Activities of Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ
Plenary speeches (62)
Promoting free movement by simplifying the acceptance of certain public documents (debate)
Gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (debate)
Manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products (A7-0276/2013 - Linda McAvan)
2011 discharge: European Council and Council (debate)
2011 discharge: European Council and Council (debate)
Integrated internal control framework - Protection of the EU's financial interests - fight against fraud
Integrated internal control framework - Protection of the EU's financial interests - fight against fraud
Financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings (A7-0278/2012 - Klaus-Heiner Lehne)
Draft protocol on the application of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union to the Czech Republic (consultation) (A7-0174/2013 - Andrew Duff)
2011 discharge
2011 discharge (continuation of debate)
Equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services (debate)
Impact of the economic crisis on gender equality and women's rights - Eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU - Situation of women in North Africa (debate)
Common system of value added tax and a quick reaction mechanism against VAT fraud (debate)
European Investment Bank - 2011 annual report (debate)
Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls (B7-0049/2013)
Improving access to finance for SMEs (A7-0001/2013 - Philippe De Backer)
Presentation of the Court of Auditors’ annual report - 2011 (debate)
Protecting children in the digital world (short presentation)
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (debate)
Role of women in the green economy (short presentation)
Women's working conditions in the service sector (short presentation)
Women's working conditions in the service sector (short presentation)
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value (debate)
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Discharge 2010 (debate)
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Modernising Europe's higher education systems (short presentation)
Equality between women and men in the European Union - 2011 - Women in political decision-making (debate)
Equality between women and men in the European Union - 2011 - Women in political decision-making (debate)
Daphne programme (short presentation)
Women’s situation in war (short presentation)
Budgetary control of EU humanitarian aid (short presentation)
Explanations of vote
European protection order (debate)
Presentation of the Court of Auditors’ annual report - 2010 (debate)
Explanations of vote
Promoting worker mobility (short presentation)
Situation of single mothers (short presentation)
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Women and business leadership (debate)
2009 discharge (debate)
Protection of Communities' financial interests – fight against fraud (debate)
EU policy framework to fight violence against women (debate)
Female poverty - Equality between women and men - 2010 (debate)
Explanations of vote
Explanations of vote
Trafficking in human beings (debate)
Explanations of vote
Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report - 2009 (debate)
Explanations of vote
Improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding - Precarious women workers (debate)
Reports (7)
SECOND REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2011, Section II – European Council and Council PDF (164 KB) DOC (78 KB)
REPORT on the Integrated Internal Control Framework PDF (205 KB) DOC (105 KB)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2011, Section IX – European Data Protection Supervisor PDF (144 KB) DOC (81 KB)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2011, Section VIII – European Ombudsman PDF (132 KB) DOC (81 KB)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2011, Section VII – Committee of the Regions PDF (132 KB) DOC (69 KB)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2011, Section VI – European Economic and Social Committee PDF (144 KB) DOC (77 KB)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2011, Section II – European Council and Council PDF (142 KB) DOC (89 KB)
Shadow reports (11)
REPORT on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights PDF (302 KB) DOC (151 KB)
REPORT on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights PDF (313 KB) DOC (160 KB)
REPORT on educational and occupational mobility of women in the EU PDF (226 KB) DOC (141 KB)
REPORT on transposition and application of Council Directive 2004/113/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services PDF (186 KB) DOC (89 KB)
REPORT concerning Special Report No 13/2011 of the Court of Auditors entitled 'Does the control of customs procedure 42 prevent and detect VAT evasion?' PDF (154 KB) DOC (89 KB)
REPORT on eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU PDF (208 KB) DOC (126 KB)
REPORT on Special Report No 7/2012 (2011 discharge): 'The reform of the common organisation of the market in wine: Progress to date' PDF (147 KB) DOC (71 KB)
REPORT on Special Report No 3/2012 (Discharge 2011) - Structural Funds - Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems? PDF (148 KB) DOC (73 KB)
REPORT on the situation of women approaching retirement age PDF (191 KB) DOC (116 KB)
REPORT on women and business leadership PDF (181 KB) DOC (107 KB)
REPORT on the face of female poverty in the European Union PDF (291 KB) DOC (184 KB)
Opinions (4)
OPINION on the efforts of the international community in the area of development and of ‘state building’ in South Sudan
OPINION on the EU 2011 report on policy coherence for development
OPINION on modernising Europe’s higher education systems
OPINION on promoting workers mobility within the European Union
Shadow opinions (12)
OPINION on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union (2012)
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large companies and groups
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide
OPINION on the small-scale and artisanal fisheries and the CFP reform
OPINION on the 2010 discharge: EU general budget, Section III, Commission
OPINION on EU support for the ICC: facing challenges and overcoming difficulties
OPINION on EU external policies in favour of democratisation
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of seasonal employment
Amendments (487)
Amendment 7 #
2013/2256(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Supports the Commission’s main objectives as set out in the Roadmap, in particular, achieving a more balanced governance, especially the objective of enhancing the agencies’ efficiency and accountability and introducing greater coherence in the way they function; welcomes the actions proposed thereon, in particular regarding the streamlining of management boards, efforts to seek synergies between agencies and the possibility of merging some of them;
Amendment 14 #
2013/2256(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Considers that as regards the agencies’ way of reporting to the discharge authority, their democratic accountability should be further streamlined, and believes that the relationship between Parliament and the agencies would benefit from a stronger and better structured system of reporting to Parliament;
Amendment 18 #
2013/2256(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Urges the agencies to examine their internal administrative processes with a view to reducing administrative costs, which are generally too high across the agencies;
Amendment 19 #
2013/2256(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Acknowledges that the results of a survey conducted by agencies about services shared between them show that they already cooperate and that awareness- raising could help develop those good practices further; welcomes the good example set by, for instance, the European Maritime Safety Agency (based in Lisbon) which shares its Internal Audit Capability with the European Fisheries Control Agency (based in Vigo), whereas European Railway Agency (based in Valenciennes) is preparing an agreement for sharing the services of the Accounting Officer with the European Securities and Markets Authority (based in Paris); proposes, furthermore, that some smaller agencies which may not be suitable for outright mergers be relocated in the same city – possibly even in the same building – so that they can benefit from common central resources and reduce overhead costs;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2252(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2252(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2251(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the IMI Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2251(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the IMI Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2250(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the Artemis Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2250(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the Artemis Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2249(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2249(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2248(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2248(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the SESAR Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2247(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Director of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2247(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2245(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2245(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Asylum Support Office for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 8 #
2013/2245(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes withExpresses serious concern that a carry- over of EUR 2 000 00 was not covered by a legal commitment (contract) and was therefore irregular; calls on the Office to inform the discharge authority on the steps taken to prevent similar situations in the future;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2242(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute's budget for the financial year 2012 / Grants the Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2242(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for the financial year 2012 / Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 13 #
2013/2242(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Regrets the factExpresses concern that budgets for grant agreements signed in 2010 and 2011 were not sufficiently specific, which resulted in payments in 2012; observes that there was no link between the approved funds and the activities to be implemented and that grant agreements did not set individual thresholds for specific cost categories (i.e. staff costs, sub-contracting, legal services, etc.) and did not include rules for the procurement of goods and services by the Knowledge and Innovation Communities and their partners;
Amendment 14 #
2013/2242(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes with concernIs appalled that the Institute did not have an internal auditor for the entire calendar year 2013, as the previous auditor left the Institute on 31 December 2012, and the current auditor took over the task only on 1 January 2014; believes that such a situation should have been avoided, especially given the problems shown to exist in the Institute as regards the 2012 discharge;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2240(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2240(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2240(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes from the Court of Auditors' report that regarding the three comments made in 2011, two corrective actions taken in response to the previous year's comments are still marked as 'ongoing' and one as 'completed';
Amendment 3 #
2013/2239(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2239(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Securities and Markets Authority for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Securities and Markets Authority for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2239(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes withExpresses serious concern that the Authority made 22 budget transfers amounting to EUR 3 200 000, representing 16 % of total 2012 budget, which indicates serious weaknesses in budget planning;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2239(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. RegretsExpresses serious concern that according to the Court of Auditors’ annual audit, there is considerable room for improving the timeliness and documentation of procurement procedures; demands that the Authority address these concerns as a matter of priority and inform the discharge authority on the results of the measures taken;
Amendment 12 #
2013/2239(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes withExpresses serious concern that according to the Court of Auditors’ annual audit, the level of transparency of the Authority's recruitment procedures needs to be improved; calls ondemands that the Authority to implement corrective measures and to inform the discharge authority on the results of measures taken;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2238(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2238(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2238(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Regrets that one contract related to the design of a financial database was subdivided into four lots of EUR 60 000 each, which were all directly awarded to two companies; is strongly of the opinion that given the total value of the services to be procured for the same project (EUR 240 000), an open or restricted procedure should have been applied and that the related commitments and payments are thus irregular;
Amendment 16 #
2013/2238(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Regrets that while a physical verification of assets was carried out in May and June 2012, no physical verification report was produced; regrets, moreovexpresses serious concer,n that the Authority has not adopted any procedures or guidelines on physical checks on tangible assets;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2237(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Banking Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Banking Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2237(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Banking Authority for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Banking Authority for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2237(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with concern that in order to cover higher school fees, the Authority grants staff whose children attend primary or secondary school a top-up allowance, which amounted to some EUR 76 000 in 2012, in addition to the education allowances provided for in the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities (‘the Staff Regulations’);notes that these allowances are not covered by the Staff Regulations and are, therefore, rightly considered irregular by the Court of Auditors; acknowledges, however, that this situation is due to the lack of European Schools in the city the Authority is based in and that the purpose of these top-ups is to ensure equal treatment of the Authority’s employees under the Staff Regulations; but questions if this level of additional expenditure is justifiable;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2237(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes withExpresses concern that carry-overs of committed appropriations were high for title II (45 %); acknowledges that this was mainly due to reasons beyond the Authority’s control, such as the unsuccessful attempt to find new premises and delays in the implementation of some IT projects for which it was difficult to obtain the information needed from the predecessor organisation;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2237(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with satisfaction that according to the annual activity report, as well as the Court of Auditors' audit findings, the level and nature of transfers in 2012 have remained within the limits of the financial rules and commends the Authority for its good budgetary planning;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes the comment of the Court of Auditors that the Institute does not have a formalised procurement planning and monitoring procedure and that its annual work programme does not include a procurement schedule linked to the planned activities; notes however that only 7 % of committed appropriations carried over to 2012 have not been used and had to be cancelled; underlines in this respect the Institute’s commitment to improve procurement planning and monitoring by creating a monitoring tool and budget monitoring guidelines; calls, therefore, on the EIGE to develop and implement formalised procurement and monitoring procedures, and to incorporate a timetable for procurement into the annual work plan;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the EIGE to update its guidelines on recruitment in order to eliminate the shortcomings identified by the Court of Auditors, and to find satisfactory solutions to the problems that have arisen in this connection;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission to consider merging the Fundamental Rights Agency with the Institute; is of the opinion that such a merger could result in greater administrative and operational efficiency as well as, in the long run, save costs to Union taxpayer;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Institute to urgently address the shortcomings identified by the Court of Auditors in the Institute's documentation of recruitment procedures; notes in particular that there was no evidence that questions for written tests and interviews, as well as their respective weightings, were prepared before the examination of the applications;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes with concernDeplores the fact that the Institute does not have a formalised procurement planning and monitoring procedure; notes in particular that its annual work programme does not include a procurement schedule linked to the planned activities that would define the optimal scope and timing of procurements;
