Activities of Alin MITUȚA related to 2021/2115(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2020, Section X – European External Action Service
Amendments (12)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Whereas in the context of the discharge procedure, the discharge authority wishes to stress the particular importance of further strengthening the democratic legitimacy of the Union institutions by improving transparency and accountability, and implementing the concept of performance-based budgeting and good governance of human resources;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes that following the “Innovative 2019” exercise, aiming at fostering simplification and modernisation of working procedures and processes, several actions were launched in 2020, in particular the centralisation of high-value calls for tenders, the treasury functions and the payment of individual entitlements; notes that in 2020 some operations, in particular pre-award matters for all procurement procedures, have been increasingly centralised at HQ level to improve the quality of the procurement procedures and to alleviate the workload of the Delegations; notes with satisfaction that the full centralisation is expected during year 2021; supports the planned workload assessment on Delegations in 2022 as an appropriate review mechanism to help prioritise resources and organisational aspects of the Delegation network; Points out in this regard the need for the EEAS to continue its efforts in order to achieve the simplification of budget lines;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Welcomes the many actions launched by EEAS to reach the gender balance, as well as to create an open and inclusive working environment, to integrate result-oriented and flexible working conditions incorporating work-life balance; welcomes specific actions like networking for women in pre-management positions and tailored programmes for women in middle-management positions as a talent-base for future senior management posts, mandatory training on unconscious bias for members of recruitment panels, enhanced coordination with Member States to encourage more female candidates and support spouses seeking to find employment in third countries; applauds that, to further improve gender mainstreaming, a gender auditing of internal policies is ongoing, and asks the EEAS to report to Parliament about the recommendations and follow up to promote a strong gender-responsive leadership; Underlines that this a recurrent issue and reiterates the call for the EEAS to continue its efforts to achieve gender balance at all hierarchical levels and welcomes actions such as the mandatory presence of both genders on selection panels, the active encouragement of female applicants for all managerial positions, specific training sessions for female staff who wish to prepare for a managerial career and more flexible working arrangement.
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Is concerned by the lack of gender balance across the applications for management posts, where only 27 % of applicants were women; observes that women made up 53 % of the applicants for heads of administration, 82 % of applicants for assistant to head of Delegation and 100 % of applicants for assistant to deputy head of Delegation; calls on the EEAS to exploring strategies to encourage and facilitate female candidates to apply for management posts; insists on encouraging Member States to put forward qualified women for management positions, including senior management positions; encourages the EEAS to better promoting its carrer opportunities and vacancies among national diplomats, international studies professionals, academia and civil society;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Reiterates its concern about the geographical imbalances in the composition of the EEAS staff as it is a recurrent issue, especially concerning the positions of Heads of delegations, middle and senior management; Is aware of the EEAS efforts to achieve a meaningful geographical representation while respecting the competences and merits of candidates and reiterates, in this regard, the necessary provision of additional SNEs to face the EEAS’ increasing workload; observes that at the end of 2020 EEAS staff included nationals from all Member States and welcomes the efforts made by the EEAS to keep the Human Resources Network of Member States informed about the composition of staff, to publish vacancies and to promote national efforts to increase the number of candidates;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Considers it important to ensure a balanced representation of countries that joined the Union after 2004 or later (EU13) and thus, welcomes that the number of staff from these Member States at the end of 2020 had increased by 6 % compared to the previous year; points out that the share ofUnderlines, however, that considerable discrepancies between the representation at management level of countries with comparable population size persists; Regrets that only 30 management positions (33 in 2019) from 267 positions are held by citizens of the EU 13 in the EEAS staff is 23 % at the end of 2020, which is more than the share within the Union, less than the 3 biggest member states taken individually; stresses that the EEAS, like all Union institutions, must ensure that all Member States are proportionally represented while at the same time respecting the competences and merits of the candidates; Calls on the EEAS to make significant progress and to enhance the geographical balance in order to have a propulation, which corresponds to 20 %er representation of nationals from all Member States, reflecting their diversity, as indicated in the Article 27 of the Staff Regulations;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Notes that the EEAS administration handled four formal requests for assistance which concerned allegations of harassment, out of which three cases have been closed without any sanction, while the opinion of the Disciplinary Board has been requested for the last case; asks the EEAS to report on this case in due time; commends that in 2020 the EEAS launched its first-ever mandatory training for managers on how to create a harassment-free work environment; Encourages the EEAS to continue to organise systematic training and awareness sessions in the area of proper conduct of its staff; believes that such sessions should be part of compulsory training for newly recruited staff;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Calls on the EEAS to monitor the positions of the former heads of Delegations, given their sensitive political role and functions in host countries; invites the EEAS to systematically review potentially problematic transitions to the private sector or to third country organisations and to continue monitoring the occupation of the former senior officials until the end of the mandatory cooling-off period, as unaddressed conflict-of-interest situations may compromise the enforcement of high ethical standards throughout the Union administration;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Notes that the EEAS does not hold meetings with organisations and self- employed individuals qualified as lobbyists in line with Article 11 TEU; strongly encourages the EEAS to nevertheless explore the possibility of joining the Union’s transparency register, on the basis of a service level agreement, in order to improve transparency by disclosing all meetings with all lobby organisations that try to influence decisions and policy implementation processes;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. Observes that EEAS has received 20 requests for information from OLAF related to possible cases of fraud, involving Union staff or external actors and in the case of five of them OLAF decided to open an investigation; observes that the Ombudsman has handled 14 cases concerning EEAS without issuing any recommendation; welcomes that cooperation with the EPPO is being explored on the advice and with the support of OLAF; Invites EEAS to intensify the cooperation with EPPO and to integrate it as a component of its general anti-fraud strategy;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
Paragraph 58
58. Underlines that during the COVID- 19 pandemic, the Union institutions observed a 600 % increase in cyber- attacks; welcomes the several initiatives launched by the EEAS to raise security awareness and promote a security culture across the institution, such security campaigns, training of members of staff to detect security threats and providing guidance on how to mitigate threats or reduce their impact; supports the EEAS in increasing its safety measures protecting both members of staff and the EEAS’s digital infrastructure from external threats and attacks; Stresses that the EEAS needs adequate personnel, procedures, infrastructure, tools in order to reducing the security risks, especially related to cybersecurity;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67 a (new)
Paragraph 67 a (new)
67 a. Welcomes that the EEAS published five Special Reports on COVID- 19 disinformation to raise awareness of persistent actors’ activity, such as Russia, and highlight the emergence of new actors; Welcomes the increased East Strat Com Task Force budget; calls for further substantial increase in the budget in order for the Union to successfully counter- attack the disinformation campaigns; reiterates its calls for more information campaigns to better inform about Union policies in the Eastern Partnership countries;