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2149(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. ~~Takes note~~Welcomes that in 2022 the Agency continued to play a key role in informing actions to support the environment, responding to the objectives of the European Green Deal (EGD) and the Eighth Environment Action Programme (8th EAP), as well as to Europe's overall ambitions and global commitments; welcomes that the Agency continued to deliver on agreed actions and tasks, and took on new ones in support of the green transition and the implementation of the European Climate Law, while linking actions to the EU adaptation strategy; notes furthermore that it was the second year of the implementation of the Agency- European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet) Strategy 2021-2030, which aims to give EU policy makers and the public the best available knowledge to reach the targets on environment and sustainability;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2149(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Notes the lack of gender balance among the Agency’s senior management members, with 6 out of 9 (67 %) being men; notes with satisfaction the gender balance within the Agency’s management board, with 18 out of 36 (50 %) being men; notes the gender balance within the Agency’s overall staff, with 118 out of 221 (53 %) being women; asks the Agency to ensure gender balance at the senior management level in the future; notes that the Agency has not adopted the ‘Charter on diversity and inclusion’; encourages the Agency to adopt it and actively participate in initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2148(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Welcomes~~Recalls the importance to ensure staff gender balance and welcomes in this regard that the Agency has put in effect an action plan to implement the objectives of its Charter on Diversity and Inclusion adopted in 2022, aiming to achieve gender balance in the management team among other inclusion measures; asks the Agency to report to the discharge authority about the implementation of this action plan; acknowledges that achieving results in this area takes time; however notes that the gender balance within the Agency’s senior and middle management has slightly decreased with 76 % positions occupied by men (82 % in 2021) and 24 % by women (18 % in 2021); notes that gender balance in the staff overall is 261 men (45 %) and 317 women (55 %);

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2148(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Notes with satisfaction that as of 31 December 2022, the Agency has employed staff from 26 Member States; notes that 32 % of its staff are nationals of the Member State where the Agency is located; recalls the importance of geographical balance and encourages the Agency to continue to take the necessary measures to have a balanced and fair geographical representation;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2148(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11 b. Notes that as of March 2022, the Agency’s staff started to return gradually to the Agency’s premises, ending with the implementation of new hybrid working rules in October 2022; notes in this context that the new rules promote flexibility and staff empowerment while maintaining social cohesion and collaboration through regular weekly presence at the office;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2148(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22 a. Welcomes that the Agency has continued to implement different measures to increase its public and online presence through new releases and numerous updates on its website, the launch of a joint Instagram channel with four agencies called ‘One Health One Environment’, and its presence in social media; notes in this context a growth of the general media coverage and an increase in the Agency’s social media metrics in 2022 compared to 2021;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2147(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Notes with concern the lack of gender balance within the Centre’s senior and middle management, with four out of six (66, 67 %) being men; notes the gender distribution among the Centre’s overall staff, with 198 out of 331 (60 %) being women and 133 out of 331 (40 %) being men; welcomes that the Centre is in progress of adopting the charter on diversity and inclusion and it will be in place by Q4 2023; recalls the importance to ensure gender balance and calls on the Centre to take this aspect into consideration with regard to future recruitments of staff and appointments within its senior and middle management; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Centre’s management board;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2147(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Notes that the first draft of the ‘People Strategy’ was developed in 2022, which aims to guide the modernisation and consolidation of the Centre’s HR management services; notes furthermore that individual strategy projects, such as the e-recruitment tool and the online induction programme were finalised in 2022, while others are underway; calls on the Centre to report to the discharge authority any development in that regard; takes note that the Centre further enhanced its support to staff learning and development by increasing the allowance for individual training and facilitating staff access to e-learning platforms (EU Learn, LinkedIn Learning and the ECDC Virtual Academy);

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2145(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9 a. Welcomes that the Agency has established a number of partnerships with other Union bodies to improve efficiency and coherence, including the European Environment Agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, the SESAR3 Joint Undertaking; welcomes the cooperation on learning solutions with several agencies on issues of common interest in the fields of human resources advisory services, digitalisation and tools, e- learning and surveys, including the European Medicines Agency, the European Securities Market Authority, the European Food Safety Authority and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2145(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Observes with concern the lack of gender balance within the Agency’s senior and middle management members, with 17 out of 22 (77 %) being men and within the Agency’s management board, with 59 out of 79 (75 %) being men; further notes the gender balance within the Agency’s overall staff, with 525 out of 757 (69 %) being men; takes note that the Agency is systematically monitoring the gender distribution among applicants and actively reaches out for female candidates, by publishing the positions in the right forums, explicitly encouraging applications from female candidates, and drafting positions with precise information as it may affect work-life balance; calls on the Agency to continue its efforts towards gender balance at management and overall staff level through concrete actions that attract applications from women for posts offered by the Agency; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Agency’s management board;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2145(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15 a. Welcomes that the Agency maintained focus on gender balance, geographical balance and diversity; recalls the importance to develop a long term HR policy on work-life balance and the offer of specific training possibilities for career development, teleworking, right to disconnect, the enhancement of a geographical balance to have an appropriate representation from all Member States, and the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities as well as the promotion of their equal treatment and their opportunities;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2145(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)