Amendment 12 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Acknowledges from the Institute that in order to improve the planning and monitoring of the procurement, the Institute is in process of creating a monitoring tool to follow up the expected dates of each step of the annual procurement proceedings; calls on the Institute to inform the discharge authority ifwhen it succeeds in fully implementing this tool or, if that is not the caseand up until then, to keep it informed of the state of play regarding its creation and implementation;
Amendment 16 #
2013/2236(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Acknowledges from the Institute that in 2012, the Commission's Internal Audit Service (IAS) carried out audit work in accordance with the Institute's strategic audit plan; notes that this work included an audit on budget execution, which identified good practices, but also led to four very important recommendations; takes note of the Institute's action plan to address the risks and notes that the IAS considered this to be adequate; notes that no critical recommendations were open as of 31 December 2012; but expresses great concern, however, that the implementation of two very important recommendations from 2011 hasve been delayed;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2235(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Police Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Police Office discharge in respect of the implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2235(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Police Office for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Police Office for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2235(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes withIs concerned that the Office carried over EUR 1 200 000 for changes to its premises in connection with the setting up of the European Cybercrime Centre; notes that although the Office agreed upon those changes with the host state in July 2012, the contract for the works required was only signed in April 2013; notes, in addition, that the Office carried over EUR 100 000 related to the introduction of a new human resources system; expresses concernis appalled that both of those carry-overs did not correspond to legal commitments made at the end of the year and were thus irregular; calls on the Office to urgently take steps in order to prevent similar situations in the future and to report on this within the framework of the 2012 discharge follow- up;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2234(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director-General of the Euratom Supply Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director-General of the Euratom Supply Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2234(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Euratom Supply Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the Euratom Supply Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2233(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2233(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Chemicals Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Chemicals Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2233(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes with satisfaction that according to the annual activity report as well as the Court of Auditors’ audit findings, the level and nature of transfers in 2012 have remained within the limits of the financial rules; commends the Agency for its good budgetary planning;
Amendment 14 #
2013/2233(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. RegretsExpresses concern that physical inventory results show serious weaknesses in the safeguarding and tracking of fixed assets and that there is no tracking procedure for software and internal components (2 370 items out of the 5 878 ICT fixed assets recorded); expresses concernis appalled, moreover, that 306 items could not be found, of which 93 were laptops and 29 were computers; calls ondemands that the Agency to remedy this situation and to duly follow this up before initiating the 2013 discharge procedure;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2232(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Fisheries Control Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Fisheries Control Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2232(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Fisheries Control Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Fisheries Control Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2232(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Acknowledges that in response to the Court of Auditors' 2011 report, the Agency took corrective action in June 2012 to improve the transparency of recruitment procedures; noteregrets that in 2012, the Court of Auditors still identified weaknesses related to three audited recruitment procedures that were initiated prior to the Court’s 2011 report, namely that vacancy notices did not provide information to the candidates on complaint and appeal procedures, that candidates were given a global score instead of one score for each of the selection criteria and that there was no evidence that the questions for interviews and written tests had been set before the date of the examinations;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2231(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European GNSS Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European GNSS Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2231(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that the carry-over of committed appropriations was relatively high for title II (administrative expenditure) at EUR 1 700 000 (38 %); acknowledges that this was partly due to events beyond the Authority's control, such as the relocation of its seat to Prague in September 2012 (EUR 400 000) and the setting-up of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (EUR 400 000) which necessitated the provision of certain goods and services in the last quarter of the year; notes, moreover, that several contracts relating to IT and legal services included in the 2013 work programme were signed in December 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2230(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 6 #
2013/2230(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2229(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Police College discharge in respect of the implementation of the College's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Police College discharge in respect of the implementation of the College's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2229(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Police College for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Police College for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 12 #
2013/2229(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes with concern that discussions about the College's future, which have been ongoing for several years, have created a situation of uncertainty which continues to hamper business planning and implementation;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2228(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Railway Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Railway Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2228(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Railway Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Railway Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2228(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Deplores the fact that using two locations (Lille and Valenciennes) to carry out its activities exposes the Agency to additional costs; acknowledges the efforts made by the Agency to minimise the negative impact of the decision on the Agency's seatnd represents a waste of European taxpayers' money; demands that this issue be addressed in order to restore value for taxpayers' money and operational efficiency, while also avoiding needless indirect costs such as "wasted" working hours due to travelling or additional administrative work;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2222(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Network and Information Security Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Network and Information Security Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2222(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Network and Information Security Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Network and Information Security Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2220(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2220(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 13 #
2013/2220(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that the procedure for assessing possible conflicts of interests at the Authority, where declarations of interest are screened by Heads of Unit and are generally assessed on a case by case basis, is overly burdensome and is subject to criticism, raising questions aboutserious concerns regarding its credibility and effectiveness; notes withexpresses serious concern that even a revised procedure has not helped dispel fears about the Authority’s expert impartiality; calls ondemands that the Authority to come up with a simplified procedure with less uncertainty which would validate and streamline the process and save both human resources and money;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2219(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2219(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2219(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes withExpresses great concern that carry-overs of committed appropriations were high for title III at 46 %; stresses that, although this is partly justified by the multiannual nature of the Agency’s operations and by the duly justified carry-overs included in the Court of Auditors' sample, nevertheless such a high level is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2219(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Regrets that the Agency continues to have high administration costs and fails to understand how the Agency can justify such a situation, given an increase in revenue from the fees charged to outside businesses for its services; acknowledges that the large increase in revenue stems from an increase in the number of certification applications received, rather than as a result of an increase in tariffs;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2218(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2218(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2218(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with concern from the Court of Auditors’ report that the status of one corrective action taken in response to the previous year's comments is marked as 'ongoing', one is marked as 'completed' and one is marked as partially 'completed' and partially 'outstanding';
Amendment 10 #
2013/2218(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes with concernDeplores that the Court of Auditors’ annual audit has found a budget commitment amounting to EUR 800 000 which was not related to an existing legal commitment and was thus irregular;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2218(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Reminds the Agency that it has a duty to ensure that through the use of all possible efficient savings and the intelligent use of existing administrative structures, it can carry out its newly assigned competences without an undue budget increase, being mindful of the fact that the Agency must avoid the unnecessary duplication of the work of national authorities;
Amendment 15 #
2013/2218(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes with concern that accounting procedures and information in respect of costs for internally generated intangible assets are not fully reliable; expectsdemands that the Agency to implement corrective measures and inform the discharge authority on the results;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2217(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Training Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Training Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2217(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2217(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors' report that in 2012, the overall level of committed appropriations was 99,9 %, indicating that commitments were made in a timely manner; notes, however, that the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2013 was high for title II (administrative expenditure) at EUR 600 000 (36,8 %); appreciatcknowledges that one of the main reasons for such a high level wereas the late receipt of invoices for building- related services delivered in 2012 (EUR 300 000) and a number of IT hardware and software purchases ordered as planned during the last months of 2012 (EUR 300 000) but not delivered until 2013;
Amendment 13 #
2013/2217(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Acknowledges from the Foundation that as of 23 May 2013, the Commission's Internal Audit Service (IAS) has formally closed 12 out of the 14 recommendations from the 2011 IAS audit on communication and that the Foundation does not have any outstanding open recommendations ranked as ‘very important’; notes however, that there are still two open IAS audit recommendations from the 2011 IAS audit on external and internal communication, both ranked as ’important’, one of which is considered to have been implemented by the Foundation and is currently pending IAS review and closure, while the other is in the process of implementation and was expected to be fully implemented in 2013 in line with planned actions;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2216(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Administrative Director of Eurojust discharge in respect of the implementation of Eurojust’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2216(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of Eurojust for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2216(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes from the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts that out of four comments made in 2011, two corrective actions taken in response to the previous year's comments are still marked as 'outstanding' and two as 'completed';
Amendment 11 #
2013/2216(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Draws the attention of Eurojust to the needRequires Eurojust to improve the transparency of recruitment procedures; notes that there was no evidence that questions for tests and interviews were set before the examination of the applications by the Selection Board and there is no evidence that the weighting between written tests and interviews was set before candidates’ screening; calls on Eurojust to follow this up within the framework of discharge 2012 follow-up report;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2215(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2215(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Medicines Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Medicines Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 12 #
2013/2215(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes with concern that in 2012, the Agency issued multiple framework contracts for the provision of services; expresses concern that the procurement procedure presented some irregularities affecting the principle of transparency and demands that the Agency address this issue;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2214(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2214(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2214(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes with concernIs appalled that according to the Court of Auditors’ report, the Centre held cash and short term deposits amounting to EUR 35 million at the end of 2012; notes that the Centre cannot adjust prices during the year in order to balance income and expenditure, although it has occasionally refunded its clients in order to reduce the surplus; calls ondemands that the Centre, together with the Commission, to propose a remedy to this situation as a matter of urgency;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2213(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2213(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2213(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes withExpresses concern that EUR 3 200 000 (22 % of the budget) have been carried over to 2013 and that the level of committed appropriations carried over is high for both Title II at 36 % and Title III at 33 %; acknowledges that for Title II, this was mainly caused by the renewal of annual IT contracts concluded as planned in the fourth quarter of 2012; acknowledges that for Title III, the high level was a result of both the multiannual nature of major projects and of delays in the awarding of specific contracts;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2212(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2212(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2212(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Regrets that for the year 2012, the mission expenses of the Executive Director of the Agency were remarkably higher than those of the executive directors of other agencies and considers this level of discrepancy unacceptable; calls on the Agency to provide further explanation for this situation to the discharge authority in the framework of the 2012 discharge follow-up;
Amendment 14 #
