BETA

Activities of Edit HERCZOG related to 2011/2232(DEC)

Plenary speeches (1)

Discharge 2010: performance, financial management and control of EU agencies (A7-0103/2012 - Monica Luisa Macovei) (vote)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2011/2232(DEC)

Shadow reports (1)

REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agencies for the financial year 2010: performance, financial management and control of European Union Agencies PDF (259 KB) DOC (205 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2011/2232(DEC)
Documents: PDF(259 KB) DOC(205 KB)

Amendments (70)

Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9
– having regard to its resolution of 15 September 2011 on the EU’s efforts to combat corruption, its Written Declaration 2/2010 on the Union’s efforts in combating corruption6, and to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on Fighting corruption in the EU (COM(2011)0308);
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
B. whereas there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of Agencies over the last decade, from 3 in 2000 to 24 in 2010,
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
C. whereas the Union contributions to the decentralised Agencies increased substantially between 2007 and 2010 from EUR 1 055 000 000 (for 21 Agencies) to EUR 1 658 000 000 (for 24 Agencies),deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
D. whereas the Union contributions to the decentralised Agencies for the financial year 2010 amounted to EUR 1 658 000 000689 947 000 in commitments of which EUR 51 667 000 had been assigned revenues,
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the Agencies budgets are subject to the same adoption formula as the general budget of the Union, involving scrutiny from both the Council and Parliament,
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
G. whereas still awaiting the Court of Auditors planned to analyse the Agencies’ performance and issue a Special Report by 2011 on cost benchmarking of the European Union Agencies, but regretfully failed to issue this report before the end of 2011it welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors has provided the discharge authority, by letter of 15 February 2012, with a synthesis document of the above-mentioned special report,
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
H. whereas the 2011 Communication from the Commission ‘Fighting corruption in the EU’ estimated that EUR 120 billion per year is lost to corruption in the EU, inflicting financial damages, reducing public finances and undermining the trust in democratic institutions, and has established an anti- corruption mechanism at the Union level with focus on the use of Union funds, public procurement and conflict of interest,deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
I. whereas the abovementioned resolution of 15 September 2011 of the Parliament on the EU’s efforts to combat corruption states that corruption leads to the misuse of public money in general and of Union funds provided by the tax payer and distort the market, having played a role in the current economic crisis, and calls – along with its Written Declaration 2/2010 – on the Commission and the relevant Union bodies to ensure that the Union funds are not subject to corruption, and to adopt dissuasive sanctions where corruption and fraud are found,deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Calls on the Commission to provide annually the discharge authority with consolidated information on the total annual funding per Agency made from the general budget of the Unionas is the case for preparing the BUD; underlines that the document shall include the following information:
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to provide the information listed in paragraph 1 for the financial year 2010 as well as for the previous financial years to enable Parliament and the public to compare the Union’s contribution to each Agency over time; this will also ensure clarity, transparency and public control over the spending of the Union money, and it will contribute to restoring trust among the European taxpayers;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. UrgesCalls on the Council and the Commission, in suchespecially in times of financial crisis, to stop the increases in the Agencies’ budgets, to even consider reducconsider together with Parliament any changes ing the Union contribution to their budgets, in particular to the Agencies which mainly perform research; also urges the Agencies to reduce their running costs and establish mechanisms to show the clear use and accountability of each EUR and to make substantial savings of Union fundsAgencies’ budgets on a case by case basis taking into account the context of the EU 2020 strategy;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that in 2010 several Agencies introduced amending budgets and proceeded to make carryovers and transfers; noticed that some of the Agencies explain the purpose of those actions, for instance CDT and ERA; urges allCalls on the Agencies to justify, systematically, amending budgets, transfers and carryovers in their report on the final annual accounts and annual report on Budgetary and Financial management;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Notes once more a large volume of carryovers and cancellations of operational appropriations by several Agencies in the financial year 2010; regrets that the Court of Auditors failed to report the level of appropriations carried forward and/or cancelled by ECHA, EEA, EMSA and CEPOL in the Court of Auditors’ reports on annual accounts for the financial