32 Amendments of Alin MITUȚA related to 2021/2146(DEC)
Amendment 1 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants/Refuses to grant the Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2020;
Amendment 2 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2020 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2020;
Amendment 3 #
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020 / Points out that a proposal to close the accounts of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020 must be submitted at a subsequent part-session;
Amendment 4 #
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes the resignation of the executive director of the Agency on 28 April 2022 and, following numerous reports and journalistic investigations exposing wrongdoing particularly in the field of upholding human rights; further notes the appointment by the management Board of an executive director ad interim as of 1 July 2022; notes the vacancy notice for a new executive director of the Agency published on 21 June 2022; calls on the management board of the Agency to appoint an executive director as soon as possible; highlights that the new executive director should commit to ensuring full respect of fundamental rights in all activities of the Agency as well as have high-level administrative and management skills; in line with Parliament's prerogatives, invites the management board and the Commission to actively engage with the Parliament in this process, committing to full transparency and accountability before Parliament;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the briefing note on ‘Actions taken by Frontex management during transition period’ that was sent to the Committee on Budgetary Control on 27 June 2022 that informs the discharge authority on the measures taken by the interim management of the Agency, in anticipation of the appointment of a new executive director; welcomes the acknowledgement by the acting executive director of the standing problems of the Agency and appreciates her commitment to ensuring that the Agency fully implements its mandate and operates in full respect of the rule of law and fundamental rights, to changing the organisational culture of the Agency, including making sure people are not afraid to speak up about possible wrongdoings and that there is proper follow-up, to establishing a dialogue with the members of staff, to encouraging delegation of powers and to building relationships of trust with other institutions and the public; further welcomes also her commitment to transparency; calls on the interim management and on the to be appointed executive director to continue with pro- actively informing the discharge authority on its response to its observations and recommendations;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the executive management of the Agency to continue with the implementation of the Agency’s mandate; reiterates that clarity, transparency, open dialogue and communication both internally and externally, the delegation of responsibilities and tasks, as well as abiding by high standards of ethics and respect for fundamental rights are essential for changing the organisational culture within the Agency, ensuring good governance and improving its functioning towards a full implementation of its mandate, as established by Regulation (EU) 2019/1896; reminds that this is a collective effort which requires the sincere cooperation of the executive management, the Agency's Management Board and the Commission; reiterates Parliament's support within this process; recalls remarks made in the meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control on 13 July 2022 that the fast growing pace imposed by the new mandate of the Agency caused difficulties that were, with hind sight, underestimated, leading to delays in recruitment in particular; notes that the current corrective coefficient has a negative impact on recruitment and calls for a revision taking into account the reality of cost of life in order to improve geographical balance within the Agency;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the report of the Agency on the implementation of the seven conditions formulated for the 2019 discharge of the Agency; notes thathowever that only five of the seven conditions are reported as being implemented by the Agency; regrets to note that two conditions still have not been fully met;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. NotDeplores that one of the conditions not yet met is the recruitment of 40 fundamental rights monitors (FRMs), as on 1 June 2022, 31 FRMs were in service, with three more to take office on 1 September 2022, more than one and a half year after the deadline set in the Agency’s founding regulation (5 December 2020); notes that the Agency now strives to have 46 FRMs; notes the explanation provided by the Agency that the delay was due to lengthy recruitment procedures in Union institution; highlights that according to Article 110(6) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, the Agency had the obligation to recruit at least 40 fundamental rights monitors (FRMs) by 5 December 2020; recognises the recent progress made by the Agency in the recruitment and welcomes the intention to operate a first increase in the number of FRMs from 40 to 46; highlights that Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 provides the framework for further increases in the number of FRMs, as the Agency expands; reiterates its calls on the Agency to conduct all future FRMs recruitments and appointments at AD level; notes the explanation provided by the Agency that the delay was due to lengthy recruitment procedures in Union institutions; underlines however the findings of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group indicating that the former executive director of the Agency had caused a significant and unnecessary delay in the recruitment of FRMs;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the second condition not yet met is the call on the Agency to suspend its support-related activities in Hungary, in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/18961 ; notes that the Agency, instead of suspending the support-related activities, rather takes additional safeguarding measures to get assurance from the Hungarian authorities that fundamental rights have been respected, and monitors this closely; notes that the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Officers recommend partially suspending return operations and additional safeguards when conductions return operations; underlines however that the Agency must refrain from participating in any operations governed by national legislation provisions that had been deemed incompatible with the Union law by the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter - Court of Justice) until all such provisions are in line with the acquis communautaire; further notes with concern that the Court of Justice established through its judgement of 30 June 2022 that Lithuanian legislation was incompatible with Union and international law; deplores the fact that the Agency has failed to act in accordance with Article 46, even after the Court of Justice judgement; notes the progress made by the Agency through the adoption of the detailed Standard Operating Procedures for Article 46, in the form of an Executive Director Decision in January 2022; highlights the importance of implementing these procedures abiding by the highest standards of respecting fundamental rights; _________________ 1 Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (OJ L 295, 14.11.2019, p. 1).