2013/2212(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. RegretsNotes with concern that existing controls provide only limited assurances to the Agency’s management as to the eligibility and accuracy of the costs claimed by beneficiaries; believes that a random verification of supporting documents for staff expenses and a higher coverage of beneficiaries by means of on- the-spot verifications could considerably increase assurances; calls on the Agency to take steps to that effect and to report to the discharge authority on its progress;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2211(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2211(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2211(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes with concernRegrets that no ex post verifications were carried out for any transactions made after 2008, except for grants; calls ondemands that the Centre to address the issue and to report to the discharge authority, within the framework of the 2012 discharge follow- up, on the steps taken;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2211(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes with concern from the Court of Auditors’ annual audit report that the Centre currently bears the annual cost of about EUR 200 000 for unused office space in its former building and in the new headquarters; calls on the Centre to continue,, as a matter of priority, to work in cooperation with the Commission and national authorities, to seek adequate solutions for this unused office space and to report to the discharge authority, within the framework of the 2012 discharge follow-up, on the steps taken;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2210(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2210(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2210(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that the IAS identified a number of strengths during the audit and that it believes that the Foundation's internal control system in place provides reasonable assurances regarding the achievement of those objectives; notes, however, that 12 recommendations were made, one of which was classified as ‘very important’; notes that those recommendations are still only in the process of being implemented;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2209(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2209(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2209(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – indent 1
Paragraph 1 – indent 1
– for the 2012 financial year, the Court of Auditors already noted satisfactory rates of the implementation of payment appropriations for Titles I and II (98 % and 89 %, respectively); acknowledges that for Title III, the rate of payment implementation of 49 % was well justified and carry forwards of this level are unavoidable and are not the result of delays in the planning and implementation of the Agency’s annual work programme,
Amendment 10 #
2013/2209(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes with concern that in 2012, the Agency procured cleaning services via cascading framework contracts to two suppliers and due to a clerical error during the evaluation of offers,that the ranking of the contractors was incorrect; notes that as a result of thisan error, one specific contract for EUR 56 784 was awarded in 2012 and that the related payments are irregular; acknowledges that following the Court of Auditors' audit, the Agency has amended the ranking of the contractors accordingly;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2209(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes with satisfaction that according to the annual activity report, as well as the Court of Auditors' findings, the level and nature of transfers in 2012 have remained within the limits of the financial rules; and commends the Agency for its good budgetary planning;
Amendment 14 #
2013/2209(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Acknowledges from the Agency that in 2012, the Commission's Internal Audit Service (IAS) carried out an audit on procurement within the Agency and made two very important and seven important recommendations; notes that the Agency proposed an action plan which was accepted by the IAS and regrets that by the cut-off date of 31 December 2012, eight of thoseone important recommendations were closed; not had still not been closed; acknowledges that the one remaining important recommendation was closed in 2013;
Amendment 2 #
2013/2208(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2208(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2208(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes with satisfaction that according to the annual activity report, as well as the Court of Auditors’ audit findings, the level and nature of transfers in 2012 have remained within the limits of the financial rules and commends the Centre for its good budgetary planning;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2208(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes with concernIs appalled that according to the Court of Auditors’ findings, members of the pre- selection committee did not sign a declaration as regards the absence of conflicts of interests for the two recruitment procedures for the post of the Centre’s Director, which had been launched in 2010 and 2011 and had been declared unsuccessful; expresses concern that questions for interviews and their weightings, as well as the threshold scores for inclusion in the list of suitable candidates, were set after the screening of candidates;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2206(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth European Development Funds for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth European Development Funds for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 6 #
2013/2206(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Approves the closure of the accounts of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth European Development Funds for the financial year 2012 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth European Development Funds for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discharge in respect of the implementation of the European External Action Service's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discharge in respect of the implementation of the European External Action Service's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that in the 2012 annual report, the Court of Auditors did not identify any significant weakness in respect of the topics audited for the European External Action Service ('EEAS'); takes noteexpresses concern that some weaknesses still persist in the management of social allowance and regrets that the same problems which occurred in 2011 were repeatedly reported in the 2012 Annual Report of the Court of Auditors;
Amendment 13 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Recognises that efforts have been made to reduce the top-heavy EEAS administration; is extremely concerned, however, that the EEAS has the biggest proportion of high graded staff out of all Union institutions, having 514 individuals employed in AD 12 or grades above (over 50 % of all EEAS AD staff), making it difficult to achieve significant reductions in the top-heavy administration; considers that the reversion of this situation cshould be achieved in the coming years through efficient management policies;
Amendment 18 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Considers the responsibilities of the Union Special Representatives to be very unclear; regrets deeply that the information on the use of the budget they receive to implement their mandate continues to be obscure; calls on the EEAS to provide adequate information on Union Special Representatives’ responsibilities and on their use of the budget;
Amendment 27 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. FindsExpresses concern at the excessive the number of officials being promoted after two years in the grade, especially the quick promotions in the higher grades; invites the EEAS to establish stricter criteria for the quick promotion in higher grades especially taking into account the high number of posts at high grades and additional costs this entails in real terms;
Amendment 46 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. InviteAsks the EEAS to explain why it was necessary to create the post of Deputy Head of Delegation for Afghanistan;
Amendment 50 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. SupportDemands the EEAS' intensify its efforts towards increasing savings with regards to housing policy of staff employed in the Union Delegations; considers that there is room for significant savings in this field as in year 2012 the housing costs paid for the accommodation of 675 officials in Union Delegations had a total cost of EUR 30 million;
Amendment 51 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Welcomes the fact that the EEAS could immediately impose savings of EUR 4 million in the 2014 budget with the new Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union entering into force; points out, however, the extremely high costs of employment in Union Delegations, as all entitlements, allowances, weightings coefficients, rest leaves and annual travel costs, moving and housing expenses add up to over EUR 8 000 per month per employee above the monthly salary of the individuals working in the Union Delegations and questions whether the level of additional benefits can be justified to the European taxpayer;
Amendment 59 #
2013/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Asks forDemands that the EEAS's building policy to be attached to the annual activity report., especially given that it is important that such costs are properly rationalised and that such costs are not excessive;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2204(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the European Data Protection Supervisor discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Data Protection Supervisor's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the European Data Protection Supervisor discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Data Protection Supervisor's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2203(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Ombudsman's budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Ombudsman's budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2203(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Ombudsman to state in detail in in its annual activity report how much it spends from the budget on promoting itself and on reaching out to citizens;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2202(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Committee of the Regions' budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Committee of the Regions' budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Committee, as an institution designed to offer a relatively small number of bodies privileged access to the Union's legislative and policy- making processes, to fund its activities by means of subscription for those local and regional institutions that believe it serves a valuable purpose;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes with satisfaction that the budget implementation rate of 98.2 % represents an increase on the 2011 rate of 97.5 %; expects further improvements in the budget implementation rate in the subsequent periods;
Amendment 7 #
2013/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Shares the viewtrongly believes that some improvements should be made to rationalise human resources in the Joint Services and in translation; finds the on- going contacts between the Committee, the European Economic and Social Committee ('EESC') and Parliament in this matter a positive contribution to the rationalisation of resources;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Requests information on the precise amount of budgetary savings that result from the updated administrative cooperation agreement with the EESC and on the precise areas which are affected by the new agreement;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Anticipates that the updated administrative cooperation agreement with the EESC will also lead to the strengthening of cooperation in the management of common services;
Amendment 1 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Economic and Social Committee’s budget for the financial year 2012 / Postpones its decision on granting the Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Economic and Social Committee’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the EESC, as an institution designed to offer privileged access to the Union’s legislative and policy-making processes, to fund its activities by means of subscription for those few bodies that have secured representation;
Amendment 4 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes that the 96.8 % budget implementation rate for 2012 is higher than the 95.4 % rate for 2011, but still lower than the 98 % rate for 2010; calls on the EESC to ensure even better budget implementation rates in subsequent periods;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Regrets that Parliament’s recommendation to the EESC to base the reimbursement of members’ travel expenses on real costs was not implemented due to the Council’s still pending decision on the level of allowances; recalldemands that the system should be fully operational by the beginning of the next EESC term;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Shares the viewtrongly believes that some improvements should be made to rationalise human resources in the Joint Services and in translation; finds the on- going contacts between the EESC, the CoR and Parliament in this matter a positive contribution to the rationalisation of resources;
Amendment 11 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Expects the EESC, when preparing the negotiations of the new administrative cooperation agreement with the CoR, to create a more regular screening of the budgetary savings resulting from its implementation, as stated in last year’s recommendations,; requests detailed information on the results of this cooperation and on the precise amount of budgetary savings that will ensue from this new cooperation;
Amendment 12 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Asks for information about the precise areas which are affected by the new administrative cooperation agreement with the CoR;
Amendment 13 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Anticipates that the new administrative cooperation agreement with the CoR will also lead to the strengthening of cooperation in the management of common services;
Amendment 15 #
2013/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Wishes to be kept informed about the budgetary impact of using videoconferencing, including in terms of savings on mission costs;
Amendment 5 #
2013/2197(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Acknowledges the improvement made (87 %, compared to 84 % in 2011) in monitoring the follow-up remarks made by the internal audit; calls on the European Council and the Council to further improve the result with the creation of the Audit Committee;
Amendment 8 #
2013/2197(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Calls on the Council to provide an explanation of how measures from the previous period that were adopted with a view to improving the results of the ‘Europa building’ project are being implemented; calls on the Council, furthermore, to explain what added value is brought by the permanent team responsible for monitoring the execution of this project;
Amendment 9 #
2013/2197(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the process of administrative modernisation within the Council; regrets, nonetheless, the lack of information on the concrete implementing measures of that process and on the anticipated impact on the Council’s budget and calls on the Council to provide the missing information as soon as possible;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2197(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Wishes to receive more information on the Service Level Agreements established with the EEAS, and not only in respect of the administrative modernisation process;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Subtitle and paragraph 1 a (new)
Subtitle and paragraph 1 a (new)
- Added value of Parliament's discharge procedure 1a. Highlights the added value of the parliamentary procedure leading up to the annual Parliament discharge; 1b. Points out that this resolution remains principally focussed on the budget implementation and discharge for the financial year 2012 and that its main goal is to ensure that taxpayers' public money is used in the best possible way while highlighting where improvements can be made; encourages the Parliament's responsible bodies to continue to improve, at all possible levels, efficiency in Parliament's daily work; 1c. Repeats its call on the Bureau to distribute more 'White Papers' regarding the policy matters to all Members which would allow for the policy items to be discussed within the political groups in advance to a final decision;
Amendment 7 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that Parliament decided to conduct an end-of-year "mopping-up" transfer from various budget lines amounting to EUR 45 000 000 in unspent funds intended for the second instalment of the acquisition of the Trebel building in Brussels (EUR 35 000 000) and the construction of the new KAD building in Luxembourg; understands that as a result of this, an estimated EUR 10,4 million in financing charges will be saved over the construction and loan amortisation periods; notdeplores, nevertheless, that Parliament has repeatedly requested that in the interests of budgetary clarity, buildings expenditure be entered in the budget rather than being financed through a "mopping- up" transfer;
Amendment 12 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recommends that authorising officers improve the design, coordination and performance of Parliament's procurement framework and procedures through appropriate checks and bettclearer guidance; notes that the implementation of the new Financial Regulation and its Rules of Application should be accompanied by the design of new templates of contracts and invitations to tender, as well as the development of specific training courses on how to define and apply selection and award criteria;
