BETA

34 Amendments of Marc ANGEL related to 2020/2125(INI)

Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
C. whereas the European Ombudsman’s main priority is to ensure that citizens’ rights are fully upheld and that the right to good administration reflects the highest standards expected of the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union; whereas the Ombudsman plays a vital role in helping EU institutions become more open, effective and citizen-friendly with the aim of strengthening citizens’ confidence in the Union;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the European Ombudsman launched a Strategic Initiative on the leave rights of certain EU staff members and the best interests of the child (SI/1/2019/AMF)1a, which led to the harmonisation of rules between the European Commission and the Council regarding leave rights of staff members who become parents through surrogacy; whereas no comparable results were produced in the European Parliament due to unwillingness to adapt its rules on leave; _________________ 1a https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/op ening-summary/en/113554
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas, according to the Eurobarometer survey conducted in June 2019, 44% of citizens trust the European Union and 46% do not; whereas it is essential for the institutions to be accountable so as to increase the level of satisfaction of European citizens;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas Article 10(3) of the Treaty on European Union provides that ‘every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union’ and that ‘decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen’;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas Article 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides that ‘every citizen of the Union may apply to the Ombudsman established in accordance with Article 228’;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas Article 228 TFEU empowers the Ombudsman to conduct inquiries into maladministration in the activities of the Union institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies, with the exception of the Court of Justice of the European Union acting in its judicial role;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas Article 41(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights states that ‘every person has the right to have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union’;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas Article 43 of the Charter provides that ‘any citizen of the Union and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State has the right to refer to the Ombudsman cases of maladministration in the activities of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union, with the exception of the Court of Justice of the European Union acting in its judicial role’;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C g (new)
Cg. whereas, according to the first European Ombudsman, ‘maladministration occurs when a public body fails to act in accordance with a rule or principle which is binding upon it’[1]; whereas this requires the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union not only to respect their legal obligations but also to be service-minded and to ensure that members of the public are properly treated and fully enjoy their rights; whereas the notion of good administration should be understood as an on-going continuous improvement process1a; _________________ 1aThe European Ombudsman – Annual Report 1999 (2000/C260/01), OJ C 260, 11.9.2000, p. 1.
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C h (new)
Ch. whereas 19 619 citizens requested assistance from the Ombudsman in 2019, and 16 045 were given advice via the interactive guide on the Ombudsman’s website; whereas in 2019 the Ombudsman registered 2 201 complaints and received 1 373 requests for information;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C i (new)
Ci. whereas, of the 2 201 complaints dealt with by the Ombudsman, 879 fell within and 1 330 outside her remit;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C j (new)
Cj. whereas, out of 2 201 complaints, the Ombudsman provided advice to the complainant or passed the matter on in 862 cases, in 883 cases the complainant was informed that no additional advice could be provided, and 456 complaints gave rise to an inquiry;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C k (new)
Ck. whereas the Ombudsman opened 458 inquiries, of which 456 were complaint-based and two were own- initiative inquiries, and closed 560 inquiries (552 complaint-based and 13 own-initiative inquiries); whereas most of the inquiries concerned the Commission (274, or 59.7%), followed by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), against which there has been a strong rise in the number of inquiries opened since 2018 (44, or 9.6%), the others breaking down as follows: European agencies (33, or 7.2%), the European Parliament (21, or 4.6%), the European External Action Service (EEAS) (17, or 3.7%), the European Investment Bank (EIB) (16, or 3.3%), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (14, or 2.8%) and other institutions (54, or 11.8%);
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C l (new)
Cl. whereas, of the inquiries closed by the Ombudsman, 26.9% concerned requests for information and access to documents, 22% the service culture, for example kindness towards citizens, languages and time limits, 19.8% the appropriate use of discretionary powers, including in infringement proceedings, and 13.2% respect for procedural rights, including the right to be heard, 13% the proper management of administrative and staff matters, 12.3% recruitment and 8.4% respect for fundamental rights;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C m (new)
Cm. whereas the length of most of the inquiries closed by the Ombudsman in 2019 ranged between three (43.4%) and 18 months (10.2%); whereas the average length of time needed to close an inquiry was less than seven months;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C n (new)
Cn. whereas, as part of her inquiries, the European Ombudsman is entitled to submit proposals to EU institutions and bodies on how to address a problem or improve their administrative practices; whereas these proposals take the form of solutions, recommendations and suggestions;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C o (new)
Co. whereas according to the annual ‘Putting it Right?’ report, published in December 2019, which analyses the institutions’ responses to the Ombudsman’s proposals in the context of inquiries closed in 2018, the implementation rate achieved by the EU institutions in response to the Ombudsman’s proposals is 77%; whereas 11 institutions achieved an implementation rate of 100%, while the Commission, the institution which a majority of the complaints concern, achieved a rate of 70.9%;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C p (new)
Cp. whereas in her strategic work in 2019 the Ombudsman opened four new strategic inquiries: on transparency in the preparatory bodies of the Eurogroup, on the ‘revolving doors’ in the Commission, on the treatment of persons with disabilities under the EU Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme and on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the ‘activities prior to the submission’ of medicinal products with a view to their authorisation;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C q (new)