26 a. Welcomes that the Agency has strategic partnerships on the sharing of resources and information with almost all of the national competent aviation authorities in its Member States;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2144(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18 a. Notes from the Agency’s Consolidated annual activity report for 2022 that 17 Member States were represented among the Agency’s staff in 2022; notes that 39% of its staff are nationals of the Member State where the Agency is located; recalls the importance of geographical balance and calls on the Agency to take the necessary measures to have a balanced and fair geographical representation;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2144(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Commends the Agency for its efforts to increase its public visibility and online presence; welcomes in this context the launch of the Agency’s new website in 2022 that incorporates key enhancements, such as a clearer presentation and structure, improved appearance, and web responsiveness; notes further that, in 2022, the Agency's social media activity was significant, with 1 590 content uploads, which represents 54 % more posts than in the previous year; notes in this regard the upward trend with the Agency’s web users with over 200 000 visits registered, and with its social media fan base with 38 500 followers across LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2143(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Notes that, as regards gender balance reported for 2022, the Centre’s senior management is composed by 4 men (66,7 %) and 2 women (33,3 %); also notes the management board is composed of 78 men (53 %) and 68 women (47 %); recalls the mandate of the Centre and that the high number of members of the Board (156) ~~does not facilitate decision making and simplified management~~comes from its specific composition based on the tripartite principle, thus including representatives of the national authorities and social partners; recognises that trough its members the Management Board of the Foundation ensures the necessary alignment between the Centre’s work and stakeholder needs and priorities; notes further that regarding the Centre’s staff overall the gender breakdown is 44 % men (47) and 56 % women (61); ~~welcomes~~recalls the importance of geographical balance and welcomes in this regard from the follow-up report the Centre’s commitment to geographically re- balance its staff population by making use of reserve lists of other agencies, including through joining forces with them and broadening dissemination of vacancy notices;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2143(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Notes that the Centre launched its regular Staff Engagement Survey (SES) in 2022, the results of which showed favourable responses from 65 % of Centre’s staff (75 % response rate), whereas 10 out of 12 dimensions of analysis recorded positive changes in comparison to the 2019 survey results, despite the highly disruptive period since the last survey that year, while some areas need further attention such as workload, transparency in decision-making and internal cooperation; welcomes that the results of the survey were presented to all staff in a general assembly and dedicated question-time meetings;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2143(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. ~~Not~~Welcomes in the framework of the Centre’s equal opportunities and diversity policy and as regards support to persons with disabilities, the measures taken such as trainings (on diversity and inclusion issues) and guidance (how to detect and counteract unconscious bias) provided to HR staff and selection boards, as well as accommodation to applicants with disabilities; notes lastly from the Centre’s replies to Parliament written questions the Centre’s plans to adopt the ‘Charter on diversity and inclusion’ in 2023;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2142(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Welcomes that the Administration Department of the Centre has improved its performance by reviewing and revising working methods, while introducing new technology to streamline its operations, which has resulted in increased productivity, reduced costs, and overall improvement of the quality of the work;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2142(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Notes the Centre’s gender breakdown reported for 2022, with 8 women (42 %) and 11 men (58 %) in senior and middle management positions, with 38 men (59 %) and 26 women (41 %) at MB level and overall staff with 76 men (38 %) and 125 women (62 %); observes that there is an underrepresentation of men in the Centre’s overall staff; recalls the importance to ensure gender balance and asks the Centre to work towards gender balance at the staff ~~level and at MB level~~, senior and middle management level and at MB level; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Centre’s management board; notes the high number of MB members, which does not facilitate decision-making and simplified management;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2142(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)

27 a. Welcomes that the Centre has taken several measures to reduce gas and electricity consumption at the Centre’s premises for the period 1 November 2022 to 31 March 2023;