Amendment 26 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Notes the Secretary-General’s reply indicating that the cost for the LUX prize was reduced, as proposed by the Committee on Budgetary Control and voted in plenary in the 2010 discharge report, and that a series of concrete measures have been taken in order to minimise the LUX Prize expenditure, in particular cutting costs related to promotional activities at international festivals and within Parliament premises; takes note that the expenditure of LUX Prize in 2012 was EUR 434 421, which represents a reduction of 24 % as compared to 2011 (EUR 573722); calls for further efficiencies to be found;
Amendment 29 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 c (new)
Paragraph 34 c (new)
34c. Welcomes the significant reduction in expenditure on the LUX Prize; feels, nonetheless, that it is not the role of Parliament – as a public body – to judge the artistic value of films; insists that the LUX Prize should not be awarded in the years to come;
Amendment 30 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 d (new)
Paragraph 34 d (new)
34d. Expects Parliament to reduce expenditure on promotion, travelling and events in Member States associated with awarding prizes;
Amendment 31 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Expects Parliament to adopt temporary measures to deal with the current problem of congestion in canteens;
Amendment 45 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
42a. Notes that the issue of determining the seat of an institution or body is the exclusive competence of the Member States; notes, however, that significant savings could be achieved by using the offices in Strasbourg in a more effective and logical manner;
Amendment 46 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 b (new)
Paragraph 42 b (new)
42b. Notes that there is a growing number of people who need to be provided with office space; urges Parliament, therefore, to consider whether it could move some of its departments from Brussels to Strasbourg permanently; calls on Parliament, in this connection, to consider holding all of its part-sessions in Brussels; feels that this could achieve significant reductions in travel expenditure and result in the offices in Strasbourg being used in a more effective and logical manner;
Amendment 88 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 a (new)
Paragraph 60 a (new)
60a. Suggests that the current buildings strategy be urgently re-examined, with a view to halting expansion;
Amendment 89 #
2013/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 b (new)
Paragraph 60 b (new)
60b. Notes the opening in April 2010 of the EP Liaison Office (EPLO) in Washington; calls for a review of its structure, activities and costs to be presented to the Bureau with copies to the relevant competent committees;
Amendment 3 #
2013/2195(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes the Court of Auditors' numerous observations as well as the increase in the estimated error rate as regards the area on employment and social affairs, the policy area primarily covering gender equality aspects; reiterates its call for specific details if any of the observations concerns spending related to gender equalityas to whether and to what degree this has been responsible for altering the balance between men and women, particularly in the areas of employment and health protection;
Amendment 6 #
2013/2195(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Points out that the annual reports on the implementation of the budget could include the outcomes of objectives set in terms of equality between women and men;
Amendment 7 #
2013/2173(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. RegretsIs concerned by the fact that in the OPs, the definition of ‘older workers’ is not used consistently; notes that many MAs do not use in their respective OPs the definition of ‘older workers’ as defined in the Lisbon Agenda, namely any person of working age between 55 and 64 years old, but instead use different age groups;
Amendment 8 #
2013/2173(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Regrets that the data necessary for evaluating the current employment situation for older workers, assessing future development and adopting measures to achieve the established objectives provided by the Member States are unreliable and of unsatisfactory quality; calls for measures to be adopted that will motivate the Member States to submit reliable and high-quality data;
Amendment 10 #
2013/2173(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that the operational programmes contain no provisions which would cover incentives for employers or which would motivate employers to employ older workers, who could be an asset thanks to their many years of experience and practical knowledge;
Amendment 21 #
2013/2173(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the fact that MAs generally defined the monitoring data they required clearly; recalls, nevertheless, that monitoring and evaluation systems should allow for the timely and periodic verification of progress made towards the established objectives, as well as the possibility of reacting quickly to significant divergences from the established objectives;
Amendment 31 #
2013/2045(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Member States to consider adopting the Youth Guarantee Scheme as a matter of urgency;
Amendment 50 #
2013/2045(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses the importance of promoting measures to balance work and family life and to helpassist young mothers to return to the labour market, so that they do not have to give up their careers or take career breaks;
Amendment 20 #
2013/2044(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 31 #
2013/2044(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Urges Member States to adopt policies that promote health and the prevention of disease through the guarantee of free, universal and quality health care, with particular attention to guaranteeing primary health care, preventive medicine, access to diagnoses, treatment and rehabilitation; calls for provision of the means required to combat the main public health problems facing women and guarantee the right to sexual and reproductive health, health services for women who are victims of violence, and health care for infants;
Amendment 28 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises the need to increase awareness of the situation of women in the context of the EU’s policies on education, integration, migration and employment, and in its social policies, to promotect the rights of women, to promote equality and equal opportunities and to combat all forms of exploitdiscrimination in the labour market;
Amendment 33 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Member States to include provisions relating to the protection of women’s rightto ensure transparency and awareness in the area of women’s rights and the rights of their family members in respect of occupational mobility when designing their national strategies and reform programmes;
Amendment 48 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 58 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission and on the Member States to monitor violations of women’s rights in the labour market, to provide women living abroad for work purposes with all the necessary information, including with regard to access to jobs and training in this field and to social rights and healthcare, and to provide counselling in relation to employment opportunities at no extra costUrges Member States to provide migrant workers, their family members and partners with comprehensive information and the possibility to access information sites so that they can be informed of their rights and of the benefits that are potentially available to them in the host Member State, with particular reference to rights and benefits linked to social security, childcare, healthcare, training opportunities and local community activities;
Amendment 62 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the EU’s policy on fighting direct and indirect discrimination against EU migrant workers hosted by another Member State andon the labuse of their rights as a result of their insufficient knowledge of languages and of the laws applicable to their employment in the host Member Stateour market;
Amendment 70 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Urges themployers to provide Member Sployees and their representatives to make pay trends more transparent so as to avert continuing or widening pay gapswith wage statistics broken down by gender, while also taking personal data protection into consideration; believes that these statistics should be compiled at sectoral and national level in each Member State;
Amendment 79 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Member States to actively participate in removeing obstacles to workers’ mobility by offering women who follow their husbands or partners to another Member State appropriatefamily members and partners services such as courses to facilitate their long-term integration into their new social and cultural environment, for example language and vocational courses at no extra cost;
Amendment 85 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission strongly to support the Erasmus programme; notes that since its inception in 1987 the Erasmus programme has enabled more than 2.2 million students to be mobile within the EU, and has made a significant contribution to mobility in European higher educationand the Member States to continue their active support for European and international education and study programmes; stresses the importance of the YES Europe 2014-2020 umbrella mobility programme, which amalgamates all existing European and international programmes in the areas of education, vocational training, youth and sport;
Amendment 98 #
2013/2009(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses the need to increase the level of participation in lifelong learning programmes by women who have moved abroad, including programmes relating to skills developmentpromote lifelong learning programmes;
Amendment 15 #
2013/2004(INL)
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas gender-based violence may result in physical, sexual, emotional or psychological harm, or economic loss, to the victim, as well as resultant difficulties in employment, in the search for employment and in engaging in social activities;
Amendment 96 #
2013/2004(INL)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Requests the Commission to present an EU-wide Strategy and an Action Plan to combat violence against women, which will include criminal law mechanisms to combat violence against women;
Amendment 102 #
2013/2004(INL)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the Commission to adopt the first steps towards establishing a European Observatory on Vxtending the powers of the European Institute for Gender Equality with a view to enabling the Europe-wide monitoring of violence Aagainst Wwomen, building on existing institutional structures (European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE));
Amendment 21 #
2012/2292(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 24 #
2012/2292(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 27 #
2012/2292(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to ensurcourage equal representation and participation of women and men in social dialogue institutions, resulting in greater attention to gender issues;
Amendment 31 #
2012/2292(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that gender equality issues, like the gender pay gap, gender segregation in the labour market, reconciliation of work and family responsibilities, promoting career development and combating violence and sexual harassment at work must be integrated into the social dialogue agenda, so that the interests of both women and men are taken into account;primarily addressed at member state level.
Amendment 1 #
2012/2253(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Executive Director of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking discharge in respect of the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s budget for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 3 #
2012/2253(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2012;
Amendment 2 #
2012/2222(INI)
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Union’s policy on development cooperation is guided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and two of those Goals specifically concern women – MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women and MDG 5: Improve maternal health,; whereas these goals contribute successfully to poverty reduction;
Amendment 3 #
2012/2222(INI)
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the increase in poverty affects more women than men;
Amendment 6 #
2012/2222(INI)
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas gender-based violence is becoming more widespread, in particular sexual violence, exploitation and the killing of women and girls;
Amendment 14 #
2012/2222(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for a stepping-up of efforts to achieve the MDGs relating to gender equality and maternal health and requestsUrges the Commission to place greater emphasis on the health of mothers; stresses the importance of education and awareness-raising in the area of sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of the women's health agenda, since this is the Millennium Development Goal with regard to which the progress achieved thus far has been least satisfactory; requests, moreover, that measures immediately be considered for the post-2015 period;
Amendment 26 #
2012/2222(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Commission and Council, therefore, to further encouragevigorously promote improving the position of women and girls in society by obliging third countries to make express provision for women’s rights in their legislation, to guarantee that those rights are respected, and to implement gender-sensitive policies and mechanisms to ensure that women are more closely involved in decision making in public life, be this in the political, economic or social spheres;
Amendment 27 #
2012/2222(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission, within the framework of its programme activities, to provide appropriate protection and advice to the victims of gender-based violence, to fight against impunity for the perpetrators and to oblige third countries to institute effective legal provisions;
Amendment 17 #
2012/2214(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Urges the Agencies to examine their internal administrative processes with a view to reducing administrative costs, which are generally too high across the Agencies;
Amendment 18 #
2012/2214(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Proposes that some smaller agencies which may not be suitable for outright mergers be relocated in the same city – possibly even in the same building – so that they can benefit from common central resources and reduce overhead costs;
Amendment 5 #
2012/2207(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes from the Court of Auditors that weaknesses as regards three legal commitments made in advance of budget commitments (EUR 742 000) were noted; calls onrequires the Authority to inform the discharge authority of the actions it has taken to address this deficiency;
Amendment 12 #
2012/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors' report that in 2010, more than EUR 1,6 million had to be cancelled and in 2011, EUR 1,9 million (9 % of the appropriations carried over from 2010) were cancelled; notes, moreover, that in 2011 the level of carry-overs of commitment appropriations was also high, with EUR 4,2 million (41 %) for Title II ‘administrative expenditure’ and EUR 10,6 million (46 %) for Title III ‘operational expenditure’; calls onrequires the Office to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to address that deficiency, as the high carry-over and cancellation rates indicate difficulties in the planning and/or implementation of the Office's activities;
Amendment 15 #
2012/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors' report that weaknesses were found as regards the physical verification and recording of assets before and after the move to the new headquarters; in addition, notesis concerned that insurance contracts do not reflect the value of the Office's assets: before the move, net assets were over- insured by about EUR 17 million and at the moment of audit they were under-insured by about EUR 21 million;
Amendment 23 #
2012/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1
Paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 7 #
2012/2198(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges that the level of payments against budget appropriations improved for all titles, but remained low for Title III with 47 % (39 % in 2010); calls ondemands that the Agency to take further actions to address this deficiency as the situation is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality and report back to the budgetary authority forthwith;
Amendment 9 #
2012/2198(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Reiterates that using two locations (Lille and Valenciennes) to carry out its activities exposes the Agency to additional costs; for this reason one location should be urgently reconsidered; notes, moreover, that this observation has been made since 2006 and that no action has been taken by the Council to change the Decision of 13 December 2003*1 obliging the Agency to have a double seat;
Amendment 9 #
2012/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes, from the Court of Auditors' report and the Authority's annual activity report (AAR), that in 2011, 13 budgetary transfers were made; notes that, in particular, EUR 2,46 million was transferred from Title I to the infrastructure and IT budget lines of Title II, aiming to provide the resources for the adaptation of IT systems and financial systems related to the reorganisation and the migration to the accrual-based accounting financial system, and to reinforce the resources available for the move to the final seat and equipment for the final seat; notes, moreover, that transfers were carried out within Titles II and III; notes with concernpoints out specifically the Court of Auditors' remark that the situation indicates weaknesses in budget planning and implementation and is at odds with the principle of specification;