year 2010;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Points out that the high level of carryovers and cancellations is generally indicative of the inability of an Agency to manage a large increase in its budget; demands that the absorptive capacity and the time needed to carry out additional tasks should play a larger role in budgetary decisions;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Agencies to improve their management of commitments as well as their internal planning and general revenue forecasting in order to optimise their carry over and cancellation rates as well as their spending; reminds the Agencies that they need to refine their programming and monitoring system and initiate contracting earlier in the calendar year to reduce the need to carry over appropriations; calls in addition on the Commission to provide guidance in this respect; calls on the budgetary authority, in the future, to take greater care in deciding on increases in an Agency’s budget in the light of the time needed to carry out the new activities; welcomes CEDEFOP’s intention to further reduce its carryovers by monitoring through standardised templates of budget execution (commitments, payments) and procurement progress; considers this measure to be a practice to be followed by the other Agencies;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Agencies, accordingly, to improve their internal planning and general revenue forecasting in order to reduce their high carry over and cancellation rates as well as their spending; reminds the Agencies that they need to refine their programming and monitoring system and initiate contracting earlier in the calendar year to reduce the need to carry over appropriations; calls in addition on the Commission to provide guidance in this respect;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Calls also on the Agencies to improve their management of commitments in order to align them with the real needs; points out that the high level of carryovers and cancellations is often indicative of the inability of an Agency to manage a large increase in its budget; considers that it would not be more responsible for budgetary authorities, in future, to take greater care in deciding on increases in an Agency’s budget in the light of the time needed to carry out the new activities;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes CEDEFOP’s intention to further reduce its carryovers by monitoring through standardised templates of budget execution (commitments, payments) and procurement progress; considers this measure to be a practice to be followed by the other Agencies;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls that the budget of the Agencies must be balanced; underlines that some Agencies generate profitshigher revenue through their activities, which sometimes lead to a surplus; is of the opinionasks the Commission to ensure that, for the Agencies fully financed from the budget of the European Union, the surplus generated in year n should be clearly deducted from the Union subsidy for year n+1, provided this is not jeopardizing the goals set for the Agencies;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. UrEncourages the Agencies to minimise the number of late payments by implementing corrective measures; is mainly concernedof the opinion that payment delays increase the risk of having to pay interest and charges for late payments for which no appropriations are foreseen in the budget;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Calls also on the Agencies to accurately and completely report on exceptions in line with the Internal Control Standard N. 16;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes once more the weaknesses in procurement procedures; is concerned that calls on the Agencies to increase the efficiency of their internal control system is not sufficiently efficient to avoid or detect persistent errors undermithreatening the legality and regularity of the Agencies’ transactions;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Urges, accordingly,Encourages the Agencies to strengthen their procurement procedures and, in particular, their procurement authorisation at the financing decision and work- programme level; notes, for example, that EMSA’s lack of underlying data to support the financing decision on planned operational procurement may put at risk the validity of the Agency’s decision;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Calls also on the Agencies to include in their Annual Work Programmes (AWP) clear information on the global budgetary envelope reserved for procurements and the indicative number and types of contracts envisaged; is concerned that often the Agencies’ AWP do not explicitly disclose all information referred to in the Financial Regulation and its implementing rules; notes that this weakness is mainly found in EMSA and ERA;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Urges, in addition, the Agencies to ensure that negotiated procedure, which should be used under strictly defined conditions, is duly and timely reported to the Administrative Board in order that it is fully informed about the extent of these procedures;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. UrEncourages the Agencies to draw up multiannual strategic programmes andor guidelines, tailored to the specificities of their activities; considers it important that such multiannual activity planning (objectives and means to reach them) is linked with multiannual resource planning (budget and staff in particular) and that it is clearly translated into the AWP; calls also on the Agencies to consult the Parliament