2024/02/12
Committee: CONT

2023/2141(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. TNotes that the Agency has been operating since its establishment with lacking human resources capacity for certain posts; takes note that the Agency compensates some capacity constraints, where feasible, prioritizes the use of services offered by the European Commission (EC) and other EU agencies as a primary solution; observes that this approach includes leveraging services provided by the EC Office for the Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements (PMO) and the Computer Emergency Response Team for the European Union (CERT-EU) for IT and security service; welcomes that the Agency has a very successful cooperation with European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in the area of IT, which includes hosting, IT development, disaster recovery, development of the new design of the Agency’s web site, and other IT services;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2141(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12 a. Welcomes that the Agency continued its traineeship programme during 2022; notes that in total 7 trainees joined the Agency and 15 trainees participated in the Agency’s Traineeship Programme;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2141(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)

21 a. Welcomes that the local offices of the European Commission and the European Parliament in Riga and the Agency have joined their efforts to work together to establish a joint House of Europe, which will be the “home” of all EU Institutions and the Agency in Latvia;

2024/02/09
Committee: CONT

2023/2131(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE, Corina CREȚU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Stresses that the current situation implies that Parliament can only check the reports of the Court and of the Ombudsman as well as the publicly available information on the Council’s website, something that makes it impossible for Parliament to carry out its duties properly and make an informed decision on granting discharge;

2024/01/31
Committee: CONT

2023/2131(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE, Corina CREȚU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls on the Council to resume negotiations with Parliament at the highest level as soon as possible, involving the Secretary-Generals and the Presidents of both institutions, in order to break the deadlock and find a solution while respecting the respective roles of Parliament and the Council in the discharge procedure and ensuring transparency and proper democratic control of budget implementation;

2024/01/31
Committee: CONT

2023/2131(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE, Corina CREȚU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Points out the serious gender imbalance in the Court, where, at the end of 2022, there were only 9 female members compared to 17 male members; ~~understand~~notes the difficulties in achieving gender balance in the Court because of the current nomination procedure; reiterates its call on the Council to reconsider the nomination procedure with the aim of tackling this problem with concrete actions, such as making it compulsory for Member States to nominate at least two candidates of different genders for each vacancy;

2024/01/31
Committee: CONT

2023/2131(DEC)

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)

22 a. Believes that the use of the unanimity voting procedure in the Council on certain policy areas is paralysing the Union’s decision-making process and therefore making it prone to blackmailing by Member States, especially those who fail to respect the rule of law; calls on the Council to apply the qualified majority voting procedures whenever possible and consider the review of the Treaties regulating the voting procedures; believes that the generalised shift to a qualified majority voting procedure in the Council is a crucial step towards more efficient policy-making;

2024/01/31
Committee: CONT

2023/2129(DEC)

Hannes HEIDE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Reminds that, without prejudice to the need to support the authorities and beneficiaries to better comply with spending rules and minimise errors, the most pressing issues to be addressed in the area of cohesion policy are, on the one hand, the overly complex rules and procedures, with the need of more flexible processes, and the disproportionate administrative burden they entail and, on the other hand, the effective targeting of the funds;

2023/12/08
Committee: REGI

2023/2129(DEC)

Hannes HEIDE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights the role of the EPPO in protecting the EU budget; reminds that, in her appearance before the Committee on Regional Development on 25 May 2023, the European Public Prosecutor noted that the management and control system for EU expenditure currently in place is not designed to detect fraud and that audits or administrative investigations rarely detect financial crime; stresses the need to provide the EPPO with the necessary means to carry out its duties; is of the opinion that a strengthened EPPO would make it possible for the legislator to further simplify the regulatory framework for cohesion in order to improve the application of the funds;

2023/12/08
Committee: REGI

2023/2129(DEC)

Hannes HEIDE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Draws attention to the increased risk of decommitments in the coming years and urges the Commission to ~~continue its~~strengthen the cooperation with the Member States and the regions to both speed up and ease the good closure of the 2014-2020 programming period;

2023/12/08
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Citation 22 a (new)

– Having regard to the opinion "The future of Cohesion Policy post-2027" of the European Committee of the Regions adopted on 29 November 2023,