Amendment 19 #
2012/2196(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes with concern that the Authority was criticised for a lack of transparency with respect to the publication of annual declarations of interest and the absence of training on conflicts of interest and demands that this matter be remedied forthwith;
Amendment 7 #
2012/2195(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes with concernIs appalled that the Court of Auditors' remarks, in particular ‘the Centre concluded a framework contract (FWC) in 2009 for a maximum amount of EUR 9 million, allowing it to sign specific contracts with selected suppliers up to this amount. [..] Subsequent amendments increased these contracts’ values to EUR 14, 9 million. By the end of 2011 payments made totalled EUR 12, 2 million, of which EUR 3, 2 million in 2011. Commitments and payments above the EUR 9 million ceiling set in the framework contract are irregular‘;
Amendment 8 #
2012/2195(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Acknowledges fromExpresses serious concern that the Court of Auditors' report showed that, as in the previous year, a high level of carryover was reported for 2011; notes that out of the total budget for 2011, EUR 11 million (20 %) was carried over to 2012, including 38% of Title III ‘operational expenditure’ appropriations; calls on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to address this deficiency as this high level of carryover, coupled with a low level of accrued expenditure (EUR 5,4 million), is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality;
Amendment 9 #
2012/2194(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors' report that the decrease in the country coefficient for Germany in June 2010 caused a significant surplus in the Agency's Title I ‘Staff Expenditure’ appropriations for 2011 and that about EUR 3 million (7 % of the appropriations) were transferred from Title I to various budget lines in Title III ‘Operational Expenditure’, despite their low implementation rate in terms of payments; notes, moreover, that this significant cross title transfer, which changed the structure of the budget considerably, was not put to the Agency's Management Board for approval; calls ondemands that the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken as this situation is at odds with the budgetary principle of specification;
Amendment 11 #
2012/2194(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Takes note that the transfer increased Title III appropriations to EUR 13,7 million and that at the end of 2011, EUR 7,8 million was carried over to 2012; calls onrequires that the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to reduce the high level of carryovers as this is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality;
Amendment 15 #
2012/2194(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Remarks that the budgetary authority is concerned by the high administrative costs at the Agency and is strongly dissatisfied with the answers regarding them that were given by the Executive Director of the Agency in the hearing of the Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control because they did not adequately address members' questions;
Amendment 36 #
2012/2194(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 – subparagraph 2
Paragraph 13 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 7 #
2012/2193(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes with concern the Court of Auditors' finding that budget commitments amounting to EUR 0,9 million were not related to existing legal commitments and the Agency should have decommitted and paid back the amount to the Commission at the beginning of 2012; notes, however, that the Agency initiated the process too late and as a result, due to restrictions imposed by the IT system, the funds will be blocked for one year and will only be decommitted and paid back at the end of 2012; considers that this is unacceptable;
Amendment 8 #
2012/2193(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets that the Court of Auditors identified the need to improve the Agency's asset management; it found, in particular, unexplained differences between the recorded annual and cumulated depreciation and that for internally created intangible assets, accounting procedures and information on costs were not reliable; notes that evidence of a physical inventory of administrative equipment within the required period was lacking; remarks that until the serious problems in the Agency are resolved no further extension of the Agency's competency should be considered;
Amendment 11 #
2012/2193(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes with concern the Court of Auditors' finding that when the Agency sold two sets of sweeping arms systems for at-sea oil recovery services in December 2011, aiming to obtain at least the equipment's net book value of EUR 319 050 , as a result of the minimum price being wrongly set below net book value, the equipment was sold at a loss of EUR 93 950; considers that this is unacceptable and shows lack of regard for taxpayers money;
Amendment 8 #
2012/2187(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes from the Court of Auditors' report that the Agency made a payment to an international environmental organisation amounting to EUR 6 061 which was related to the participation of Agency staff in expeditions organised by that organisation in February and May 2011; notdeplores that no procurement procedure had taken place and no contract had been drawn up for those expeditions ; notes that the Agency bore the travel costs, amounting to EUR 11 625; notes the Court of Auditors' finding that the Agency's Executive Director was a member of the international environmental organisation's board of trustees until April 2011 and that this could constitute a conflict of interest;
Amendment 17 #
2012/2185(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is concerned by the fact that in December 2012, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) opened an investigation into alleged irregularities in the Agency as a result of allegations made by one of the applicants in the above-mentioned court cases; requestires that the Agency inform the discharge authority on the results of both the OLAF investigation and the Ombudsman case;
Amendment 4 #
2012/2175(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Invites the Supervisor to put in the next annual activity report the unused rate of the interpretation services requested during that year;
Amendment 4 #
2012/2174(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Invites the Ombudsman to put in the next annual activity report the unused rate of the interpretation services requested during that year;
Amendment 7 #
2012/2173(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Invites the Committee to put in the next annual activity report the unused rate of the interpretation services requested during that year;
Amendment 4 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Takes note of the replies given to the Court of Auditors' observations and requests to be further informedation given on the update of the guidelines applicable to the grading and recruitment of staff;
Amendment 8 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that in 2011 the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) had available commitment appropriations of EUR 128 600 000 (EUR 123 173 749 in 2010), with an utilisation rate of 95,4%, lower than the rate of 98% of 2010; this is mainly due to the Council's decision not to adopt the Commission's proposal for salary adjustments for 2011; stresses that the EESC budget is purely administrative, with a large amount used on expenditure concerning persons working within the institution and the remaining amount relating to buildings, furniture, equipment and miscellaneous running costs;
Amendment 10 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Reiterates the call for aWelcomes the strengthening of cooperation between the EESC members and Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control, in particular in relation to the discharge exercise;
Amendment 11 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Notes with satisfaction that the EESC–CoR Cooperation agreement is estimated to make savings/synergies in the order of around EUR 40 million; considers that it would be interesting to have a more recent evaluation of this agreement's benefits since the data above are from the year 2005 and did not take into account the situation in the EU27;
Amendment 12 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Congratulates both the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions for receiving EMAS and ISO-14001 certification; regrets however that no information was providasks to be informed in the annual activity reports on the energy used from renewable sources as requested in last year's Parliament discharge resolution;
Amendment 14 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Is pleased with the achievements in the area of translation following the renewed EESC-CoR Cooperation agreement; notes, however, that in 2011 there was a higher demand for translation from external translators compared to previous years; calls onencourages the EESC to set a better timetable formake further efforts to better planning the translation demandpicks;
Amendment 16 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Considers positive the decrease of the unused rate of interpretation services requested from 12.3% in 2010 to 8,9% in 2011; note however that it continues being a very high rate of unused services and askwelcomes the EESC for providing this very useful information; notes however that the rate of unused services continues to be high and invites the EESC to tmake the necessary measurefurther efforts to diminish drastically this figure;
Amendment 19 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Takes note of the very high execution rate of the communication budget which was in 2011 of EUR 1.712.535; welcomes its decrease for the period of 2012 and 2013 to the amount of EUR 1.597.200; congratulates the EESC for all the initiatives and events that are created to promote its work and to build bridges between the civil society and Union institutions; is of the opinion that the EESC, as all the other institutions, can communicate effectively with less means;
Amendment 21 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Wishes to see information included in the annual report on the manner in which the EESC will participate in the running of the Council'semployees may use of the pre- school facility andies; takes note onf the conditions under which EESC employees may make use of that facilityunexpected end of the agreement with the Council for the EESC staff to use its child care facilities and invites the Committee to look at possible solutions;
Amendment 22 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Wishes to see more detailed information included in the EESC's annual report on the provision of space for meetings organised by external civil- society organisations working in partnership, as well as on the benefits and costs for those organisations and the way in which they are selected; welcomes the precise criteria set to choose the organisation and the event that has to be related to the Union, not having commercial purpose or pursuing a political objective and has to highlight the EESC's role;
Amendment 23 #
2012/2172(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Acknowledges the projects developed to modernise document management and the IT infrastructure; believes that the document management reform is developing well and will contribute for improving the EESC performance; hopes that the IT reform will achieve the same results; asks these projects to be followed up in the 2012 annual activity report; (that it is the paragraph 22)
Amendment 3 #
2012/2169(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Expects to receive the complethat future annual activity report,s which are received by Parliament and the Council will includinge a comprehensive overview of all the human resources broken down by category, grade, gender, nationality and vocational training, as well as the internal budget decisions of the Council;
Amendment 4 #
2012/2169(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Confirms its considerationStresses that the budget of the European Council and the Council should be separated in order to contribute to the transparency of their financial management and to better accountability of both institutions;
Amendment 6 #
2012/2169(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Expects that succeeding presidencies of the Council will continue to develop cooperation between Parliament and the Council and will jointly make efforts to find acceptable solutions to recurrent problems with the preparation of the discharge;
Amendment 2 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants its President discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Parliament budget for the financial year 2011; / Postpones its decision on granting its President discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Parliament budget for the financial year 2011;
Amendment 7 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Bureau to schedule as a specific agenda item a discussion of the discharge report in May or June, shortly after its adoption by plenary;
Amendment 59 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41 a. Stresses that the plan to increase security by restricting various categories of users’ access to Parliament should be strengthened by more rigorous checks on the identity documents of those users;
Amendment 60 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 b (new)
Paragraph 41 b (new)
41 b. Stresses that better use should be made of modern technologies in Parliament's security measures, and that this will result in savings; stresses that those recruited to the security service should work to a high professional standard in order to ensure a reliable and effective security service;
Amendment 71 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Takes note of the fact that the contract with the current travel agency expires on 31 December 2013 and that the preparations of a new call for tenders have started; regrets that, while the possibility of a financial audit was provided for in the contract, this is not the case for an audit of the structure and performance of the travel agency; insists that a future contract should include the possibility of intermediary and final financial and performance audits; as requested by the Committee on Budgetary Control, welcomes the fact that the administration will also have recourse to external expertise when establishing tender documentation and throughout the selection procedure, thereby ensuring that Parliament chooses the best solution, resulting in major simplifications and cost- savings; stresses that the new contract should take into account the best quality/price ratio and the best value for money with competitive prices; reiterates its proposal for exploring the possibility of having two travel agencies operating within Parliament, in direct competition, and whether this might provide a cost- neutral way of increasing efficiency and achieving best value for money;
Amendment 79 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Regrets that the audience of Europarl TV, although greater in 2011 as compared with 2010*2, continues to be very low in the case of direct individual users (excluding viewers through partnership agreements with regional TVs) despite the considerable financing that it still received in 2011, amounting to some EUR 8 000 000 (item 3 2 4 6); regrets furthernotes that in its resolution on the discharge 2010 Parliament called "on the Secretary-General to present proposals to its competent committee for the closure of the operation"; regrets that the Bureau decided to ignore Parliament's decision; notes with grave concern that no cost- benefit evaluation of Europarl TV has being made, despite the fact that this was requested by Parliament in its resolution on the discharge 2010; welcomes, however, the decision of the Bureau of 12 December 2012 to implement a set of reforms in order to achieve significant savings; 1 2 en Direct visits per month on the website: 2010: 30 000; 2011: 39 559. Direct visits per month on the website: 2010: 30 000; 2011: 39 559. made, despite the fact that this was requested by Parliament in its resolution on the discharge 2010; insists that a cost- benefit evaluation should be initiated immediately, explicitly considering the possibility of shutting the project down in its entirety;
Amendment 83 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Is concerned at the increased cost of the Lux Prize in 2011*1; calls for a more cost- efficient management of this prize and therefore suggests the Internal Auditor might consider reviewing its administration to achieve this goal;
Amendment 85 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Amendment 86 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 b (new)
Paragraph 46 b (new)
46 b. Believes the Parliament, as a public institution, is not competent to judge the artistic merit of film productions; insists the LUX prize be discontinued in 2012;
Amendment 96 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 a (new)
Paragraph 50 a (new)
50a. Insists that the time has finally come to end all subsidies to the catering service, as it is no longer tenable that officials and staff pay anything other than market prices; expects to this end that catering services will be required to be self- sufficient; reiterates its suggestion that the possibility be explored for the existence of two or more service providers, in direct competition, so as to encourage increased quality of service and best value for money;
Amendment 103 #
2012/2168(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69
Paragraph 69
69. Takes the view that the possibility should be considered of making both environmental improvements and smart savings in Parliament’s budget by means of different working methods and modern technologies which are greener and cheaper but which do not detract from Parliament’s work, including the use of teleconferences.