in this respect;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Is concerned that the assignment of responsibility for the preparation and adoption of the AWP is not stated in the founding Decision of certain Agencies (e.g. in EUROJUST); considers that this may lead to confusion and lack of ownership for the preparation and adoption of the AWP; calls, therefore, on the Agencies concerned to rapidly address this deficiency and to inform the discharge authority on the actions takenEncourages the Agencies to provide the discharge authority with more information about the assignment of responsibility for the preparation and adoption of the AWP;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. UrEncourages the Agencies to standardise the structure of their AARs in accordance with the format used by the Commission’s Directorates-General (DGs) and, accordingly, to provide information on: the implementation of their AWP, budget and staff policy plan, management and internal control systems, internal/external audit findings, the follow- up to the audit recommendations, the discharge recommendation, and the statement of assurance of the Executive Director; calls also on the Agencies to provide in their AAR information resulting from the Financial Statements and from the report on budgetary and financial management foreseen in the context of the discharge procedure, provided the time constraints of the preparation of the Union annual consolidated accounts are respected;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Requires that theCalls on the Commission to develop an indicative template in cooperation with the Agencies to provide for a structure of the AAR of each Agency which would includes a number of common elements based on best practice across the Agencies, with a view to easing comparison; in this respect, urges the Commission to develop an indicative template in cooperation with the Agencies;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
35. Recalls that in accordance to Article 96 paragraph 2 of the framework Financial Regulation, the Agencies are requested to providereport to the discharge authority a report on the measures taken based upon thein the light of observations and recommendations made by the discharge authority in its previous discharge reports;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Notes that for the financial year 2010, the discharge authority has not received the Reports on Article 96 from six Agencies: EASA, EMEA, EMCDDA, EURATOM, EUROFOUND and GSA; calls therefore on these Agencies to submit these reports immediately;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Regrets that the information provided by the Agencies in the reports on Article 96 come from the Agencies themselves and that, as a consequence, the accuracy of their statements cannot be fully certified and taken as granted; calls therefore on the Interinstitutional Working Group on Agencies to consider including a provision on the creation and implementation of a verification mechanism regarding the information provided by the Agencies in the report on Article 96, in order to enable the discharge authority to be confident on the validity of the information received and to allow for a thorough follow-up of the observation and recommendations made by the Parliament in its previous discharge resolutions;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. UrEncourages the Agencies to provide, via their websites, information necessary to ensure transparency, especially financial transparency; urges in particular the Agencies to make available on their website the list of all contracts awarded over the last three years and the list of the Members of their Management Boards with their Declaration of Interests; calls on the Commission to continue its efforts to make this information fully accessible and integrate it into its financial transparency system;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
42. Urges the Agencies to strengthen the involvement of the key stakeholders (including Parliament) in their annual planning;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
43. Is deeply concerned by the allegations of conflict of interests existing within the Agencies and/or the Management Board, in particular in EASA, EEA and EFSA;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43a. Welcomes the initiative of some Agencies, as for instance the Community Fisheries Control Agency whose Internal Audit Capability developed an internal training course and has provided the necessary training related to Ethics and Integrity at the Agency; it particularly welcomes that the training is obligatory to all staff to ensure awareness of ethical and organisational values, in particular ethical conduct, avoidance of conflicts of interest, fraud prevention and reporting of irregularities;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
44. Calls on the Agencies to carefully file and assess their control systems in order to prevent conflict of interests between their staff and experts working in their Agency; calls, in addition, on the Management Board of the Agencies to adopt and apply the strictest rules and verification mechanisms towards their Members to ensure their full independence from private interests; recalls once more that an Agency’s reputation will be damaged in cases where it is challenged on the ground of conflict of interests, with negative impact to the Union’s reputation;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