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the outcomes of the 2014- 2020 programming period prove the indispensable role of cohesion policy as the only ~~regional~~ development instrument that is geared to regional and local needs; whereas because of cohesion policy’s positive regional and local impact, no other EU investment policy could replace it;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Insists that due to its regional focus, placed-based approach, strategic planning and effective implementation model , cohesion policy should remain the EU’s main investment instrument for reducing disparities and stimulating regional growth and continue to be a key contributor to supporting recovery from symmetric and asymmetric shocks; calls for a clear demarcation between cohesion policy and other instruments in order to avoid overlaps and competition between EU instruments; believes that there must be an increase in real terms of the overall cohesion budget and in the MFF’s share of the policy compared to the 2021-2027 programming period;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Considers that cohesion investments should remain under shared management for programming and implementation in order to ~~cater for local needs of~~be able to respond to the needs of Member States, regions, urban, rural and remote areas; acknowledges that co-programming, co- financing, co-responsibility and co- ownership are the most effective methods for successful implementation of any EU investment policy and any EU-financed project;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Underscores that the cohesion policy budget should ~~not be used~~be primarily used for cohesion policy goals and not for new non-cohesion policy instruments and programmes, either within or outside the MFF; stresses that flexibility in the repurposing of cohesion funding should be a bottom-up driven process, initiated ~~either by a Member State or by its regional or local level~~by the managing authorities of the programmes;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. - Stresses the need for the "do no harm to cohesion" principle to apply to all EU policies so that they support the objectives of social, economic and territorial cohesion, as referred to in Article 3 of the TFEU and Article 174 TFEU; insists that promoting cohesion should also be seen as a way to foster solidarity and mutual support among Member States and their regions, which is essential for strengthening the resilience of all of its actors, such as municipalities and regions and for maintaining peace, stability and security in Europe;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Matthias ECKE, Hannes HEIDE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Corina CREȚU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Emphasises that cohesion policy must better adapt to challenges posed by the green, digital and industrial transitions in order to remain relevant in the future and achieve the objectives set out in the Treaties. To achieve this, it is important to learn from the outgoing funding period, but also from other instruments such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF);

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Matthias ECKE, Hannes HEIDE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Corina CREȚU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Is convinced that the principles underpinning the idea of a just transition should guide the next programming period of cohesion policy funds; points out in that respect that the Just Transition Fund should be extended in the programming period post-2027 and endowed with additional financial means in order to support regions that are highly dependent on sectors which are undergoing a deep transformation due to the green and digital transition; takes the view that this extension of the JTF should be focused on the appropriate nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) level, take into account regional specificities, have a wider scope than the present JTF, be designed in such a way as to allow for prompt responses to newly arising challenges across various sectors and industries and be fully integrated in the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR);

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Stresses that all EU regions should remain eligible for funding in the future; points out that, in the event of the future EU enlargement, average GDP per capita may fall in the EU, as a consequence of the “statistical effect”; asks therefore the European Commission to carry out a detailed assessment before proposing a new regulation for the post-2027 cohesion policy so that it is equipped to continue to support all regions and so that any unfavourable consequence on the regions, caused by a "statistical effect" on cohesion policy eligibility, can be duly addressed;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Matthias ECKE, Hannes HEIDE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Corina CREȚU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3 c. Regrets that delays in the multiannual financial framework (MFF) negotiations led to considerable delays in the current programming period 2021- 2027, impacting beneficiaries and especially management authorities that face an enormous burden having to deal with both the finalisation of the outgoing funding period and the start of the current funding period; calls on the Commission, therefore, to assess the legal possibility of creating two distinct parts within the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR), namely the content-related part (political) and the MFF-related part (financial resources), for the programming period post-2027; believes that the content- related part should be negotiated and concluded before the MFF-related part, to allow for management authorities to start preparing in a timely manner, in order to ensure a genuine partnership principle and an efficient use of cohesion policy instruments;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3 c. Is convinced, considering the structural changes linked to the twin - green and digital - transition and its uneven economic and social impact on EU regions, that the principle of just transition, with no territory and no one left behind should guide the next programming period of the Cohesion policy;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3

Local and regional focus

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls for disaster prevention and preparedness investments to be guaranteed either through a dedicated policy objective, thematic concentration orand a specific enabling condition to ensure investments in local and regional infrastructure and risk management in less developed urban and rural areas, including border regions; believes that targeted financing should focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation by tackling the side effects of climate change locally (slow onset events as well as extreme weather ~~event~~conditions), including wildfires, floods, landslides, heatwaves, coastal erosion and other ~~event~~natural disasters;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Calls for the rules for re-orienting funds should be made more flexible, for instance by considering the creation of a dedicated axis in order for local and regional authorities to address emerging priorities; stresses that this will not erode the multi-annual orientation of the policy but will help best adapt to the fast- changing nature of our times;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1 (new)