Amendment 12 #
2012/2119(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Asks the Commission to consider abolishing planting rights with a view to providing smaller, quality wine producers with growth opportunities to improve their competitiveness;
Amendment 15 #
2012/2119(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Believes that, in addition to the export of quality wines to countries outside the European Union, greater support for consumption of European wines within the European Union would also help to reduce the production surpluses;
Amendment 1 #
2012/2091(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes with concern the Court’s observationStresses that CRIS does notshould have a standard mechanism to limit users’' access rights; believes that such a mechanism should be established in order to ensure adequate confidentiality and data integrity;
Amendment 11 #
2012/2087(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Emphasises that speed is of the essence in the process of controls to ensure that the financial interests of European taxpayers are protected; calls on the Commission to prioritise the earliest possible scrutiny, assessment and follow-up action in its future management oversight of these funds;
Amendment 16 #
2012/2087(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities and that to achieve this end it is essential to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation;
Amendment 2 #
2012/2010(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that, besides tax avoidance and losses due to insolvencies, the VAT gap is attributable also to fraud, non-transparent rules, incoherent control systems and non or partial implementation of Union legislation in the Member-States, and that VAT losses, translating into billions of EUR, are largely compensated for via austerity measures affecting citizens of the Union, and borne by those citizens whose income is well documented and traceable;
Amendment 3 #
2012/2010(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to simplify their legislation on VAT, introduce a standard form for the notification of the implementation of VAT to tax authorities and establish an uniform and proper management of cases of exemption from VAT by the customs authorities of the Member States, and to ensure better availability of these legislative texts translated into English, French and German as a minimum requirement;
Amendment 4 #
2012/2010(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Stresses the importance of more intensive and rapid cooperation between Member States, better monitoring of exchanges of information, and more direct contacts between local tax and customs offices, including by means of the online VAT Information Exchange System (VIES), so as to ensure that Member States provide efficient assistance to each other;
Amendment 6 #
2012/2010(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Endorses the 2008 Commission's proposal (COM(2008) 805) aiming at introducing joint liability of traders in intra-community transactions, holding importers jointly and severally liable in cases when VAT loss has resulted from false, late or incomplete reporting of the transaction to the VAT authority, and subjecting them to appropriate penalties;
Amendment 7 #
2012/2010(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the Commission to create a system that would combine assistance in the customs area and administrative cooperation in the area of VAT to ensure effective information flows so that the relevant authorities in one field are routinely informed about action in the other; considers that this would make the cooperation between the competent authorities and the charging of VAT in the Member State of destination more effective and rapid;
Amendment 7 #
2011/2294(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph B
Paragraph B
B. whereas there is a disturbingly low proportion of women on decision-making boards relating to research, with the lowest numbers being found in Estonia, Poland, Cyprus, Slovakia and the Czech Republic;
Amendment 26 #
2011/2294(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers it necessary to review the criteria for promotion toaddress the lack of women in senior research- oriented positions (e.g. professorships) in order to include a strong gender perspective and address the lack of women in these posts, and to recognise that women are far more likely than their male counterparts to take career breaks in order to have a family; calls therefore on universities and research institutions to provide suitable measures to balance academic career with family life (childcare, fexible leave etc.);
Amendment 30 #
2011/2294(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Considers it necessary that higher and further education institutions review their internal instruments as so that they can recruit and promote the best people, including a significant number of women;
Amendment 22 #
2011/2285(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas women work more often in lower-paid industries or in low-paid sectors with less collective representation and bargaining power;
Amendment 34 #
2011/2285(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recognises that there are multiple causes which exacerbate the pay gap and therefore, recognises that a multi-level, multifaceted approach requires strong leadership from the European Union in coordinating policies, promoting good practices and involving various actors as European social partners, with the aim of creating a Europe-wide strategy to address the gender pay gap;
Amendment 44 #
2011/2285(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Notes that pay inequality due to any other factor such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion would not be tolerated;
Amendment 46 #
2011/2285(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Urges the Member States with the highest gender pay gap to work closely with those member states with the lowest gender pay gap in order that best practice may truly be shared and developed;
Amendment 48 #
2011/2285(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9 b. Suggests that Member States may wish to appoint an Equal Pay Champion to monitor the situation in individual member states and to report back to their national parliaments and to the European Parliament on the progress that is being made;
Amendment 56 #
2011/2285(INI)
Annex to the draft motion for a resolution
Recommendation 1, Paragraph 1, indent 1
- GPG, the definition of which must not cover gross hourly pay alone, while there needs to be a distinction between unadjusted and “net” gender pay gap and distinction between the sectors;
Amendment 66 #
2011/2285(INI)
Annex to the draft motion for a resolution
Recommendation 2, Paragraph 3
2.3. It is therefore essential that regular pay audits, as well as accessible information on their results, are made compulsory bearing in mind the personal data protection, are made on voluntary basis within companies (e.g. in companies with at least 100 employees and where at least 10% of employees are women). The same requirement mustcan also apply to information on remuneration in addition to pay. This information should be accessible to employees, trade unions and adequate authorities (e.g. labour inspections, equality bodies).
Amendment 67 #
2011/2285(INI)
Annex to the draft motion for a resolution
Recommendation 2, Paragraph 4
2.4. Employers should provide employees and their representatives with results in the form of wage statistics, broken down by gender but bearing in mind the personal data protection. This data should be compiled at sectoral and national level in each Member State.
Amendment 71 #
2011/2285(INI)
Annex to the draft motion for a resolution
Recommendation 3, Paragraph 1
3.1. The concept of the value of work must be based on qualification, skills or responsibility emphasising quality of work, with the aim of promoting equal opportunities between women and men and should not be marked by a stereotyped approach unfavourable to women, for example putting the emphasis on physical strength rather than on interpersonal skills or responsibility. Women must therefore be provided with correct information, assistance and/or training in wage negotiations, job classification and pay-scalingbout relevant pay grade. It must be possible for sectors and companies to be asked to examine whether their job classification systems reflect the gender dimension in the required manner, and to make the necessary corrections.
Amendment 83 #
2011/2285(INI)
Annex to the draft motion for a resolution
Recommendation 6, Paragraph 1, indent 3
- concrete affirmative actions (under Article 157(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) to redress the pay gap and gender segregation, to be given effect by the social partners and equal opportunity organisations at various levels, both contractual and sectoral, such as: promoting pay agreements to combat GPG, investigations in relation to equal pay for equal work, setting of qualitative and quantitative targets and benchmarking and supporting the exchange of best practice.
Amendment 84 #
2011/2285(INI)
Annex to the draft motion for a resolution
Recommendation 6, Paragraph 1, indent 4
- a clause in public contracts requiring respect for gender equality and equal pay for equal work.
Amendment 12 #
2011/2273(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas although an individual measure by itself will not be able to stop gender-based violenceviolence against women stems from persistent gender-based inequalities; whereas, however, it is possible to reduce significantly the incidence thereof by combining vtariousgeted actions against gender stereotyping in the fields of education, awareness-raising, and in the media, and to combat this violence by means of awareness-raising in the field of health, and among the police and the judiciary,
Amendment 18 #
2011/2273(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the Daphne Programme funds transnational projects of the highest quality, which often puts at a disadvantage small non-profit organisations that do not have wide experience and knowledge of how to submit project proposals, or the staff and organisational structure to do so, and whereas the administrative costs involved in processing projects are often high,
Amendment 30 #
2011/2273(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Wishes to see the programme’s objectives retained in the 2013–2020 period, to see its funding held at a level at least comparable to that of the earlier programmes and to see its profile, and its continuing focus on the issue of violence, within the new- generation programme remain high, bearing in mind its successes and its popularity;
Amendment 48 #
2011/2273(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls also on the Member States and interested partnersCommission to help achieve the goal of improving the spread of programmes across the Member States and NGOs;
Amendment 61 #
2011/2273(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. HCalls on the Commission to allow the funding of national projects involving small non-profit organisations and hopes that in the future it will still be possible for a large number of small NGOs to be involved in partnerships of associations, as they often play a major role in identifying less well-known, taboo or new problems and in finding innovative ways to tackle them;
Amendment 1 #
2011/2264(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Points outStresses the need to havefill all vacancies filled at the Institute, in order to ensure its smooth running and to avoid difficulties in the future linked to the lack of qualified staffwhere necessary for the effective working and the fulfilment of the given goals of the institute;
Amendment 4 #
2011/2264(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Whilst recognising the vital work of the EIGE in the field of equal opportunities policy, it should be noted that all Member States and the European Union as a whole are experiencing an economic crisis which means that all funding allocation needs careful consideration; emphasises that it is necessary, at this present time, for Member States to be able to properly secure and maintain national public funding for public service provision which will help and support women and children;
Amendment 5 #
2011/2264(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Believes a merger of the agency with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights should be considered in order to avoid duplication and reduce overhead costs;
Amendment 153 #
2011/2232(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 80 a (new)
Paragraph 80 a (new)
80a. Asks the Interinstitutional Working Group to identify areas of duplication and overlap amongst existing Agencies and to consider whether some Agencies could be merged;
Amendment 154 #
2011/2232(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 80 b (new)
Paragraph 80 b (new)
80b. Believes that Agencies would benefit from shared administrative services in a similar way to the cooperation between the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee; urges the Interinstitutional Working Group to consider the question of the geographic dispersal of the Agencies which adds significantly to their costs and makes cooperation difficult; believes that if the Agencies were grouped together in a small number of locations, they could share overheads and management costs, particularly regarding IT, personnel, and financial administration;
Amendment 3 #
2011/2207(DEC)
Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions/Postpones discharge in respect of the implementation of the Committee of the Regions budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 6 #
2011/2207(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Committee of the Regions (CoR), as a body designed to offer a relatively small number of bodies privileged access to the Union's legislative and policy-making processes, to fund its activities by means of subscription for those local and regional institutions that believe it serves a valuable purpose;
Amendment 9 #
2011/2207(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the CoR to undertake a comprehensive spending review based on the principle of zero-based budgeting to identify savings, rather than simply adding a nominal percentage increase for inflation to existing budgets during each budget cycle;
Amendment 16 #
2011/2207(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – indent 4
Paragraph 9 – indent 4
– look into how the CoR's political mechanisms might benefit from the improved efficiency, including possible reductions in travel expenses, that might be achieved with the use of video- conferencing,
Amendment 19 #
2011/2207(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes that the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union highlights the importance of the subsidiarity principle, thus strengthening the role of the CoR; in this context, congratulates the CoR, in particular for its work on the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy and on multi-level governance;
Amendment 2 #
2011/2206(DEC)
Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee/Postpones discharge in respect of the implementation of the Economic and Social Committee budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 7 #
2011/2206(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the EESC, as a body designed to offer privileged access to the Union's legislative and policy-making processes, to fund its activities by means of subscription for those few bodies that have secured representation;
Amendment 9 #
2011/2206(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Reiterates the call made in its resolution1 on discharge to the EESC for the financial year 2009 to undertake with urgency a comprehensive spending review of all areas of activity to ensure all expenditure is delivering value for money in order to identify savings which will reduce the pressure on the budget in this period of austerity; calls on the EESC to adopt the principle of zero-based budgeting to identify savings, rather than simply adding a nominal percentage increase for inflation to existing budgets during each budget cycle; 1 OJ L 250, 27.9.2011, p.98.
