26 Amendments of Inés AYALA SENDER related to 2017/2137(DEC)
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines the fact that the cancelled appropriations for the year 2016, amounting to EUR 14 769 811, were mainly related to remuneration and other entitlements, as well as, once more, to the expenditure related to buildings;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that in the 2016 financial year, seven transfers were approved in accordance with Articles 27 and 46 of the Financial Regulation, which amounted to EUR 66 655 000 or 3,6 % of final appropriations; observes with concern that the majority of transfers were, once more, related to the Parliament’s buildings policy, and in particular to the Konrad Adenauer building project; considers that level of the ‘mopping-up’ transfer continues to be very high; is of the firm belief that effective budget management should be able to reduce this transfer to the bare minimum necessary; urges that Parliament’s buildings policy be laid down with sufficient clarity, as part of the budgetary strategy;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. EndorsNotes the responses given by the Parliament in the adversarial procedure with the Court;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Acknowledges the written answers to the 2015 discharge resolution provided to the Committee on Budgetary Control on 4 October 2017, as well as the presentation by the Secretary-General on the various questions and requests of Parliament’s 2015 discharge resolution and the exchange of views with Members that followed; deplores, however, that many of these applications have not been followed up and that no reason or justification has been given; stresses the importance of having more frequent discussions with the Secretary-General on issues concerning Parliament’s budget and its implementation in the Committee on Budgetary Control;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Asks the Secretary-General to forward this resolution to the Bureau, highlighting all requests for action or decisions by the Bureau; calls on the Secretary-General to establish a plan of action and a timetable enabling the Bureau to follow up and/or respond to the recommendations contained in Parliament’s discharge resolutions and include the results in the annual monitoring document; asks the Secretary- General to report in good time to the Budget and Budgetary Control Committees on all projects with a significant budgetary impact that have been submitted to the Bureau;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. WelcomNotes the revision of allowance rates for accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs) incurred in respect of their duty travel between Parliament’s three places of work; notes that for officials and other servants of the EP, the hotel ceiling for Strasbourg missions is set at EUR 180 and daily allowance at EUR 192, whereas APAs’ accommodation, meals and ancillary expenses for Strasbourg missions are respectively reimbursed at a flat rate of EUR 137, EUR 160 or EUR 183; making a daily total of EUR 372, whereas for accredited parliamentary assistants this amount is reduced to EUR 137, EUR 160 or EUR 183 per day for the same expenses, at the Member’s discretion; recalls, however, that APAs are entitled to the same subsistence allowance as officials and other EP staff for missions to destinations other than Strasbourg; calls on the Bureau, for the third year running and for the purposes of equal treatment of workers, to take swift action to bring the daily subsistence allowance for APAs on mission in Strasbourg into line with that for officials and other staff;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Welcomes the revision of allowance rates for accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs) incurred in respect of their duty travel between Parliament’s three places of work; notes that for officials and other servants, the hotel ceiling for Strasbourg missions is set at EUR 180 and daily allowance at EUR 192, whereas APAs’ accommodation, meals and ancillary expenses for Strasbourg missions are respectively reimbursed at a flat rate of EUR 137, EUR 160 or EUR 183; calls again for the Bureau to fully align allowances between officials, other servants and APAs;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Reiterates calls to find a solution for those APAs who, having worked for two parliamentary terms in the end of the current term will not be entitled to access to the European pension rights scheme, when they will reach the pension age, since they will be lacking some time out of the ten years’ service required, due to early elections in 2014 and delays in the validation of APAs new contracts due to heavy HR workload after the elections of 2009 and 2014; suggests two legislative terms be considered ten years of active service;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Observes that trainees employed by Members have a private-law contract with the Member, which does not entitle them to have a similar status in Parliament as that of other categories of Parliament staff, or to have scholarships from the Parliament itself (Schuman scholarships); regrets that there is no facility or legal framework within the Directorate-General for Finance (DG FINS) to arrange a scheme for direct advance payments to such trainees prior to missions – although such arrangements are in place for all other staff – given the fact that, for obvious reasons, they can barely afford to pay these expenses up front out of their own pockets; notes that many Members do not use the services of a paying agent to remunerate the trainees they engage, asks the Parliament to evaluate as soon as possible whether such a scheme could be implemented;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Notes with concern that at this advanced stage in the Parliamentary term, the CVs of more than half of MEPs are still yet to appear in their profiles on the EP’s official website; calls on the SG to take swift action to ensure that the CVs of all MEPs appear on the official website;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Underlines the need to update the mission of the information offices of the Parliament so as to optimise the use of new communication technologies and models and take advantage of their privileged geographical position close to citizens to further intensify activities at local level, such as organising debates with MEPs and civil society, with a view to listen to people and engage with them. Online debate and media attention triggered by these events should contribute to further increasing outreach to citizens;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Encourages the Bureau, when assessing the new rules on visitors’ groups introduced last year, to delete the possibility to appoint APAs as head of a group;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 b (new)