Cq. whereas in 2019 the Ombudsman opened nine strategic initiatives, including on the effectiveness of the mechanisms put in place by the Member States for dealing with complaints relating to the Structural Funds, on the transparency of the Brexit negotiations, on the transparency of EU lobbying and the EU Transparency Register, on the EU procedure for food risk assessment, on the transparency of meetings between the President of the European Council and interest representatives, on the improvement of the European Citizens’ Initiative, on the integration of children with disabilities in the European Schools and on the right to leave of EU staff members who become parents through surrogacy;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) provides that the parties ‘recognise the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community’;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the importance of the European institutions maintaining the highest possible level of transparency, in order to enable citizens to take an active part in decision-making and to strengthen their trust in and feeling of proximity to the institutions, while giving them a genuine capacity to hold the institutions accountable; stresses that such transparency must include citizens’ access to documents and information necessary to understand and follow debates;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Council to follow the European Ombudsman’s recommendations and to implement them as soon as possible; calls for the systematic identification of Member State governments which set out positions in the preparatory bodies;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Urges Member States to be more diligent in meeting their obligation to cooperate with the Ombudsman;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that for years transparency, and in particular access to documents, has been the main subject of complaints, and welcomes the fact that in connection with a number of inquiries the European Ombudsman has called for public access to be granted; deplores, however, the fact that the European Ombudsman’s recommendations are not always followed up and that OLAF’s report on the use of a loan granted to the German car manufacturer Volkswagen has still not been published; calls for EU legislation on access to documents (Regulation 1049/2001) to be updated in order to facilitate the European Ombudsman’s work; urges the Council to reopen its discussions on the basis of the position adopted by Parliament on 12 June 2013;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Welcomes the more ambitious approach taken to the transparency of the bodies preparing meetings of the Eurogroup, which agreed, following a request from the Ombudsman, to publish the dates and draft agendas of Eurogroup meetings earlier than before, to provide more details in the letter summarising the meetings and to include more information on the Eurogroup website concerning its activities;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Notes the undertaking given by the Commission, following an inquiry by the Ombudsman, to publish the agendas and minutes of meetings of the ‘advisory bodies’ which influence EU policy- making and the comments made by the participants in the previous groups, and, for any future such group, to apply the same standards of transparency as those adopted by the groups of experts;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
11. Notes that the Commission has committed itself to implementing many of the European Ombudsman’s proposals on the issue of ‘revolving doors’, and endorse, such as asking a person who switches to the private sector to provide additional information about the organisation they are joining and more details about the type of professional activity they are embarking on; strongly supports the Ombudsman’s other recommendations to the Commission to take a firmer approach to the issue of ‘revolving doors’;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Fully endorses the European Ombudsman’s confirmation of her finding that four instances of maladministration marred the appointment process of the most senior Commission official, and applauds the new Commission’s introduction in 2019 of a specific appointment procedure for its Secretary- General, which includes the publication of a vacancy notice and the inclusion of the appointment on the agenda of the weekly meeting of Commissioners, with sufficient time for it to be given proper consideration;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Notes that, following the own- initiative inquiry undertaken by the Ombudsman, the EMA introduced measures aimed at improving the independence and objectivity of the marketing authorisation process for medicinal products and increasing transparency in areas such as clinical trials; calls on the EMA to implement the Ombudsman’s new recommendations in order to ensure its independence and impartiality and avoid any conflict of interest;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Congratulates the Ombudsman for opening a necessary inquiry into the accessibility of online tools used by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), following a complaint by a person with a visual impairment;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Congratulates the Ombudsman on the inquiries opened in 2019 in which the following main topics could be identified: transparency in the EU institutions, transparency of lobbying activities, service culture, fundamental rights, ethical issues, citizens’ participation in EU decision-making, good management of staff issues and recruitment and sound financial management;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Notes that in 2019 the Ombudsman dealt with 1 300 complaints which did not fall within her mandate, mainly because they did not concern the activities of an EU institution or body; endorses the Ombudsman’s approach of replying to everyone seeking her assistance, explaining her mandate to them and providing advice, and redirecting them, as far as possible, to other bodies which may be able to help them, and encourages her to continue to do so;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Endorses the efforts of the EU institutions to follow the Ombudsman’s recommendations (77 %) and encourages them to continue in this direction; remains concerned at the persistent rate of non-compliance (23%); is aware that the Ombudsman’s suggestions are not legally binding; urges the institutions, bodies and agencies to react promptly, effectively and responsibly to the Ombudsman’s recommendations and critical remarks;
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Strongly welcomes the European Ombudsman’s strategic initiative on the leave rights of certain EU staff members and the best interests of the child; takes the position that the inconsistency between the European Parliament and the other institutions1a regarding leave rights upon surrogacy ignores the primacy of the overriding best interests of the child and places staff members who used surrogacy, such as infertile, same-sex or single parents, at a significant risk of discrimination; recalls the conclusions of the Ombudsman regarding the importance of protecting the best interests of the child; calls on the Parliament to engage in inter-institutional dialogue and to adopt a decision harmonising these rules with those of the Council and Commission; _________________ 1a The Commission grants 20 weeks of special leave in addition to 10 days for the birth of each new-born, as codified in its March 2020 decision (https://egalite- online.eu/wp- content/uploads/2020/03/C_2020_1559_F 1_COMMISSION_DECISION_EN_V3_ P1_1043892.pdf). The Council applies the same rule on an ad hoc basis. The Parliament mentioned that only the 10 days would be granted for each new-born to a staff member in a similar situation, because maternity leave requires the production of a medical certificate of pregnancy; the Parliament does not foresee the use of special leave for this purpose.
2020/11/09
Committee: PETI