Amendment 33 #
2011/2206(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Deplores, with regard to the alleged irregularities uncovered in the 2009 discharge procedure, the fact that the EESC Secretary-General did not provide sufficient explanation in response to questions highlighting not only instances of bad administrative practice and the pressing need for internal procedures to be improved, but also, which is more serious, the recurring suspicions that interest in sound economic management of the institution and of the EU budget is being abandoned, in particular through the failure to resolve staff conflicts; notes that all these questions have led, inter alia, to allegations being submitted to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Ombudsman and the Court of Justice, not only by officials but also by members of the EESC; stresses that recourse to external bodies, which unavoidably result in significant costs and delays, should be avoided as far as possible by means of suitable internal mechanisms which can resolve such staff conflicts;
Amendment 16 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Also notes that the Court of Auditors undertook a total of 376 audit missions – 351 to Member States and 25 elsewhere (France: 52, Germany: 38, United Kingdom: 32, Italy: 30; Spain: 26, Netherlands: 23, Sweden: 15, Portugal: 14, Greece: 13, Denmark: 12; Luxembourg: 11, Hungary: 10, Poland: 10) and that just less than half of the Member States were therefore visited;
Amendment 17 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Asks the Court of Auditors, whilst recognising resource limitations and the reality of a sampling methodology, to seek to ensure it covers all Member States over a relatively short time frame;
Amendment 18 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Calls on the Court of Auditors to publish Annual Reports on each Member State when possible, to bring together all their research across different programme areas related to a single Member State;
Amendment 19 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12c. Notes that a traditional sampling method works best when auditing a single programme and a single management & control system but when both the selection of transactions/procedures and the selection of Member States is part of the sampling process it is harder to establish a clear understanding of the situation; requests that the Court of Auditors think in terms of occasional 'matrix' audits which sample transactions within a programme but cover all 27 Member States in order to reach conclusions about both the programme and the individual Member States;
Amendment 20 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 d (new)
Paragraph 12 d (new)
12d. Suggests that as part of any review of the Court of Auditors' operations, consideration be given to allocating to Court Members, responsibilities for specific Member States in addition to their programme responsibilities; notes that this would give Members of the Court of Auditors the opportunity to develop closer relationships with national/regional audit authorities, and locally-appointed auditors for specific programmes;
Amendment 21 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 e (new)
Paragraph 12 e (new)
12e. Considers that if a Member State and relevant sub-national authorities do not take their auditing and control responsibilities under shared management sufficiently seriously the Court of Auditors may have to be more involved on decentralised basis, whilst recognising that at present it would not have the resources to do so;
Amendment 22 #
2011/2205(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 f (new)
Paragraph 12 f (new)
12f. Requests the Court of Auditors to incorporate into its future work programmes a systematic follow-up of specific past audits, following a sufficient time lapse, to assess progress;
Amendment 21 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes that this overall high level of implementation is partly due to two targeted transfers made before the end of the financial year 2010 (EUR 9 240 000 for the purchase of a Europe House in Sofia and EUR 10 923 000 for four major IT projects); welcomes the fact that no mopping-up transfers took place between 2010 and 2011; encourages, however, its administration to pursue the objective of better and clearer budget planning and discipline in the future and notes that to put buildings, IT or any other important expenditure in the budget would provide more financial clarity; believes that all significant expenditure should be fully planned for in the annual budget and not arise as a result of a need to mop-up underspends;
Amendment 64 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Insists that reinforcing the security of Parliament's buildings and their immediate surroundings must be given the highest priority; requests that as part of this work security in the car parks should be improved, and that the access to Members' offices in Parliament should be controlled;
Amendment 84 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 d (new)
Paragraph 42 d (new)
42d. Believes that Parliament should not be in the business of running museums; proposes that if this House of European History is established it be made an independent body with full responsibility for its activities and resources;
Amendment 85 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 e (new)
Paragraph 42 e (new)
42e. Believes that the House of European History project should be put on hold, especially given the current economic and financial climate;
Amendment 92 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Regrets that EuroparlTV cannot be considered to be a success story in view of its very low number of direct individual users (excluding viewers through partnership agreements with regional TVs) in spite of the considerable financing that it received in 2010, amounting to some EUR 9 000 000 (item 3 2 4 6); welcomes the efforts made to reduce this budget by 14 % (to EUR 8 000 000) in 2011 and in the subsequent years; calls however for a cost- benefit evaluation of Europarl TVbelieves that the time has come to admit that this project has not met expectations and that the resources would be better deployed elsewhere; proposes that the Parliament should focus on using the independent media;
Amendment 95 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Notes that the costs relating to the LUX Prize in 2010 were EUR 380 666,18; is concerned that the costs rose for the event in 2011 to EUR 573 722,08 (by over 50 %) and looks forward to a sharp reverse in this trend from 2012 onwards; specifically requests that the following activities be curtailed in order to contain costs: - expensive internal promotion within the buildings of Parliament, - promotional activities at international film festivals, - the large expenditure associated with the costs of organising 'mini-LUX' events in the Member States;
Amendment 98 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 a (new)
Paragraph 45 a (new)
45a. Notes the expenditure of the prizes for the period 2009-11: 2009 2010 2011 Journalists prize €105 000 €118 059 €154 205 Sakharov Prize €300 000 €645 542 €652 348 Charlemagne Youth €24 000 €34 000 €35 000 Prize LUX prize €320 000 €380 666 €573 722 Totals: €749 000 €1 178 267 €1 415 276
Amendment 99 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 b (new)
Paragraph 45 b (new)
45b. Believes that the 89 % increase in the expenditure on the prizes between 2009 and 2011 used funds that could have been better deployed elsewhere; calls for future expenditure on prizes to be brought back down to the levels of 2009;
Amendment 100 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 c (new)
Paragraph 45 c (new)
45c. Calls on the Bureau to cancel the LUX prize on the grounds that Parliament is a political not a cultural institution and so is not an appropriate body to judge creative activities such as art, books, music, or films;
Amendment 114 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
55. Notes that, in 2010, there were 33 200 missions (official trips) representing a total of 98 629 mission days, most of them involving travel between Parliament's three places of work; reiterates the need to avoid unnecessary missions between the three working places and the costs they entail with more systematic and documentary justifications and better monitoring; requests that the Secretary General report, as part of the discharge procedure, on any savings made as a result of further rationalisation; asks the Secretary-General specifically to review the posts based outside of Brussels, particularly for those staff members who undertake repeated missions to Brussels, to ascertain if they need to be relocated; suggests that the agreement with the Luxembourg authorities, which fixes the number of Parliament staff based in Luxembourg without regard to any evolving needs of Parliament, may need to be revised;
Amendment 123 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63 a (new)
Paragraph 63 a (new)
63a. Notes that the property portfolio of Parliament has substantially increased over recent years; insists that no additional buildings be purchased or leased during the next multiannual financial framework period;
Amendment 127 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64 c (new)
Paragraph 64 c (new)
64c. Notes the decision to purchase the Trebel building which will become available in 2017; proposes however that no further building(s) be leased to substitute for this building during the redevelopment project even if this means that refurbishments and non-urgent maintenance on existing buildings must be delayed until its completion;
Amendment 130 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64 f (new)
Paragraph 64 f (new)
64f. Reiterates its call for more diverse catering options within the buildings of Parliament by ceasing to offer a monopoly to a single catering provider when current contracts reach the end of their term;
Amendment 140 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70 a (new)
Paragraph 70 a (new)
70a. Believes that Parliament should cease awarding monopolistic contracts wherever possible and that reduced costs and a better service for Members and staff would result from having more than one travel agency at their disposal;
Amendment 150 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
Paragraph 75
75. Notes the Bureau decisions of 17 June 2009 and of 18 October 2010 to extend the areas with wireless network access (Wi-Fi) in Parliament covering the Chamber, committee rooms, Members' offices and public spaces both in Brussels and Strasbourg but expresses concern at the high cost of this project (1st phase of the project: EUR 7 878 000);
Amendment 166 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87 c (new)
Paragraph 87 c (new)
87c. Calls on the Conference of Presidents to schedule a debate on Parliament's discharge at a different time than the debate on the other discharge reports in order to give Members the opportunity to give it the exclusive attention the discharge of their own institution deserves;
Amendment 167 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87 d (new)
Paragraph 87 d (new)
87d. Suggests to the Bureau that it should put on its agenda a discussion on the discharge resolution following its adoption by plenary;
Amendment 168 #
2011/2202(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87 e (new)
Paragraph 87 e (new)
87e. Reiterates its call for the Bureau to issue 'green papers' to all Members on key policy areas regarding matters within its competence before taking any definitive decisions in order to stimulate a wider debate within political groups and the house as a whole;
Amendment 2 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Postpones the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 2 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Asks the European Commission to ensure the successful implementation of high quality independent audits as a means to help prevent financial malpractice and restore public confidence in the European Union and its institutions;
Amendment 6 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 11 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 3
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 16 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 4
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. .......Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 21 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 5
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. .......Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Research Council Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 26 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 6
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the Research Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 31 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Proposal for a decision 7
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 80 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Underlines that the two policy areas prone to the highest error rates (‘Cohesion, transport and energy’ and ‘Agriculture and natural resources’) are implemented under shared management and regdeplorets deeplythe fact that the estimated most likely error rates amount to 7,7 % and 2,3 %, respectively;
Amendment 133 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that the Court of Auditors applies a common methodology to categorise and quantify public procurement errors in the area of shared management; deplores the fact that the Commission does not follow a harmonised methodology in the different areas of shared management; is worried that different approaches in shared management could undermine the credibility of the control and audit of shared management expenditure; calls therefore on the Commission and the Court of Auditors to harmonise the treatment of public procurement errors in all shared management policy areas urgently and to report back to the Parliament's competent committee on the progress made by the end of 2012;
Amendment 136 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
Paragraph 66
66. Takes the view that those important findings illustrate that Parliament cannot fully rely on the Commission's reporting on performance; believ which is a grave problem; emphasises that reliable data is the basis for good management, policy development and parliamentary oversight; would appreciate it ifasks the Court of Auditors whether it could further develop its activities in this area to include ‘certification’ of the performance data reported by the Commission on a regular basis;
Amendment 157 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78
Paragraph 78
78. NotesDeplores the fact that the Commission has no power to impose penalties on Member States or regions which have repeatedly failed to implement Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund correctly;
Amendment 161 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
Paragraph 82
82. Believes that payments are resumed too quickly and calls on the Commission to make this power of sanction more effective by only resumeing payments only ifwhen sufficient appropriate audit evidence gathered on the spot proves that weaknesses were remedied;
Amendment 171 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 88 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 88 – indent 3 a (new)
- ensuring that a full range of sanctions (interruptions, suspensions, financial corrections, and penalties) are available for all funds with minimal scope for discretion when breaches of the rules are discovered;
Amendment 172 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 88 – indent 4
Paragraph 88 – indent 4
– allowobliging the Commission to impose penalties on Member States or to discontinue operational programmes in Member States or regions which have repeatedly failed to implement Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund correctly;
Amendment 192 #
2011/2201(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 112
Paragraph 112
112. Notes that the Commission is simplifying ex ante control procedures as far as possible with a view to facilitate the processing of payments with the consequence that only administrative requirements and arithmetical checks can be made; is worried that even in the case of doubt about the eligibility of cost declared, only limited ex ante checks were carried out (Annual Report, point 6.17 and example 6.2); insists that action be taken to remedy this situation;
Amendment 22 #
2011/2186(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Reiterates continuouEmphasises that the European Parliament has previously made recommendations of the EP to enhance transparency in EIB's selection of financial intermediaries and the way ‘global loans’ are allocated and insists on the need for action to be taken to put these into affect; stresses the need for clearer conditions and stricter lending effectiveness criteria; encouragescalls on the EIB to elaborate new instruments for a better supervision of the financial intermediaries collaborating with the EIB in supporting SMEs in Europe;
Amendment 23 #
2011/2186(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Reiterates its call tofor regular reports on the results achieved, including summarised data of the final beneficiaries, summary reports on the monitoring and implementation of its internal procedures, and achievements of objectives on targets; calls for deviations from the targets to be indicated and explained, and for details of the responsibility for these deviations to be given; is concerned about the lack of clear benchmarks and penetration rates, as a consequence of which, the effectiveness of the loans remains unclear;
Amendment 27 #
2011/2186(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the European Progress Microfinance Facility established in March 2010 by the EC and by the EIB; emphasizes the need for a public disclosure of the results of this facility up to date; points out that thecalls for objective and clear criteria for choosing the intermediaries participating in the initiative is still not clearto be established as soon as possible;
Amendment 40 #
2011/2186(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Expresses its grave concern about the latest developments related to the EIB's credit rating; urges the EIB to elaborate and implement a strategy in order to keep its AAA rating which is the cornerstone of the bank's activity and is essential for the bank's operations; notes that the bank would be excluded for certain categories of investors if the AAA rating would not be maintained;
Amendment 20 #
2011/2107(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Amendment 32 #
2011/2107(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Welcomes and supports the activities of platforms which enable female scientists to obtain and exchange information about involvement with programmes, grants and international projects and which give women access to scientific networks and help them to make contacts; therefore requests the European Commission to collaborate with social networks and support them in their activities.