In this regard, calls for an amount of the cohesion policy funds to be earmarked to develop territorial approaches in rural areas or in urban-rural territorial approaches through ITI, CLLD or other mechanism for non-agricultural rural development to complement actions supported under the LEADER approach under the CAP; this will also be a fundamental way to address the geography of discontent;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Calls for ~~cohesion policy to include a stronger urban dimension~~a stronger urban dimension to be included within the cohesion policy through designated investments in urban areas as well as stronger links between urban and rural projects and investments; calls for the proportion of national ERDF allocations for urban development to be increased ~~from 8 % to 12 %; call~~; asks management authorities for this funding to be co-programmed with local and regional authorities and for serving to their benefit of the local communities and the region; underlines in this context that administrative capacity is essential for ensuring that managing bodies and local, regional authorities acquire technical knowledge on climate change which they can use for urban planning and urban management; is convinced that this will lead to better design and evaluation of project proposals, more effective allocation of resources and satisfactory budgetary implementation without ~~significant~~ risk of decommitments; acknowledges that integrated territorial investments have a fundamental role in quality implementation and absorption of resources;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Calls for~~Is of the opinion that the use of cohesion decommitments for ~~thematic concentration on local infrastructure and for~~ reserve margins within cohesion policy ~~that will~~would help, inter alia, to absorb future inflationary hikes or supply chain shocks; believes that th~~e mechanism~~is use should operate on a rolling basis based on necessity and following the multiannual and annual decommitment cycles;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for ~~the reduction of thematic concentration requirements in order to allow for~~ more flexibility to cater for local and regional needs, following the principle of place- based policy in the EU’s territorial investments; underscores that thematic concentrations should ~~be adapted to the way regions and cities ope~~not only be in line with EU policies, but also embratce ~~in practical term~~the real needs of local authorities and the regions, from programming and reprogramming to implementation and closure; is certain that the key principle should be a tailor-made investment approach geared to specific needs on the ground;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Calls ~~for~~on the Commission to assess the initial allocations and co- financing rates to be assessed on the basis of NUTS 3 (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) in order for funding to be directed to where it is most needed and to avoid pockets of underdevelopment from arising ; underlines that ~~such a shif~~the assessment should take into account possible negative effects on EU financing for larger urban areas;, s~~tresses that this is necessary in order not to stall the development trajectory of metropolitan areas that were previously supported more intensively by cohesion policy~~uch as metropolitan areas, in the case of such an approach;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Calls for the creation of local and regional cohesion boards in the managing authorities and monitoring committees, ~~which should have decision-making powers, including~~including the representatives of on co- programming and co-reprogramming with local authorities; reiterates that these boards should include representatives of urban and rural administrations~~, including mayors~~ responsible for co-programming and co- reprogramming;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Is convinced that promoting an increased sense of local and regional ownership in the long term, the durability of EU projects and higher co-financing leverage can be achieved through ~~more fiscal decentralisation towards municipalitie~~budgetary involvement of local authorities and regions; acknowledges that such a path improves regional and municipal borrowing capacity linked to financial instruments provided by the EU budget; ~~underlines that local budgets need more fiscal space to compensate for inflation shocks and crises;~~

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. ~~Calls for paths for the decentralisation of cohesion policy management to be explored in order to bring management closer to the local level; s~~Stresses that preparatory work should ensure that adequate capacity and institutional backing is available in order to ensure effectiveness of the policy, reduce the number of irregularities as well as no additional administrative burden for contractors and for final beneficiaries;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. ~~Encourages multi-city projects and collaboration agreements in order to harness pooled capacities and economies of scale in EU investments in infrastructure, climate change and the green~~Calls for the increase of the budget for European Territorial Cooperation programmes, which provide a unique framework for interregional, cross- border, and transination~~; believes that this process should lead to a greater sense of ownership of projects and the consolidation of invest~~al cooperation and help address common challenges, fostering partnerships and promoting economic developments, ~~instead of fragmentation and lack of synergies~~social cohesion and environmental sustainability;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls for the further involvement of the EIB Group in cohesion policy investments, especially in less developed regions through the provision of support to sustainable cities, sustainable energy ~~and loc~~, local and regional innovation projects; calls for the expansion of the local and regional project assistance and financial instruments that complement and leverage EU grants;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Insists on a critical review of Commission’s ad hoc initiatives in this field and the thorough screening of new initiatives by the EP; demands that this process is managed jointly and in partnership, with guaranteed representation of the local level, both of cities and rural areas, as well as of regions; calls for limiting the number of Commission ad hoc initiatives, some of which prove to be of less use to the local and regional level and might undermine the effectiveness of the overall cohesion appropriations planned in advance by scattering them; insists that every new Commission initiative must be accompanied by a corresponding budgetary top-up;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2121(INI)

Corina CREȚU, Hannes HEIDE, Matthias ECKE, Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Nora MEBAREK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Calls ~~for~~on the ~~creation of a mechanism for the early detection of red tape and actions in breach of or not~~Commission, Member States, regions and local authorities to rigorously and effectively apply~~ing~~ the multi- level governance principle; ~~call~~asks for the inclusion of the partnership principle in the European Semester; icalls con~~vinced that~~ the Commission and the ECA ~~should have the right to~~to scrupulously conduct follow-ups, perform checks and make corrective recommendations;

