8 Amendments of Tineke STRIK related to 2024/2019(DEC)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Points out to the unprecedented challenges in the global environment, peace and geopolitical instability in the current year of audit; recalls that since Russian’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has provided economic, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine worth over €88 billion;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that the Union budget must continue to provide support to build peace and stability in the Middle East region, to combat hate and fundamentalism and to promote human rights; notes that following the heinous terror attacks of 7 October 2023 by Hamas and serious allegations of misuse of EU funds for terrorism, a funding review was conducted which found that generally EUEU funds are being well implemented;1a _________________ 1a These allegations cannot be deemed as "serious" in line with the fuinds are being well implemented, buings of the review that the Commission carried out in November 2023. https://neighbourhood- enlargement.ec.europa.eu/communication -commission-review-ongoing-financial- assistance-palestine_en Besides, the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen stated that "this review has confirmed that the safeguards in place are effective". https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor ner/detail/%20en/ip_23_5941 Therefore, the reference that "certain additional safeguards were deemed necessary;" is factually not true.
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Underlines that the EU's budget should be managed in compliance with the Treaties and the EU acquis, including provisions related to fundamental rights compliance, transparency and accountability towards the European Parliament and EU citizens; regrets, against that backdrop, the modus operandi of the Commission in its management of external migration budget lines, notably the absence of fundamental rights impact assessments prior to migration projects in third countries, the absence of publicly available overviews of budgets and projects and the Commission's systematic refusal to provide budgetary migration-related spending overviews to the European Parliament, despite several formal requests and commitments under the Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission: in this context, urges the Commission to significantly improve these practices with immediate effect, notably by performing ex ante human rights impact assessments before projects, creating a public overview of all migration-related projects in third countries and systematically improving the level of information-sharing to the European Parliament, on equal footing with the Council;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Urges the Commission to enhance the rule of law conditionality-based approach of the Instrument for Pre- Accession Assistance (IPA) III funding in order for the instrument to serve its purpose of effectively preparing accession countries to fulfill the conditions of becoming EU Member States; reiterates its calls on the Commission to implement the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors Special Report 01/2022 in order to ensure an effective impact of EU financial assistance in support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans, in particular by developing guidelines on the application of the provisions on modulation and conditionality under IPA III;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Calls on the Commission to set a clear and transparent accountability mechanism of implementation of the Global Gateway strategy and to demonstrate a clear rationale for the use of development finance for the projects branded under the Global Gateway strategy and its equal benefits to recipient countries’ public and private sector;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Recognises the multiple roles that civil society organisations play; recalls the EU’s commitment to support civil society organisations in all external instruments and programmes and in all areas of cooperation, including through a flexible and tailor-made approach to funding in order to reach all types of civil society organisations; calls on the Commission to involve civil society organisations more systematically in Global Gateway and Team Europe Initiatives;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3 e. Regrets the fact that the CFSP budget for civilian CSDP missions has only marginally increased from the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 to the MFF 2021-2027 (from a starting point of approximately EUR 350 million per year), while at the same time the number and tasks of missions has increased, the security environment has become more challenging, the cost of operations has increased, inflation has grown and the number of contracted personnel has increased, therefore limiting the potential for expanding the current missions’ mandates or possibly establishing new missions in response to urgent security needs; calls for a substantive increase of funding for the CFSP budget, while at the same time ensuring the efficient use of the funds allocated to the CSDP civilian missions, in order to make sure that they effectively respond to crisis situations and unforeseen events, and to actively identify where complementary projects and programmes could be funded from other relevant EU budgets, ensuring sound financial management and the careful prioritisation of existing resources; calls also for the structure of the CFSP budget to be changed and for the generation of one budget line per civilian CSDP mission, in order to allow for better scrutiny and increased transparency;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3 f. Recalls that in line with Article 11.2 TEU, EU institutions should maintain an open, transparent and structured dialogue with civil society organisations and representative associations; in this regard, stresses that success to structural funding is a prerequisite to ensure public participation; highlights that without structural funding, it would not be possible for citizens to have their voice channelled at the EU level through their representative associations, as well as to sustain a regular dialogue with EU institutions contributing to democratic participation in policy making and to an open and wide-ranging dialogue, ensuring that the diversity of views and concerns are taken into account with equal access for public interest as compared to commercial interest; stresses that civil society organisations exercise a monitoring role on the implementation of EU policies and legislation, including the use of EU funds, and act as checks and balances in areas such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law; recalls the commitment of the Commission in its political guidelines to step up its engagement with civil society organisations that have expertise and play an important in upholding human rights, including in third countries; in this context, highlights that while the Commission should not mandate NGOs to pursue certain activities or support specific positions or policies, it remains fundamental that civil society organisations, through EU funding can engage in an “open, transparent and structured dialogue with EU institutions” as enshrined in Article 11 TEU through activities such as advocacy activities, demonstrations or judicial actions and these should remain eligible in the relevant funding programs and have sufficient dedicated funding available;