45. Recalls that the European Ombudsman criticised EFSA for the way it assesses potential conflicts of interest and ‘revolving door’ cases; is concerned that other Agencies experience similar situations, and failed to stop and prevent the conflict of interest situations;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
46. Urges the Agencies, therefore, to provide the responsible committees in Parliament with a detailed overview of the criteria and verification mechanisms applied to avoid ‘revolving door’ cases and to stop the existing conflicts of interest; where this role is ensured together with the national counterparts, urges the Agencies to clarify this sharing role to avoid responsibility- related loopholes in cases of conflicts of interest;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
48. Repeats its call on the Court of Auditors to make a comprehensive analysis of the Agencies’ approach and concrete practice for the management of the situations of the conflicts of interest, in order to stop the existing conflicts and prevent future ones;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
49. Recalls that in its abovementioned resolution of 15 September 2011 on the EU’s efforts to combat corruption, the Parliament called, inter alia, upon the Commission and the Union’s Agencies to ensure more transparency by drawing up codes of conduct or improving those existing codes, with as a minimum clear rules on conflicts of interest;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
50. Recalls that conflicts of interest are a cause of corruption, fraud, mismanagement of funds and human resources, favouritism and have a negative impact on the impartiality of the decisions and quality of work and undermines Union citizens’ trust in the Union institutions, including the Agencies;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53
53. Calls on the Agencies to be more active in the area of fraud detection and prevention, and properly and regularly to communicate on these activities; stresses that the role of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) vis-à- vis Agencies should be formalised, enhanced and made more visible;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55 – subparagraph 1
Considers that these deficiencies reduce the ability of the Agencies to: respond to possible allegations of arbitrary decisions on staff recruitment;, and urges the Agencies to take the appropriate redressing decisions, and; increase the trust of the Union citizens in the Agencies’ recruitment procedure;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
57. Believes that every year there are employees, including directors, who rotate between the Agencies; calls on the Commission to provide the Parliament with a table of all staff members, in particular Directors and persons in management positions who changed working places from one Agency to another Agency or to another Union institution, at least since 2008;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
58. Calls on the Commission to provide the Parliament with a detailed table of the criteria applied in order to ensure the independence, impartiality, and proper qualification of the staff recruited, including those criteria aimed at stopping or preventing conflicts of interest, and to apply dissuasive sanctions for any irregularity found;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59
59. Calls once more on the Agencies to ensure that sensitive tasks are not assigned to interim staff knowing that interim staff are recruited subject to the establishment plan; deplores the fact that in some cases Agencies hired these staff to perform sensitive tasks or have access to sensitive information; stresses the risks of potential security breaches linked to interim staff’s access to sensitive information, and unawareness by them of the procedure to follow or indeed conflicts of interest;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Considers it a flaw in the legislation related to the Agencies that the findings and recommendations of the IAS are taken into consideration only subject the good will of the Directors of the Agencies and their Management Boards; stresses also that it is left to the Directors of Agencies to inform the discharge authority of the work and findings of the IAS without the possibility of the IAS to report directly to Parliament on the reliability of the information sent by the Agencies; urges the co-legislators , therefore, to face the problem and address this failure when discussing the modification of the Financial Regulation;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Calls, accordingly, on the Agencies’ Management Boards to duly take into account the recommendations made by the IAS, with a view to rapidly remedying the identified failings and to justify to the discharge authority rejections and delays in the implementation of the IAS recommendations;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in reality both the IAS and to a large extent the Court of Auditors act as advisors to the Agencies and provide them with non-public recommendations to address their shortcomings; is seriously concerned that none of the audit institutions performs a control of the Agencies to be reflected in a public document; wonderWelcomes that the Court of Auditors has issued 32 public documents on EU Agencies in 2010 that were all published in the Official Journal of the European Union and are available on the websites iof both the IAS and the Court of Auditors internally support the Agencies to address their wrong, who is controlling them through public analyses and reports; calls therefore for a clear separation of tasks between the IAS and the Court of Auditorsand the Committee on Budgetary Control ;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Urges