Activities of Vlad GHEORGHE related to 2020/2045(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT Implementation report on the EU Trust Funds and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey
Amendments (32)
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17 a (new)
Citation 17 a (new)
— having regard to its Report of 17 May 2021 on the 2019-2020 Commission Reports on Turkey 2019/2176(INI),
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 20 a (new)
Citation 20 a (new)
— having regard to the Draft Amending Budget No. 5/20201a and the accompanying decision on Mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in2020: continuation of humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey2a, _________________ 1aBudget 2020/1157, OJ L 299 11.09.2020, p. 0001 2aDecision 2021/1268, OJ L 298 11.09.2020, p. 0021
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the revision of the Financial Regulation in 2018 introduced provisions strengthening to a certain extent Parliament’s scrutiny powers when new EUTFs are established or the current ones are extended;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the establishment of both the EUTFs and the Facility for refugees in Turkey (FRT) have been justified by the need for a flexible and swift reaction not possible under the classical institutional framework; whereas the extra-budgetary instruments such as the EUTFs, as well as extraordinary tools such as the FRT, pose challenges with respect to democratic accountability, includjeopardise the principles of democratic accountability, transparency and sound financial management, undermining the role of the European Parliament and also the integrity of the EU budget;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas according to the Commission estimations, substantial humanitarian refugee-related needs continue also beyond the Facility for Refugees in Turkey;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Continues to expresses concerns over the limited role of Parliament in the decision, supervision and scrutiny of the Union contributions to the EUTFs; recalls Parliament’s request to monitor the activities of the Operational Committee, and calls on the Commission to provide in good time detailed information on the decisions taken in that Committee and to ensure that Parliament is represented at its meetings and that Parliament’s position is taken into account;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WelcomNotes the Commission’s efforts to closely monitor and evaluate interventions, and to generate knowledge about the activities of the EUTFs and of the FRT, through a dedicated set of reports; hailsasks to strengthen these efforts to achieve greater transparency by publishing relevant data on the web pages of the EUTFs and the FRT; stresses that the availability, completeness and factual consistency of such reports constitute the precondition for the support of European Parliament as budgetary authority;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Regrets the late evaluations of some of the Trust Funds, which did not allow Parliament to arrive at full and precise conclusions in a timely manner in the case of the Trust Fund for Africa, thus limiting democratic oversight and accountability;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Underlines that the existing EU institutional framework, NDICI-Global Europe should be used to its full potential, and where necessary improved, while the recourse to extraordinary financing tools should be limited to unforeseen emergencies, so as to guarantee efficiency, coherence and accountability of EU foreign policy instruments;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Underlines that in its reports the Commission should illustrate the complementarity of different financial instruments dedicated to the areas covered by EUTFs and FRT, including the EU External Investment Plan, as well as generated added value;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes the conclusions by the European Court of Auditors, published in its 2017 special report, that the Bêkou Trust Fund has had positive achievements overall and has attracted aid, but few additional donors, and that most of its projects have delivered their expected outputs and provided enhanced visibility to the EU; indicates however that the report recommended a better definition of the intervention scope, improved donor coordination, project selection procedures, monitoring and performance measurement, as well as optimisation of costs and increased transparency in the selection of implementing organisations;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that the emerging security challenges in the CAR will require well- targeted, flexible EU support under the NDICI-Global Europe to enhance peace and security, democratisation and strengthening democratic institutions, as well as respect for human rights in the CAR;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the generally strong degree of local ownership, the involvement of local authorities and civil society organisations (CSOs) in projects supported by the EUTF for Africa; notes however that according to the Special report No 32/2018 of the European Court of Auditors, there was a need in an improved project selection procedure, higher implementation speed and a more systematic performance monitoring covering the full range of projects;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Notes that according to the Special report No 32/2018 of the European Court of Auditors, due to the fund’s broad scope, it often lacked efficiency concerning targeted action due to an absence of adequate quantification of the needs and means through which measured impact could have been achieved;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Considers that the EU FRT has proven its value as an innovative pooling tool and important coordinating mechanism for assisting Turkey in swiftly responding to the immediate humanitarian and development needs of refugees and their host communities; notes however that the majority of projects needed to be extended to achieve the expected outcome; stresses in particular that according to the Special report No 27/2018 of the European Court of Auditors, greater value could have been achieved in cash- assistance projects; furthermore the report indicates inconsistency in the financing of health and education activities, with a parallel use of different management structures to fund similar projects; additionally the report calls on the Commission to improve the programming for municipal infrastructure and socio-economic support, enable the operating environment for NGOs and improve the reporting on the Facility;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Recalls that in 2020 the Commission requested a mobilisation of additional EUR 481,6 million under the EU Budget Contingency Margin, which goes beyond the initially foreseen allocation for the FRT, in order to finance the activities under the Emergency Social Safety Net programme and the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education programme;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21 a. Stresses that the refusal by the Turkish authorities to grant access to beneficiary data for the two cash- assistance projects could raise questions as regards the soundness of financial management under the Facility, particularly taking into account Turkey’s rapid backsliding on the rule of law and fundamental rights; calls on the Commission to obtain the data on beneficiaries of all FRT programmes and projects; stresses that in order to achieve full accountability the Commission should make the resources available on the basis of targets achieved by implementing partners on the ground and after the implementation assessment carried out according to the Financial Regulation rules1a; _________________ 1aSpecial report No 27/2018 of the European Court of Auditors “The Facility for Refugees in Turkey: helpful support, but improvements needed to deliver more value for money”, p. 6 and p. 40