Paragraph 31 b (new)
31b. Calls for a review of the system for calculating the reimbursement of travel expenses for groups of visitors sponsored by MEPs, with a view both to ensuring equal treatment of all EU citizens and to promoting the use of more environmentally friendly means of transport, given that the current system, based on calculating mileage, fails both to take account of the isolation and geographical barriers afflicting certain areas of the Union and to cover the cost of travelling to places where faster and more environmentally friendly means of transport are available;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37a. Calls for weeks set aside for external parliamentary activity to be used for training courses, particularly for MEPs’ assistants, including intensive language courses;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37a. Notes that some missions’ reimbursements are subject to very long delays and suggests that solutions as to bring them within a reasonable timeframe should be explored;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 b (new)
Paragraph 37 b (new)
37b. Points out once again that Parliament is practically the only institution that has not introduced flexitime in its working arrangements, something that almost all the institutions, particularly the Commission, did years ago, with the proven outcome of increased productivity and improved quality of life for staff; calls for flexitime to be incorporated into Parliament’s working arrangements as soon as possible and for this committee to be kept informed of progress made towards achieving this objective;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 b (new)
Paragraph 37 b (new)
37b. Asks the Secretary-General to transmit to the Commission the Report on the evaluation of the new Statute for APA drawn up following the resolution adopted on 28 April 2016 on the discharge for the financial year 2014 and referred to in article 3 of Regulation 160/2009;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 c (new)
Paragraph 37 c (new)
37c. Reiterates its request to find a workable solution for those APAs that, at the end of the current term, will be lacking some time out of the 10 years’ service needed in order to access pension rights due to early elections in 2014 and/or to the difficulties met by the Parliament to deal in due time with the enormous wave of new contracts because of the implementation of the new statute of the APAs in a very short time period;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 c (new)
Paragraph 37 c (new)
37c. Reiterates - as adopted in the EP’s 2015 discharge report (paragraph 89) - that, according to their income, scholarship students should be entitled to greater price reductions in EP restaurants;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 d (new)
Paragraph 37 d (new)
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46a. Calls for the simplification of recruitment procedures and reimbursements for missions and travel costs for local assistants; regrets that these processes are often complex and lengthy resulting in significant delays; calls on DG Fins to address this issue as a priority;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)
Paragraph 47 a (new)
47a. Recalls Paragraph 109 of last year’s discharge resolution which calls for an assessment of the current situation of the voluntary pension fund; regrets that such an assessment has not yet been delivered; notes that Parliament is the guarantor for the payment of pension rights when and if this fund is unable to meet its obligations; calls on the Secretary-General to urgently present a comprehensive plan of action to avoid the exhaustion of the fund;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 b (new)
Paragraph 47 b (new)
47b. Welcomes the creation of the Parliament’s Bureau Working group on the General Expenditure Allowance; recalls the expectations formulated by Parliament in its resolution on budget 2018, calling for of a greater transparency regarding the general expenditure allowance and a need to work on a definition of more precise rules regarding the accountability of the expenditure authorised under this allowance, without generating additional costs to Parliament. Reiterates its call on the Bureau to swiftly make the following concrete changes concerning the general expenditure allowance: -the general expenditure allowance should be handled in all cases in a separate bank account; -all receipts pertaining to the general expenditure allowance should be kept by Members; - the unspent share of the general expenditure allowance should be returned at the end of the mandate;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Commends the Parliament’s commitment to green public procurement; notes that the “EP Implementation Guide on Green Public Procurement”, which is designed to help authorising officers at the Parliament to successfully launch green purchasing policy and procedures, was approved in June 2016; notes the construction of a plant wall in the ASP building and takes the view that its benefits in no way justify its cost; calls on EMAS to seek solutions that, in addition to the ecological dimension, take account of cost/benefit ratios;