the Court of Auditors, therefore, to seriously and impartially exercise its controlling and auditing functions on the Agencies and reflect its findings and recommendations through its public annual or special reports to enable Parliament to fulfil its discharging function fully and for the public to know how the Agencies are managed and which the wrongs were identified;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. UrgesNotes that the Court of Auditors, in addition, during its audit covers procedures of the Agencies, to make sure that the Agencies’ calls for preparation, publication, evaluation and contract management phases respect in full the principle of maximum and open competition and the principle of value- for-money; urges, in addition, the Court of Auditors to verify the real turnover of the companies contracted by each Agency in order to ensure that the turnover is not related to changes occurring in the contractors’ official namment procedures as part of its annual audits of agencies, and reports the results; welcomes that the Court of Auditors’ audit programmes take account of the risk that contractors may provide incorrect information in the procurement procedure;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67 – introductory part
67. RecallWelcomes that in the previous discharges on the Agencies, the discharge authority called on the Court of Auditors to provide further information onCourt of Auditors publishes clear opinions on the reliability and the legality and regularity of Agencies’ accounts, as mandated by the Treaties:
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67 a (new)
67a. Notes the Court of Auditors’ aim to issue a special report on the management of conflict of interest situations in selected Agencies;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67 b (new)
67b. Welcomes that the Court of Auditors provided in its evaluation of Agencies’ Annual activity reports a specific annexed table containing a comparison of 2009 versus 2010 operations thus providing information to the public in relation to these activities;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Is seriously concerned that despite Parliament’s requests, the Court of Auditors’ reports on the annual accounts for 2010 include only half of the information provided in previous years (in 2010: 38 comments for 24 Agencies, in 2009: 69 comments for 22 Agencies and in 2008: 69 comments for 23 Agencies) and that most of the Court of Auditors’ comments on the 2010’s reports include only general statements and not precise information and findings; is concerned that the Court of Auditors did not act as an independent controlling authority and acted against the interests of the Union and the European citizens’ right to know how their money is spent and how the Agencies are managed; recalls, in this context, that the Agencies serve the public interest and should be accountable to the citizens whose interest claim to serve;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69
69. Recalls moreover that the Court of Auditors failed at reporting the level of appropriations carried over from 2009 to 2010 and those cancelled, for at least ECHA, EEA, EMSA and CEPOL in its reports on the Agencies for the financial year 2010; finds that this failure is unacceptable;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70
70. Is seriously concerned that, despiteWelcomes the Court of Auditors’ inefformationts to provided in its Annual Work Programme and the persistent requests from Parliament, which is, after all, one of the European stakeholders, the two Special Reports related to Agencies dealing with: a) the discharge authority with an information on Agencies cost- benchmarking of Union Agencies and b)a conflicts of interest with thes management at the Agencies, are still not ready or made available; notes that the Special Report on cost benchmarking of the Agencies was initially planned by the Court of Auditors for October 2011 but has still not been issued, and that the Court of Auditors’ representative stated orally in Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control that it is still working on the 17th draft, but failed so far to send the final report or a draft to Parliament despite repeated requests; is concerned that in these circumstances the ‘conflict of interest management’ report will not be issued on time by the Court of Auditors and/or it will not reflect the real situationreport; awaits both reports to be delivered to Parliament in accordance with the Court of Auditors’ procedures and timetables and in line with professional standards on auditing;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 71
71. Urges the Court of Auditors, once more, to provide the discharge authority with the report on cost benchmarking of Union Agencies in its current state in good time to allow the Parliament to consider it for the 2010 discharge and to issue within the deadline a serious and comprehensive report on the conflicts of interest management in the Union Agencies;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72
72. Considers that, if private sector auditors have to be involved in the external audit of Agencies’ accounts, the selection and appointment of the private auditors should be done in conformity with the applicable rules, including those on transparent public procurement, and appropriate control mechanisms should be put in place, in order to ensure that work on the legality and regularity of revenue and expenditure and the reliability of Agencies’ accounts is carried out in accordance with the required standards; considers also that aspects of such outsourced external audits, including the reported audit findings, have to remain the full responsibility of the Court of Auditors, which will have to manage all administrative and procurement procedures required and finance these from its own budget without asking for a supplementary budget, as this task is under the Court of Auditors competence; moreover, the current crisis does not allow for additional budgets to perform tasks which are under one Union institution, in this case the Court of Auditors;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73