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Reiterates its request that Turkey respect the principle of non-refoulement, in particular on the Syrian border, and that it not use the flows of refugees against the EU; stresses that the financial support to Turkey in the management of refugee flow must be conditional on the respect of the rule of law and fundamental rights, full budgetary transparency, as well as unrestricted involvement of civil society organisations; calls on the Commission to build upon its experience in special third- party verification system to strengthen the oversight of spending;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Reiterates its request that Turkey respect the principle of non-refoulement, in particular on the Syrian border, and that itTurkey should not use the flows of refugees as a source of blackmail against the EU;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. Calls on all involved parties of the upcoming Multilateral Conference on the Eastern Mediterranean, to address in a comprehensive way, along humanitarian and development issues, the issues of border management and migration, so as to maximise the added value of EU’s engagement in the region; reminds of the EU long-term objective of a gradual take- over of EU-funded activities by the Turkish authorities in full respect of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. Reiterates that NGOs and civil society stakeholders should be better involved in managing any pre-accession funds in Turkey, in order to guarantee both transparency and better accountability, while ensuring that funds are used exclusively for the purposes laid down in the agreement with Turkey;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Underlines the necessity of better addressing the funding needs in situations of protracted crisis and with a view to the coordination and transition between humanitarian relief, reconstruction and development in a flexible and interconnected manner, in a way that it is in line with development policy and humanitarian assistance's objectives and principles, such as supporting poverty eradication, the reduction of inequality and the meeting of humanitarian needs;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Highlights the need to ensure that projects supported by the EU Trust Funds are in line with international humanitarian and development policy targets such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Stresses the need to take on board the lessons learned in the establishment, management and implementation of the Trust Funds and the FRT in order to apply them to the new generation of external financial instruments; underlines the need for a full parliamentary scrutiny of these instruments;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Recommends that a gender- sensitive analysis and consideration of the involvement of women in designing supported projects be prerequisite of implementation of projects under both the EU Trust Funds and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Reiterates Parliament’s long- standing insistence that external assistance be financed in full from the Union budget and be implemented in a coherent and value-based way, following a streamlined set of rules, based on co-legislated instruments and in full respect of Parliament’s legislative, budgetary and monitoring prerogatives, and of the principles of EU's budgetary unity, accountability, transparency, effectiveness and sound budgetary management; highlights that the adoption of extraordinary tools increases the complexity of financing governance and puts financial pressure on existing foreign policy instruments, thereby possibly affecting their efficiency;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25 a. Stresses that the full transparency and availability of data on EU added value and human rights record in its engagement with the areas covered by the Trust Funds and the FRT is the precondition of the public support for further EU’s development and humanitarian aid in those areas; calls on the Commission to guarantee a more efficient communication on the ground, highlighting the EU’s role as the biggest donor of global development aid;
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Is confident that the NDICI-Global Europe will allow for more efficient and predictable allocation of resources, increased flexibility and responsiveness, allowing it to continue the activities of the existing Trust Funds and thereby safeguard the unity of the Union budget; underlines that ordinary decision-making governance framework confers more legitimacy to the EU’ external action, both within the EU and in the destination countries;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. Calls on the Commission to guarantee that the implementation of the EU humanitarian and development aid in conflict-affected areas and areas with considerable refugee challenge is done in full transparency and under a close supervision of EU staff members responsible for the scrutiny, including audit and anti-corruption activities; underlines the importance of sharing the audit data with the EU financial scrutiny framework, including ECA, OLAF and EPPO;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. In the event of greater needs in the MFF 2021-2027, advocates increasing the NDICI-Global Europe envelope through a revision of the MFF and the NDICI-Global Europe regulations, or a strengthening of the relevant NDICI-Global Europe budget lines with contributions in the form of external assigned revenue; expects that the upcoming revision of the Financial Regulation will ensure appropriate involvement of the budgetary authority in the governance of external assigned revenue; stresses that, should a need for a duly justified new Trust Fund nevertheless arise, it insists that Parliament must be fully involved from the very outset and considers, therefore, that the Financial Regulation shall be revised to guarantee appropriate role of the Parliament in the establishment and scrutiny of Trust Funds;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30 a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that migration-related spending should target reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience within impacted communities, while funds allocated should be based on thorough impact assessment procedures and evidence- driven projections, and include a risk assessment, context analysis and conflict analysis as well; should any serious risk be identified, adequate procedures must be in place to mitigate and counterbalance these risks in a manner that is compatible with human rights and democratic standards;
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 b (new)
Paragraph 30 b (new)
30 b. Expects the Commission to publish all its impact evaluation, monitoring, and analysis, especially concerning high risk projects conducted in close cooperation with partner countries' national agencies; reiterates that the Parliament must be able to evaluate and study these reports on a regular basis;