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Concludes that the Agency has implemented most of the conditions formulated by the discharge authority in a satisfactory manner; calls nevertheless on the Agency to adopt promptly a detailed procedure for the implementation of Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, in line with the recommect and comply with all condaitions made by the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Officer in its annual report for 2022stipulated by the Parliament in its previous discharge resolutions;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes the Court’s remark that, for the financial planning of its return operations, the Agency relies on estimates provided by the cooperating countries and that complete and timely availability of this information is crucial; notes the Court’s observation that in 2020 in one case a national authority included two previously unannounced return operations, totalling EUR 355 000, in a grant agreement at the financial closure of the action, resulting in a sudden budgetary deficit for the Agency, that forced the Agency to make an ex-post budgetary commitment, contravening the Agency’s Financial Regulation; acknowledges the dependence of the Agency on cooperating countries and calls on the Agency to be more strict in setting and enforcing standards related to completeness and timeliness for the receipt of information related to financial planning of operations, including the return operations; recalls that rules and principles of the Agency's Financial Regulation must be observed and respected in all situations;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that OLAF and the Agency’s management board have made an anonymised version of the OLAF final report on the Agency’s activities available to the Members of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs; deeply regrets the long delay taken towards granting that access; underlines that this delay has hampered Members’ scrutiny of the Agency; recalls that having access to that report was deemed necessary by the discharge authority to take a fully informed decision on the 2020 discharge;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls the discharge authority’s observations on the application of the unit- cost approach for the deployment of heavy technical equipment and calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the results of the suggested contacts with the Court and the Commission toand to urgently solve the issue of lacking supporting evidence;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that the serious concerns raised on the basis of the partial presentation of findings from the final report in the Committee on Budgetary Control meeting of 28 February 2022 are indeed confirmed in the final report; expresses its utter dismay in the behaviour and actions described in the findings presented and the lack of accountability; notes from the statements of the Chair of the Agency’s management board in the Committee on Budgetary Control meeting of 13 July 2022 that actions have been taken in follow-up to OLAF’s conclusions in the final report; reiterates its call upon the Agency to present a detailed road map on how it intends to fulfil the outstanding concerns, together with a clear and detailed timeframe for these actions; notes the comments from the Chair of the Agency’s management board, and the Commission’s deputy director-general for Migration and Home Affairs that the report shows the failings of the individuals concerned, and that there is no structural issue; highlights however that the conclusions presented in the report of the OLAF on the investigation conducted with respect to the activities of the Agency, under the former executive leadership, are extremely serious and constitute a substantial reason for a refusal of discharge for the year 2020;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Calls on OLAF and the Agency's management board to urgently grant access to the OLAF final report to the acting executive director, the deputy executive directors and the Fundamental Rights Officer, in light of its crucial importance for ensuring a correct implementation of the Agency's budget and regulation in the future; considers that the findings of the OLAF report are a matter of public interest and requests OLAF to reassess making the report public without further delay, in full compliance with OLAF regulations and data protection legislation;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Recalls that all of the Agency's operations and activities must be conducted in full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, as well as the EU Staff and Financial Regulations;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2 a (new)
Subheading 2 a (new)
Fundamental rights and follow up to the 2019 discharge cycle
