Activities of Marc ANGEL related to 2023/2120(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Activities of the European Ombudsman – annual report 2022 (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2022
Amendments (12)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas in 2022, the greater part of the inquiries concerned the Commission (197 inquiries or 57.1 %), while the next largest numbers concerned the European Personnel Selection Office (22 inquiries or 6.3 %), European Parliament (19 inquiries or 5.5 %), and the European External Action Service (16 inquiries or 4.6 %); whereas the remaining inquiries were distributed as follows: the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) (14 inquiries or 4.3 %), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (7 inquiries or 2 %), other EU institutions or bodies (46 inquiries or 13.5 %), and other EU agencies (23 inquiries or 6.7 %);
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
J a. whereas in 2022, the Ombudsman opened a strategic inquiry concerning the time the European Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents which resulted in the conclusion that there are systemic and significant delays in the Commission’s processing of requests for public access to documents, constituting maladministration;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J b (new)
Recital J b (new)
J b. whereas in 2022, the Ombudsman issued a recommendation to the Council to grant full public access to the requested legislative documents, following an inquiry into the Council’s refusal to do so in the context of negotiations on the draft ‘Digital Markets Act’, which resulted in the conclusion that there was maladministration;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Congratulates the Ombudsman’s Office for the significant efficiency rate improvements in the length of inquiry of cases closed, which improved from 13 months on average in 2013 to less than 6 months on average in 2022; underlines that the results are achieved covering several areas of EU administration with limited resources;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the Commission’s proposal, in response to the Ombudsman’s findings following her inquiry into the BlackRock case, to amend the Financial Regulation to include the possibility to reject tenderers if they have a conflict of interest; takes note of the Ombudsman’s suggestion toand calls upon the Commission to update its guidelines for public procurement procedures for policy-related contracts, with a view to preventing any conflicts of interest;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Highlights the fact that, following an inquiry by the Ombudsman into the phenomenon of ‘revolving doors’, the Commission is improving its handling of the issue and requests information from former staff on how they are complying with relevant restrictions; welcomes the faster publishing by the Commission of an annual overview of senior staff members requesting permission to move to new employment, and its assessment of these requests; welcomes the fact that staff on unpaid leave are forbidden from taking employment in areas where there is a risk of conflict of interest; encourages the Ombudsman to monitor the Commission’s handling of these issues;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Acknowledges the importance for all institutions of treating access to documents requests in timely manner, so that the relevance of the information is preserved; welcomes the additional resources dedicated by the CommissionOmbudsman’s special report in her strategic inquiry concerning the time the Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents; underlines that the public access to EU institution’s documents is a fundamental right given effect through Regulation 1049/2001; stresses the need for sufficient resources to be dedicated by the EU insitutions to improvinge efficiency in the handling of access to documents requests and welcomes the additional resources dedicated by the European Commission in this regard;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Takes note of the Ombudsman’s inquiry, launched in 2021, into Commission’s alleged failure to identify and disclose the text messages exchanged between the Commission President in her professional capacity and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company on the purchase of a COVID-19 vaccine; is worried about the Ombudsman’s conclusions, published in 2022, that the Commission’s refusal to grant public access to these text messages constituted maladministration;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Urges the European Commission to improve its administrative practices and to clearly demonstrate that transparency is the rule and a priority in handling the requests for public access to documents, as failing to do so could undermine the transparency of the entire EU administration and ultimately the citizens’ trust in the European project;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13 b. Calls on the Council of the European Union to learn a lesson from the Ombudsman’s inquiry into the Council’s refusal to give full public access to documents related to negotiations on the draft ‘Digital Markets Act’ which, in 2022, resulted in Ombudsman’s conclusion that there was maladministration, and to apply the highest standards of transparency in these cases, especially when the Ombudsman has already identified problems in previous strategic inquiries concerning the transparency of the Council’s legislative process and the transparency of the Council’s decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis; recalls that transparency is one of the key principles set out in the EU treaties and that lack of transparency risks to diminish the citizens’ trust in the European institutions and the EU as a whole;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Notes the Ombudsman’s inquiry into the Commission’s monitoring system of the Croatian authorities’ respect for fundamental rights in the context of border management operations supported by EU funds, after which the Ombudsman criticised the Commission for its delay in setting up an appropriate monitoring mechanism for border management by the Croatian authorities; urges the Commission to always react promptly to the Ombudsman’s suggestions for improvement, in particular in cases like this one, when significant shortcomings are identified;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. EncouragWelcomes the fruitful long- standing dialogue between the Ombudsman and the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament; underlines that the intensive collaboration between these two bodies helps to increase the democratic accountability of the EU institutions;