2023/12/13
Committee: REGI

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)

– having regard to the Commission communication of 18 September 2020 entitled ‘A Union of equality: EU anti- racism action plan 2020- 2025’(COM(2020)0565);

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 b (new)

– having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152);

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 c (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on the EU Strategy for Gender Equality (2019/2169(INI));

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 d (new)

– having regard to the Commission communication of 14 June 2016 entitled ‘Supporting the prevention of radicalisation leading to violent extremism’ (COM(2016)0379);

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 e (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 4 May 2022 on the follow-up to the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)

– having regard to the Commission communication of 30 September 2020 on achieving the European Education Area by 2025 (COM(2020)0625);

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 b (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 11 November 2021 on the European Education Area: a shared holistic approach (2020/2243(INI));

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 c (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2022 on the role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism (2021/2057(INI));

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 d (new)

– having regard to its resolution of 6 April 2022 on the implementation of citizenship education actions (2021/2008(INI));

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 e (new)

– having regard its resolution of 14 December 2022 on the implementation of the New European Agenda for Culture and the EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations (2022/2047(INI));

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas gender-, belief- and ethnicity-based injustices have been inherent in European history over many centuries, including in the form of antisemitism and antigypsyism; whereas these forms of discrimination are against European values as enshrined in Article 2 TEU;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)

Ga. whereas the role of women in history has generally been under- represented, with their achievements being made invisible in favour of men; whereas the dissemination of women’s footprint and the evolution of women’s rights in history is an indispensable axis in the creation of a European historical consciousness;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)

Gb. whereas the teaching of history lacks an interdisciplinary, multicultural and gender approach intersecting topics to capture its various aspects and context; whereas even general teaching on human rights and peace education have not received sufficient attention in the history curricula so far1a ; _________________ 1a Ecker, A. (2018) The Education of History Teachers in Europe—A Comparative Study. First Results of the “Civic and History Education Study”. Creative Education, 9, 1565-1610.

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)

Ha. whereas education is the main tool for building societies shaped by democratic values of freedom, respect and solidarity and should be considered an investment in the future rather than a cost; whereas the European Education Area is a unique opportunity to provide fair and equal opportunities in education by 2025, to give everyone reading, scientific and analytical skills that are necessary to apprehend history and to foster a sense of belonging to Europe and civic awareness;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)

Hb. whereas European citizenship education as part of national education systems in a number of countries includes learning about and assimilating major events in the history of the Europe, and awareness raising about its influence in the development of the European Union;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)

Hc. whereas student mobility and other tools of the Erasmus+ programme favour the exchange of ideas and promote a more transversal knowledge, breaking down national barriers and providing a better understanding of European past and present history;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H d (new)

Hd. whereas cultural and historical heritage is part of the historical identity of each place and serves the construction of historical consciousness; whereas such heritage and its monuments have sometimes been used politically by attributing and linking them directly to an ideology or political movement;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H e (new)

He. whereas the European Heritage Label as a tool for the selection of sites for their symbolic value, the role they have played in European history and the activities they offer can be used for the creation of historical awareness in a direct and interactive way;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H f (new)

Hf. whereas the teaching of history should be expanded to other sources and topics, such as new technologies, virtual words, film, archives and museums; whereas museums are powerful tools for teaching history and building historical awareness;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H g (new)

Hg. whereas there is a great value in collecting data and comparing methods and tools for teaching history; whereas the Council of Europe Observatory collects data and facts on how history is taught and provides a clear picture of the state of history teaching in its MMEE;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Recital H h (new)

Hh. whereas the House of European History is a flagship project, which multi- medium and experiential approach contributes to make European history more accessible to the public;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H i (new)

Hi. whereas artistic and academic freedom are under increased pressure in many parts of Europe, with attempts of political interference notably on the management of universities, theatres and cultural centres;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Recital H j (new)