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. Notes with regret that in October 2020, journalistic investigations presented several allegations against the Agency, regarding its possible complicity in illegal migrant pushbacks in the Mediterranean Sea; notes that these allegations were supported by video footage of Frontex assets allegedly participating in such actions;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11 c. Recalls that these revelations have prompted the creation of a Parliament Frontex Scrutiny Working Group (FSWG) in order to investigate the exposed allegations; highlights that the FSWG "did not find conclusive evidence on the direct performance of pushbacks and/or collective expulsions by Frontex in the serious incident cases that could be examined by the FSWG", but concluded "that the Agency found evidence in support of allegations of fundamental rights violations in Member States with which it had a joint operation, but failed to address and follow-up on these violations promptly, vigilantly and effectively"; further notes that the FSWG “found deficiencies in Frontex’s mechanisms to monitor, report and assess fundamental rights situations and developments, and makes concrete recommendations for improvement", but "also identified gaps in the framework of cooperation with Member States, which may hamper the fulfilment of Frontex’s fundamental rights obligations"; notes that the FSWG expressed concern "about the lack of cooperation of the Executive Director to ensure compliance with some of the provisions of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation, notably on fundamental rights"; notes that the "FSWG takes the position that the Management Board should have played a much more proactive role in acknowledging the serious risk of fundamental rights violations and in taking action to ensure that Frontex fulfils its negative and positive fundamental rights obligations as enshrined in the Regulation";
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11 d. Reminds that following these findings, Parliament, through its Resolution P9_TA(2021)0442 on the 2019 Discharge for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, decided to place a part of the Agency's 2022 budget in a reserve, to be released upon completion of six conditions; regrets that following negotiations for the 2022 budget this reserve was not implemented; reiterates however its previous position that failure to fulfill these conditions increased the risk for refusal of discharge for the 2020 financial year;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 e (new)
Paragraph 11 e (new)
11 e. Notes that, with respect to the six conditions established by the European Parliament in its previous resolution, the Agency has made so far the following progress: a) the 20 Fundamental Rights Monitors (FRM) posts available at AD level remain vacant and are to be filled in 2022;notes that this process is under the control of the Fundamental Rights Officer (FRO), conducted independently from the office of the Executive Director;welcomes the cooperation between Frontex and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in this recruitment; b) all three deputy executive directors have been recruited and have joined the Agency; c) the Executive Director signed the Standard Operating Procedure on the mechanism to withdraw the financing of, or suspend or terminate, or not launch Frontex activities, in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896;notes however that the Agency continues to operate in Hungary;acknowledges that additional safeguards have been put in place and all requests from Hungary for support are assessed on a case-by-case basis; d) the Executive Director signed, in April 2021, the Standard Operating Procedure on the Serious Incident Report mechanism;notes that a report on the practical implementation of this procedure has been presented by the Executive Director and the FRO, concluding that there is a need to further revise the procedure; e) the Agency has adopted special rules to guarantee the independence of the FRO, it has recruited and adopted a new FRO as well as a deputy FRO;notes that the Agency has drawn up a Fundamental Rights Strategy and Action Plan, it has adopted a specialised fundamental rights training curriculum for FRMs and has also revised its complaints mechanism;underlines however that the recruitment of the 40 FRMs, due for December 2020, is still ongoing; f) the Agency has completed the implementation of a competency management project and has adopted a value-adding knowledge management and need-to-know policy, while the implementation of the Situational Awareness and Monitoring Division’s Transformation Programme and a Human Resources capacity assessment are still in progress;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recalls the European Ombudsman’s decision in its own initiative enquiry on fundamental rights obligations; notes its conclusion that the Agency should ensure a more proactive approach to transparency, including publishing documents that are needed to understand the respective roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in its operations; notes that the Agency cannot share information of a tactical nature that could be abused for human trafficking or other illegal activities; calls on the Agency to sensibly implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations; suggests to the Agency to develop and implement a new code of conduct ensuring full transparency and a good management;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2 b (new)
Subheading 2 b (new)
OLAF investigation
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 f (new)
Paragraph 11 f (new)
