11 Amendments of Fabienne KELLER related to 2020/2167(DEC)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Recalls the conclusions of the first opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the final report of the Committee on Budgetary Control which led to the decision to postpone the granting of discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2019 until these elements have been clarified and properly presented by the Agency, and until the OLAF investigation has been completed; emphasizes that by postponing the discharge, the Parliament has given the Agency an additional six months to respond to the various elements that were developed in the discharge report voted on the 28th April of 2021; is concerned about the resumption of our work in committee and the short period of time after the first vote in plenary;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with concern the findings of the Court of Auditors’ (the Court) in its special report1 ; takes the view that any future special report by the Court on the Agency's activities should n° 08/2021 on Frontex's support for the management of external borders; points out that the audit period runs from the end of 2016, when the Agency's new mandate comes into force, to the end of 2020; recalls, however, that the opinion should only consider elements for the year 2019; invites the Court in future to include an analysis regardingof respect for and the protection of fundamental rights; _________________ 1 https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocu ments/SR21_08/SR_Frontex_EN.pdf in any future special report on the Agency's activities;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with concern the findings of the Court of Auditors’ (the Court) in its special report1 ; takes the view that any future special report by the Court on the Agency's activities should include analysis regarding respect for and the protection of fundamental rightsn° 08/2021 on Frontex's support for the management of external borders; points out that the audit period runs from the end of 2016, when the Agency's new mandate comes into force, to the end of 2020, and therefore does not take into account recent steps from the Agency to comply with its mandate; _________________ 1 https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocu ments/SR21_08/SR_Frontex_EN.pdf
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes with regret the weaknesses detected with respect to the Agency’'s primary activities in support of the fight against irregular immigration and the fight against cross-border crime which are caused by an incomplete implementation of the 2016 mandate and the failure of the Agency to take the measures necessary to adapt its organisation to fully implement that mandate; notes that not all of the Agency's responsibilities as a result of its 2016 mandate changes have yet been implemented; notes with concern that the Court identifies a significant risk that the Agency will struggle to carry out the mandate given to it by Regulation (EU) 2019/18962 ; acknowledges the gaps and inconsistencies of the information exchange network and further acknowledges the weaknesses in Member States’ implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1052/2013 establishing the European border surveillance system (EUROSUR); _________________ 2Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Counnotes in particular ongoing issues of data completeness and quality in the data- collection process of Frontex's vulnerability assessment, despite Member States' obligation to provide the information Frontex needs; emphasizes that the Agency has accepted the recommendations made by the Court in its special 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).report and that a series of changes are in the process of being implemented or have already been implemented since the release of the report; recalls that Frontex defined 30 actions based on FRaLO Working Group recommendations and that these actions are excepted to be implemented by 31 August 2021 in order to fulfill its mandate;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is concerned that the Agency dicould not provide information about the impact or cost of its activities, more particularly about the real cost of its joint operations, either aggregated or disaggregated by operation (maritime and aerial) and type of costs (e.g. human resources and light equipment, or heavy equipment); notes that the Agency only presents costs based on estimates that can reveal significant differences; is disappointed that the Agency’s operational reporting means that decision makers are not adequately informed;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the recruitment of the fundamental rights officer, who took office on 1 June 2021, and the appointment of 20 fundamental rights monitors; notes regrets that 15 of those appointments were made at AST level which is not in keeping with the Agency’'s mandate under Regulation (EU) 2019/1896; reiterates that Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 provides for the recruitment of at least 40 fundamental rights monitors by 5 December 2020; insists that the Agency swiftly recruits the remaining 20 fundamental rights monitors and does so in AD positions;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that the OLAF investigation into Frontex is still ongoing; notes also that the European Ombudsman’'s inquiry with respect to the Agency’'s complaints mechanism, case OI/5/2020/MHZ, was closed on 15 June 2021, concluding that there were no grounds for further investigation while identifying many areas for improvement in the operation of the Agency; finding, among other things, a regrettable lack of transparency; notes in addition that the Agency’'s management board has closed its investigation on 13 incidents in the Aegean Sea; recalls that Parliament’'s Frontex Scrutiny Working Group has not yet completed its report on the allegations of violations of fundamental rights by the Agency;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. ConcludStresses that the increased competences and budget for the Agency need to be accompanied by a corresponding increase in accountability and transparency; stresses that discharge for the Agency is conditional on such accountability and transparency, especially on the Agency's commitment to Union law; stresses in this context the need for a full clarificawelcomes the establishment of the transparency register on 5 May 2021 to make public interactions of the alleged violations of fundamental rights at the external borFrontex agents with third- party stakeholders;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Stresses that discharge for the Agency is conditional on such accountability and transparency, especially on the Agency's commitment to Union law; stresses in this context the need for full compliance with fundamental rights at the external borders; expects the fundamental rights monitors to carry out their mission thoroughly and support the implementation of the action plan;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Recalls that in its decision on Frontex’s 2019 discharge adopted on 28 April 2021, the Parliament “expects the Agency to fully implement the recommendations of WG FRaLO and to present to the discharge authority concrete actions with a clear timetable to address the problems identified; considers these steps to be a mandatory condition for granting the discharge to the Agency” (paragraph 53); stresses therefore that the decision on the discharge shall be based in light of the implementation of Frontex's roadmap;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Declares that, as all of the above issues have not been adequately clarified and presented by the Agency to Parliament, including the issues set out in the recent special report of the Court, and until the OLAF investigation is completed, the Parliament is not in a position to grant discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2019e need to provide a revised discharge report by the Budgetary Control Committee to analyse the evolution of elements in regard of the conclusion of the European Parliament Frontex Scrutiny Working Group, a thorough assessment of the implementation of Frontex's roadmap by 31 August 2021 and the conclusions from the OLAFs investigation when they become available.