Hj. whereas citizens’ engagement and the participation of civil society organisations play an important role in raising awareness of history, as in the European remembrance projects supported by the CERV programme;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Believes that more efforts should be done, with sufficient resources, for the House of European History to reach out to a wide public and be accessible to everyone across the Union;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Recognises that ~~the Union’s concern mainly with narrating a story about itself ex negativo, with the~~narrating a story about horrors of the past ~~and especially~~, including National Socialism and Stalinism ~~serving as a ‘negative foundation myth’, provides a strong sense of purpose for the European project, yet bears the risk of nurturing a teleological and~~, should not nurture a simplistic black-and-white scheme of history which potentially hampers a fully informed understanding of Europe’s ~~intricate past and reduces incentives to challenge stereotypes and sacred cows of national histories~~, nations’ and states’ intricate past;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Recognises the need for a broader and more holistic understanding of European history for a (self-)critical European historical consciousness to emerge, in particular by widening the focus of current European remembrance initiatives and promoting intersectional teaching of history as well as analytical and critical thinking skills;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Underlines that the strategic objective linked to the social dimension of the New European Agenda for Culture contains the protection and promotion of Europe's cultural heritage as a shared resource, to raise awareness of our common history and values; calls on the Commission and the Member States for measures to strengthen the protection of cultural heritage and monuments from being used for political or ideological purposes;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9b. Encourages the Member States to develop, following the criteria of respect for democratic values of the Union, their own laws of democratic memory, including the definition, declaration and protection of places of democratic memory associated with tangible or intangible cultural heritage linked to events of singular relevance due to its historical, significance or its impact on collective democratic memory;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 c (new)

9c. Highlights the fundamental role of museums as spaces that disseminate European history and culture; calls on the Commission to develop tools to guarantee the independence and scientific freedom of museums in their role of preserving and promoting the natural, cultural and historical heritage of humanity;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 d (new)

9d. Calls on the Commission and MMEE to make best use of the Council of Europe's work, including work by its Gender Equality Commission that has gathered best practice on promoting an education free from gender stereotypes; calls on the Council of Europe to report more broadly on the state of history teaching in Europe;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Acknowledges the crucial importance of approaching Europe’s past on the foundation of European core values as enshrined in Article 2 TEU, resting on such as humanism, tolerance, democracy and the rule of law, and of creating an open sphere of discussion that also makes it possible to address difficult elements of national histories and that provides for mutual understanding and reconciliation both within and between European nations;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Stresses the role that the achievement of the European Education Area (EEA) by 2025 must play in the teaching and learning of history; calls on the Commission, through the EEA Working Group on Equality and Values, to work on deliverables that address specifically the development of European historical consciousness;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Calls on the Member States to increase the presence of a gender and multicultural perspective in history teaching, as well as the inclusion of content related to the acquisition of rights by the LGBTQI+ community and the fight against racism;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Acknowledges the efforts made by Jean Monnet Actions and Learning EU initiatives to spread knowledge about the EU history and integration matters; calls for strengthening these actions to especially incorporate the dimension of critical thinking, especially in teacher training;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)

13c. Stresses the potential of the DiscoverEU programme for the development of young people's knowledge of European history and critical consciousness; recalls that DiscoverEU must reach out to all young people who wish to participate, especially those with fewer opportunities; calls on the Commission to create a Historical route to encourage visits to places that are emblematic of the history of European integration, in addition to the other four routes already created;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2112(INI)

Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16a. Calls for the EU’s rule of law mechanism to include all forms of freedom of expression, including artistic expression and academic freedom; in this regard, urges the Commission to take artistic and academic freedom as part of the next rule of law report and link the conditionality regime to freedom of expression more explicitly;

2023/10/10
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas human creativity and creative professionals such as authors and performers are at the origin and source of all music that is distributed on streaming platform;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas the increasing number of acquisitions of song catalogues and recording rights by investors in recent years proves the overall enormous economic value and potential of written and recorded music;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)

Ha. whereas music streaming platforms should continue their efforts to increase overall transparency and traceability concerning many operational aspects of high relevance to authors, performers, rightholders, the audience and the general public, including most notably the functioning of their payment and remuneration systems, the curation of playlists, the discoverability of works, and the availability of metadata;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Believes that voices of authors and performers must be taken into consideration in order to live up to the artistic, cultural and societal value and importance of their role in the music market; welcomes any efforts to improve the payment systems of music streaming platforms towards more adequately benefiting authors and performers;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Calls on the Commission to evaluate whether the fundamental principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration is fulfilled by current payment systems of streaming platforms as well as by existing contracts concluded between authors and performers on the one hand and other actors of the value chain within the music sector on the other;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Encourages the Commission to evaluate whether technologies such as blockchain have the potential to improve the overall situation, especially for authors, performers and rightholders, with regards to transparency, accuracy and cost efficiency, in particular concerning metadata and remuneration;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Highlights the importance of overall transparency and traceability concerning many operational aspects of high relevance to authors, performers, rightholders, the audience and the general public, including most notably the functioning of the streaming platforms’ payment and remuneration systems, the curation of playlists, the discoverability of works, and the availability of metadata; regrets that in general, music streaming platforms significantly lack such transparency and traceability

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2054(INI)

Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Laurence FARRENG, Niklas NIENASS, Irena JOVEVA, Hannes HEIDE, Romeo FRANZ, Monica SEMEDO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to assess adequate ways in order to preserve the digital European musical heritage, while reducing the de- facto dependence on commercial music streaming platforms, ensuring the availability and accessibility of European musical works in the long term;

2023/09/14
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas the European book sector is rich and diverse and one of the largest culture industries in Europe, with around 600 000 titles published annually, and the overall value chain is estimated to employ more than half a million people in the EU;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas authors are the backbone of the sector and play a vital role in society’s development;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Underlines the need to ensure a balance in the book ecosystem by fulfilling the specific roles of the various actors of the value chain, such as authors, publishers, printers, distributors, translators, booksellers and libraries;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Calls on the Member States, in this regard, to implement the European Accessibility Act17 as soon as possible and take measures to ensure that books are available in accessible formats for persons with disabilities, in the interests of cultural, social and professional inclusion; Recalls that the European Accessibility Act goes hand-in-hand with the Marrakesh Treaty, which has been transposed into European legislation through the Marrakesh Directive and Regulation; Emphasises that the Marrakesh Treaty and the European Accessibility Act are complementary tools that aim to improve the access of persons with disabilities to published works, both physically and digitally, on equal basis with others; _________________ 17 Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 70).

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Underlines that due to the large number of titles available on the market and the technical challenges related to accessibility, not all e-books will be accessible by 2025; calls therefore on the Member States to ensure that adequate resources are made available to meet high costs and to ensure that the requirement to make e-books accessible does not result in a diminished offer on the market;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Member States to provide adequate financial and structural support to the sector, in particular to SMEs, while financing research and innovation dedicated to increase accessibility;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Stresses the need to support the translation of European non-fiction books, particularly via the Creative Europe programme, which does not currently allow for this;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Calls for more initiatives to promote reading in the Member States, such as the introduction of ‘cultural vouchers’, especially for young people and marginalised groups, that could facilitate the purchase of books;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Welcomes the Commission’s launch of the first edition of the Day of European Authors to encourage book reading among the younger generations and supports the strengthening and the continuation of this initiative in the coming years;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. ~~Calls~~Underlines that independent bookstores are cornerstones of local communities by offering a differentiated customer experience and often supporting new and local authors contributing to lively literary scenes; calls therefore on the Commission to create a label for independent bookshops in the EU in order to boost the visibility of local bookshops and promote the diversity of European books;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Deplores the growing attacks against bookstores and libraries, as well as the increasing censorship of inclusive books; Stresses the role of bookstores and libraries as safe and welcoming spaces, where neither censorship nor any violent acts should be tolerated;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16a. Emphasises the prevailing paper- based nature of the book industry and calls on the Commission to take into due account this specificity in the design and implementation of green transition policies to prevent negative impacts and to devise specific support measures to accompany the book sector in its transition towards a more sustainable model;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. WRecognises that calculating the carbon footprint of printing activities and its products is crucial to help consumers understand the environmental impact of their activities; in this regard, welcomes the sector’s efforts to produce printed books in a greener and more sustainable manner through the widespread use of certified and recycled paper, as well as various related initiatives, such as CO2 calculators and green labels;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Calls on the Commission to support national initiatives on data sharing and standardisation, and to collect data on the European book sector as a whole, so as to ~~further~~better understand the challenges the sector is facing and further support it, optimiseing production, distribution and sustainability efforts;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2053(INI)

Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, João ALBUQUERQUE, Sylvie GUILLAUME, Victor NEGRESCU, Hannes HEIDE, Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Petra KAMMEREVERT, Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO, Tomasz FRANKOWSKI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Stresses the need for fair competition in the book market in order to guarantee consumer choice and cultural diversity; underlines the unfair practices by certain dominant online players that abuse their position to the detriment of other actors in the value chain; in this regard, calls on the Commission and the Member States to monitor the effective implementation and compliance with the obligations of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by dominant online market players to ensure fair competition;

2023/06/06
Committee: CULT

2023/2051(INL)

Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Antonius MANDERS, Daniela RONDINELLI, Hannes HEIDE, Loucas FOURLAS, João ALBUQUERQUE, Salima YENBOU, Irena JOVEVA

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas cultural and creative expressions and works are often the result of the essential contributions of persons working in the cultural and creative sectors (‘CCS professionals’) in different functions, roles and capacities, ranging from creative input to technical support; whereas the existence of such expressions and works depends, thus, on whether all CCS professionals receive adequate recognition and support; whereas 7.4 million people were in cultural employment across the Member States in 2021, amounting to 3.7% of total employment12a; _________________ 12a Eurostat