73. Urges the Court of Auditors to prevent any conflicts of interest when contracting an independent audit for the Agencies;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74
74. Considers also that if such outsourcing is to be used, the report of the independent auditors must be made public immediately by both the independent auditors and the Court of Auditors; to this end, the Parliament requires the Court of Auditors to abstain from imposing confidential clauses on the contract with the eventual independent contractor with regard to the publication of the reports in the form they are done by the independent contractor; at the same time, the Court of Auditors must take the responsibility of this independent audit and act accordingly;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
75. Notes that the large size and cost of certain Agencies’ Governing Boards and the high turnover of their members can lead to anmay lead to a certain level of ineffective decision-making body; calls, accordingly, on the Interinstitutional Working Group on Agencies to address this issue; suggests in addition that consideration be given to the possibility of merging governing boards for Agencies working in related fields to reduce meeting costs;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 76 – introductory part
76. Calls, in addition, on the Agencies to consider the following options when considering the possibility of administrative support to operate in the most efficient mannero share services between Agencies, either by proximity of locations or by policy area; praises in this respect the EMSA-CFCA initiative of sharing the Internal Audit function:
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 77
77. Calls on the Commission to immediately carry out an evaluation of all the Agencies in order to detect occurrences of unnecessary oranalyse the potential synergies and overlapping of activities and to analyse the merger of some of the Agencies, and to inform Parliament about this issue by the 15 July 2012 at the latof Agencies and to prepare, until March 2013, a comprehensive costs and benefits and impact assessment analysis regarding a potential merger of the Agenciest;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78
78. Urges the Commission and the Council to take into account the real necessity of each Agency and the need to save Union citizens’ tax-payers money in this time of financial and economic crisis, and not take into account that some Member States’ interests to have an Agency in their particular country for reasons other than the public interest of the Union;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 79
79. Recalls once more that the Parliament, since its 2006 discharge resolution, called on the Agencies to consider setting up an inter- Agency disciplinary board to apply, in an impartial manner, disciplinary sanctions up to exclusion; notes, however, that this project remains difficult to take forward; calls on the Agency responsible for coordinating the network of Agencies to establish a network of staff at the grade required to be impartial members of the disciplinary board;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 80
80. Welcomes the on-going work of the Interinstitutional Working Group on Agencies which has the objective of reviewing the role and position of decentralised Agencies in the Union’s institutional landscape, as well as the creation, structure and operation of those Agencies, together with funding, budgetary, supervision and management issues; requests the Working Group to rapidly come up with a satisfactorydraft proposal on Common Understanding between Parliament, Council and Commission on Agencies;
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81
81. Finds that the activities and results of some Agencies cast doubt on their true added-value to the Union’s objectives; considers that a large number of reports and papers and other related outputs, such as those of the EEA and others, can be seen as lacking substantial, innovative and practical input to the objectives and work on the Union; notes also that the EIGE outputs were rather limited in 2010; calls, therefore, on the Commission, Council and the Court of Auditors to report immediately on the real added- value of the Agencies’ activities and to focus primarily, but not exhaustively, on CEDEFOP, EEA, EIGE, EUROFOUND;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
82. Concludes by stating that in particular in this time of crisis the real added-value of the Agencies should be seriously and rapidly analysed in order to avoid any non mandatory and absolutely necessary spending, in order to properly answer to the strict needs of the Union and to its citizens’ needs, concerns and claims for trust in our institutions; stresses that the Union and its Member States cannot ask Union citizens to save money without doing it themselves; calls for fairness in respect of major savings by the Union bodies -Agencies included - along with requiring such savings to its citizens who are the tax-payers contributing to the Union budget;deleted
2012/03/07
Committee: CONT