11 f. Recalls the fact that the European Anti-Fraud Office has initiated an investigation on the Agency over allegations of harassment, misconduct and migrant pushbacks; highlights that the investigation was finalised on 15 February 2022 and its outcome was partially presented to the Members of the Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee and Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on 28 February 2022, but has not yet been provided to the Members; further highlights that Members were only informed of the outcome through an oral presentation, without providing any supporting written materials; underlines that the findings exposed in this partial presentation raise serious concerns and do not provide sufficient information to support a decision on granting discharge to the Agency for the financial year 2020;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recalls that the Agency reported to have been notified of 17 cases of alleged harassment in 2020; notes from the Agency’s follow-up to the first 2020 discharge report that two of those 17 cases were opened as informal procedures under the Agency’s manual of procedures for confidential counsellors while the other 15 cases were closed without further follow- up; highlights that a particular focus should be placed on identifying, reporting and combatting sexual harassment, especially in light of whistleblower reportings of such alleged cases; welcomes the statements of the acting executive director in the meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control that the Agency remains vigilant in this area and that additional measures have been taken, such as the re-opening of a closed case regarding the suicide of the staff member, to make sure all cases to make sure all cases are properly treated; welcomes the expressed commitment of the ad-interim executive director to remain vigilant and take additional measures in this field; expresses shock and deep concern about the case of suicide of a staff member, related to alleged practices of sexual harassment, mentioned in discussions between Agency officials and Members participating in the mission of the Committee on Budgetary Control to Poland in July 2022, and welcomes the reopening of this case by the new executive leadership; calls on the executive director to conduct a full and detailed investigation about this particularly severe and worrying case, to keep the discharge authority informed about the results of this investigation and to fully cooperate with criminal investigation authorities in the process; calls on the executive director to conduct a thorough investigation into the implementation of existing procedures against sexual harassment, to report back to the discharge properly treatedauthority about the findings and to present a detailed action plan with measures ensuring zero tolerance towards sexual harassment in both its administrative and operational activities;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Commends the staff of the Agency, that has been through a very difficult period, facing challenges about which the acting executive director made statements in the meeting of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of 30 May 2022; calls on the executive management of the Agency and on the management board to continue with making the Agency a safe place to work; takes courage from the statements that many staff members reported wrongdoings they witnessed to their superiors and calls on the Agency to make sure that all signals about professional misconduct are taken serious, and properly followed-up; insists on the need to have a compulsory training on social harassment for management and for all staff;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes from the Agency’s replies to the Parliament’s written questions that in total 17 cases of harassment were reported to the Agency’s competent entities in 2020; calls on the Agency to carefully assess each case, taking a zero-tolerance approach to psychological or sexual harassment; welcomes the training received by the confidential counsellors and the actions undertaken to raise awareness among staff and inform staff on the confidential counsellors; welcomes the online awareness-raising sessions for executive, senior, and middle managers and team leaders, and that dedicated awareness sessions were organised to staff members that signed up for such sessions; calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority about the outcome of these cases;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. Notes the establishment and operationalisation of the Agency's transparency register; calls on the Agency to comply with the highest standards of transparency and to have the transparency register regularly updated;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Notes the Court’s finding that on 1 September 2020 the Agency asked the Commission for permission to upgrade 100 AST posts into advanced-level posts (grade AD 7 or higher), for the standing corps and new tasks under the new mandate; notes that the Agency, in anticipation of the Commission’s reply, on 9 September 2020, sent out 47 offers to advanced-level candidates with the Commission informing the Agency that it had no legal authority to upgrade the posts, resulting in the Agency immediately withdrawing the 47 job offers; acknowledges the actions undertaken by the Agency to achieve the required clarity on its establishment plan from the Commission and the pressing nature of the required recruitmentsrecalls that this has exposed the Agency at an unnecessary risk of reputational damage and litigation; calls on the Agency and the Commission to improve their communication, closer aligning the Agency’s actions with the Commission’s decision-making processes to avoid such situations from re-occurring;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30