Activities of Jeroen LENAERS related to 2020/2145(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, Section VI – European Economic and Social Committee
Amendments (10)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the fact that during 2019 the vast majority of members' reimbursemIs deeply concerned about the OLAF case concerning inconsistent travel declarations by a member of the Committee which amounts to approximately EUR 91 000; notes that the unduly paid amounts have beent requests were paid withcovered; regrets that the former code of conduct did not provide for strong sentencing one week of their date of submissionr for suspending fraudulent members; urges the Committee to apply all means available under the revised code of conduct to take far-reaching measures against this kind of fraud; notes that improvements were proposed to the current framework for reimbursing members' travel and subsistence costs such as a general deadline of six weeks for submitting the reimbursement claims in order to reduce the reimbursement time, and also therefore tthereby also reduceing the need for carry- overs on these budget lines; welcomes that the system has proved to be efficient;.calls, however, for a diligent and cautious approach rather than a swift handling of travel declarations cases; notes that it is unknown how many fraud cases remain under the radar; underlines that time pressure should not undermine a decent and thorough assessment of reimbursement requests; calls for an increase of samples of travel declarations examined during the Committee's internal audit procedure to achieve a higher discovery rate of travel declaration fraud;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Regrets that in 2020 the bureau of the Committee in 2020 adopted a decision allowing for the reimbursement of expenses for remote participation in cases where a member was prevented from travelling to Brussels as a result of COVID-19 related issues.; asks the Committee to present a report on the financial impact of this decision including the reasons for the reimbursement;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 b (new)
Paragraph 30 b (new)
30 b. Notes that the annual activity report for 2019 only gives a very general overview of the Committee’s activities without deeper qualitative and quantitative evaluation of its work; calls on the Committee to introduce other key performance indicators in its annual activity report, such as the rate of implementation in Union legislation of the recommendations in its opinions, to enable an impact assessment of the Committee’s work;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 c (new)
Paragraph 30 c (new)
30 c. Regrets that for 2019, the Committee’s most consulted opinion (on Blockchain and distributed ledger technology) did not reach more than 2 500 page views, while the other top five opinions reached just between 1 000 and 2 000 views; encourages the Committee to increase its efforts to achieve a higher attention of its opinions;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Notes that in 2019 an exercise to assess compliance with the internal control standards took place which showed improvements as compared to 2018; notes, however, that not all standards were fully implemented and that follow-up actions were defined such as a formal assessment of sensitive functions and the implementation of a multiannual internal communication strategy in order to further improve compliance with the control standards; reminds the Committee about the recommendation from the 2019 annual report of the Court to implement a policy for dealing with sensitive functions; notes that the Committee communicated that the new policy should be operational by 2021; requests the Committee to provide Parliament with a detailed description of this policy - including a definition of sensitive functions - and the state of play of its implementation;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41 a. Welcomes that long-term trainees receive a monthly maintenance grant, mobility and travel allowance; recommends the Committee to pay an adequate reimbursement to short-term trainees as well;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. Acknowledges that the Committee is well aware of the political impact of the refusal of the 2018 discharge and is striving to further strengthen its capacityefforts to tackle harassment situations; notes that a detailed action plan will be endorsed at the latest by the end of 2020the directorate of human resources and finances and the internal auditor prepared a revision of the ethics and integrity framework; agrees that the Committee continues to raise staff and management awareness through better targeted internal communication; asks the Committee to provide the Parliament with a complete overview of all actions undertaken;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Calls on the Committee to report on the implementation of the Committee’s revised code of conduct and rules of procedure following the 2018 OLAF investigation; notes that the bureau has decided on a partial and light revision of the rules of procedure and a more comprehensive revision of the code of conduct, with a particular view to strengthening sanctions; notes thatwelcomes the revision of the code of conduct should be ready by December 2020adopted by the Committee plenary assembly, which now contains a sanctions regime that is in proportion to the severity of harassment and fraud; welcomes in particular the introduction of financial sanctions and the possibility to expel a member from the Committee; urges the Committee to apply the enforced sanctions when necessary;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. notWelcomes that the proposal for revision of therevised code of conduct should includes elements such as stronger sanctions, and support mechanisms for victims, automatically informing; urges that Parliament, the Council and the Commission should be automatically informed of the names of Committee members who have been found to be responsible for breaching the code of conduct and; calls for an annual review of the functioning of the code of conduct; notes that the decision on harassment and the decision on administrative investigations are currently being revised in order to further improve the mechanisms allowing staff to make formal harassment complaints; notes in relation to the informal procedure and the possibility for staff members to share their concerns on any perceived situation of harassment that the number of confidential counsellors has been increased and that the entire network of confidential counsellors receives continuous support through regular supervision and training; notes that the confidential counsellors are part of an inter-institutional network, which allows for the exchange of best practices;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
55. Emphasises in relation to the OLAF findings of harassment against a member of the Committee and pursuant to the decision of 9 June 2020 of the Committee’s bureau that the member in question is fully discharged from all tasks related to the management and administration of the Group I secretariat's staff; notes that as of 7 September 2020, the member is no longer a candidate for the Committee’s presidency; isregrets that, given the legal principle of non-retroactivity of sanctions, the enforced sanctions regime under the revised code of conduct cannot be applied in this specific case; is deeply concerned that the perpetrator has been appointed by the Council as member for a new mandate; highlights that he does not acknowledge or regret his wrongdoings, which demonstrates a complete lack of self- reflection and respect for the victims concerned;