Amendment 9 #
2011/2082(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the importance of more intensive and rapid cooperation between Member States, better monitoring of exchanges of information and more direct contacts between local tax offices, and better monitoring of exchanges of by means of a common online information, portal, ensuring that Member States provide efficient assistance to each other;
Amendment 11 #
2011/2082(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to urge Member States to simplify and consolidate their VAT legislation, to introduce a single VAT form and a single list showing the VAT rates applied, in particular a list of the goods and services to which a reduced rate of VAT is applied in a given Member State, to make their legislative texts more easily available and to translate them in at least English, French and German;
Amendment 18 #
2011/2082(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges the Commission to consider legislative proposals that would tackle VAT carousels at root level by introducing an EU wide mechanism of reverse charge of VAT, which, besides being an effective anti-fraud measure, would also mean an administrative simplification for producers and traders; therefore calls on the Commission to come forth with legislative proposals to establish a mechanism of reverse charge for the 6 most sensitive sectors, — audio and video equipment, food and beverage, computer hardware and microprocessors, and accessories, mobile telephones and accessories, textiles and automobilereverse charge mechanism;1 __________________ 1 Justification: Establishing a mechanism of reverse charge for the 6 most sensitive sectors may lead to abuse since it makes it possible for specific types of goods from these sectors to be included in other groups of goods subject to a different tax system rather than in the group to which the reverse charge mechanism would be applied. The procedure for differentiating goods into the most sensitive sectors also involves additional administrative costs.
Amendment 19 #
2011/2082(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Stresses that responsibility for properly drawing up and paying VAT lies with the trader and that the transfer of this responsibility to a banking institution is therefore unacceptable;2 __________________ 2 Justification: The partial transfer of liability from the trader to the banking institution may be exploited by the trader for the purposes of fraud.
Amendment 44 #
2011/2069(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 53 #
2011/2069(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Underlines the need to combat sexual offences against children, especially on the internet which has a global impact. calls therefore in its forthcoming annual report for monitoring of their protection and progress made in this area; recalls however that protection of children rights remains mainly in the competence of the Member States;
Amendment 59 #
2011/2069(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 58 #
2011/2049(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas single parents confront twice themore livelihood difficulties of dual-parent families since they cannot share daily care responsibilities,
Amendment 105 #
2011/2049(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the need to encourage the development of childcare facilities such as kindergartens and to facilitate significantly access to training and the search for employmenespecially support of the foundation and existence of company childcare with flexible opening hours and to provide significantly access to further education to facilitate better access or re-access to the labour market for single mothers;
Amendment 124 #
2011/2049(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Asks the Member States to guarantee equal treatment and to maintain a highequal quality of life for all children regardless of the marital status of their parents or their economical situation, by providing universal allowances in order to not pass poverty on to the child;
Amendment 131 #
2011/2049(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Encourages the Member States to introduce policies aimed at providing financial support for single-parents families in the form of a one-parent benefit, tax deductions for single-parent households or other fiscal deductions for single parents appropriate to their national legislation; takes note at the same time that such policies should not be designed in a way that make single motherhood more profitable than staying in marital relationship and thus encourage people to get divorce;
Amendment 137 #
2011/2049(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Asks the Member States to ensure that allowances (child support) from non- custodial parents are paid regularly in the full amount;
Amendment 145 #
2011/2049(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Underlines the fact that priority should be given to work-life balance by introducing more family-friendly working conditions such as flexible working hours and teleworking and by developing child facilities and individual care of children, nurseries etc.;
Amendment 8 #
2011/2035(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that the Commission intends to require Member States' authorities to present a management declaration and an independent audit opinion thereon; welcomes this move but recalls that a declaration signed at ministerial level is the mid-term objective to counter the current lack of ownership; insists that the Commission and individual Member States must establish effective partnerships to ensure that both sides fulfil their responsibilities for the funds entrusted to them; notes that the Commission has limited instruments available and must of necessity rely on the resources of the Member States; calls on the Commission and Member States to cooperate in developing an effective control architecture which uses the resources of both in a complementary manner to maximise safeguards with the least bureaucracy;
Amendment 9 #
2011/2035(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Invites the Commission, therefore, to take up its supervisory role by carrying out the accreditation process itself and by regularly monitoring the proper functioning of the accredited authorities during the lifetime of the programme; proposes that the Commission and individual Member States agree a detailed action plan for cooperation specifying how they will jointly ensure that the accredited bodies are properly scrutinised on an ongoing basis to ensure maximum efficiency, effectiveness and value for money;
Amendment 14 #
2011/2035(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is finally of the opinion that this should be complemented by a catalogue of sanctions to be borne by Member States and final beneficiaries in case of irregularities.; calls for sanctions to be imposed primarily on the final beneficiaries themselves in the case of irregularities to ensure that those at fault are correctly held accountable for their errors; believes that sanctions against Member States should be applied only in cases of management fault or systemic failure for which Member States are responsible rather than simply applied as a quick and easy solution to avoid holding final beneficiaries to account;
Amendment 20 #
2011/2032(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Commission and Member States to ensure that gender equality is systematically assessed and evaluated and that human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected, especially in connection with financial assistance given by the European Union;
Amendment 1 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
Amendment 2 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
Amendment 2 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
Amendment 3 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
Amendment 4 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
Amendment 4 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
Amendment 5 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
Amendment 5 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
Amendment 6 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
Amendment 6 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
Amendment 7 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
Amendment 8 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
Amendment 9 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
Amendment 9 #
2011/0817(NLE)
paragraph 120.
Amendment 10 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
Amendment 11 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Amendment 12 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
R. Parliament, in a spirit of sincere cooperation, is duty bound to give its opinion to the European Council on all Treaty changes proposed, irrespective of their significance, but is in no way bound to agree with the European Council,
Amendment 13 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital S
Recital S
Amendment 13 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
Amendment 14 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Acknowledges its consultation by the European CounciCalls on the European Council to examine the proposed amendment of the Treaties in order to annex to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union a Protocol on the examinapplication of the proposed ameCharter of Fundament of the Treatiesal Rights of the European Union to the Czech Republic;
Amendment 17 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
Amendment 20 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
Amendment 21 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
Amendment 22 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Amendment 25 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
Amendment 27 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital T
Recital T
Amendment 28 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Recital U
Recital U
U. Parliament, in a spirit of sincere cooperation, is duty bound to give its opinion to the European Council on all Treaty changes proposed, irrespective of their significance, but is in no way bound to agree with the European Council,
Amendment 29 #
2011/0817(NLE)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the European Council to decide not to examine the proposed amendment of the Treaties in order to annex to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union a Protocol on the application of the Charter of Fundament of the Treatiesal Rights of the European Union to the Czech Republic;
Amendment 27 #
2011/0454(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) To continue and even develop the activities at Union and Member State level to counter fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the Union, including the fight against cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting, also taking into account the new challenges in a context of budgetary austerity, a new programme based on the results of an analysis of the existing programme should be adopted.
Amendment 29 #
2011/0412(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point vi a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point vi a (new)
(via) promoting and putting greater emphasis on maternal health and stressing the importance of education and awareness of sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of the women’s health agenda
Amendment 19 #
2011/0369(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
The general objective of the Programme shall be to contribute to the creation of a European area of justice by promoting judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters whilst respecting the legal systems of individual Member States. The general objective of the programme shall of necessity be achieved through compliance with Articles 8, 9, 10, 11 and 18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Amendment 21 #
2011/0369(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point a
a) to promote effective, comprehensive and consistent application of Union legislation in the areas of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, as well as better procedural rules, particularly as regards the rights of victims of crime, sexual violence and exploitation, with a focus on the most vulnerable victims, such as women and children. The indicator to measure the achievement of this objective shall be, inter alia, the number of cases of trans-border cooperation.
Amendment 25 #
2011/0369(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2
Article 5 – paragraph 2
The Programme shall aim to promote women’s rights, women’s empowerment, the principles of equality between women and men, and combat non-discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientobjectives, and to combat all forms of discrimination in all its activities.
Amendment 29 #
2011/0369(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
(da) supporting and promoting judicial cooperation and the effective application of legal provisions, and improving procedural rules, particularly in areas involving human rights, fundamental freedoms, women’s rights, children’s needs, principles of gender equality, the rights of victims of crime, and the fight against sexual violence and discrimination on grounds of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Amendment 30 #
2011/0369(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) training activities for members of the judiciary and judicial staff, such as staff exchanges, workshops, seminars, train-the- trainer events, development of online or other training modules incorporating training sessions, seminars and modules focusing on promoting equality between women and men, victims of sexual violence and exploitation, children’s needs, and combating gender-based discrimination and stereotypes;
Amendment 2 #
2011/0177(APP)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. DeplorWelcomes the fact that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was created on an intergovernmental basis, outside the institutional structures of the European Union, even though the euro is one of the Union prerogatives; points out that this renders decision-making under the ESM Treaty opaque, raising doubts with regard to accountability and democratic scrutiny;
Amendment 4 #
2011/0177(APP)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls for value-added taxes (VAT) to be considered as eligible project costs for entities which are not registered as VAT payers;
Amendment 75 #
2011/0130(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4
Article 4
A protection measure taken in a Member State shall be recognised in the other Member States without any special procedure being required and without any possibility of opposing its recognition if the decision has been certified in the Member State of origin in accordance with Article 5. Recognition may take place only in civil matters and shall be dependent on the legal system of the Member State of recognition.
Amendment 80 #
2011/0130(COD)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Member States shall ensure that, if a civil protection order needs to be transposed into a European protection order or vice versa, transposition is done quickly, with guidance from the Commission if necessary, without unnecessary court proceedings and at no cost to the victim.
Amendment 439 #
2011/0129(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Member States shall recognise that men can be victims of domestic violence as well as women and the consequences are equally detrimental to both sexes.
Amendment 441 #
2011/0129(COD)
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 3 b (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Member States are urged to recognise the wider family unit when violent and physical crime has occurred since such crime not only has an impact on the victim her or himself but, potentially, also on the victim's spouse, parents and children.
Amendment 40 #
2010/2271(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46a. Recalls that the Interinstitutional Working Group on Agencies' Common Statement issued in March 2009 launched a "dialogue on Regulatory Agencies with a view to assessing the existing situation, specifically the coherence, effectiveness, accountability and transparency of these Agencies" and that the Working Group would "address a number of key issues put forward by the participating Institutions, including the role and position of the Agencies in the EU's institutional landscape, the creation, structure and operation of these agencies, together with funding, budgetary, supervision and management issues";
Amendment 41 #
2010/2271(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 b (new)
Paragraph 46 b (new)
46b. Notes that in the 2008 discharge resolution of 5 May 2010 Parliament stated that the Interinstitutional Working Group should "consider whether some agencies should work closely together or even be merged" and that "the small agencies ... are faced with serious efficiency problems";
Amendment 42 #
2010/2271(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 c (new)
Paragraph 46 c (new)
46c. Calls for a moratorium on the creation of any further agencies at least until the questions raised by the Interinstitutional Working Group on Agencies' Common Statement and the resolution of 5 May 2010 are satisfactorily resolved;
Amendment 43 #
2010/2271(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 d (new)
Paragraph 46 d (new)
46d. Believes that the creation of further agencies once these questions are resolved should be considered with the utmost caution to ensure that they are genuinely required and that they provide the best value for money in delivering an agreed policy objective;
Amendment 44 #
2010/2271(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 e (new)
Paragraph 46 e (new)
46e. Re-emphasises the importance of considering merging some agencies so that they are able to share overhead and other costs;
Amendment 45 #
2010/2271(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 f (new)
Paragraph 46 f (new)
46f. Asks that the Interinstitutional Working Group on Agencies consider grouping together some of the smaller agencies, which may not be suitable for outright merger, in the same city and indeed possibly the same building so they can benefit from common central resources to minimise the burden of overhead and other costs;
Amendment 30 #
2010/2239(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Is of the view that pension systems should be based on adequate and sustainable criteria and take into consideration the periods when women do not work or are under part-time contractshat the discussion on raising the retirement age should also include measures which in practice increase the work opportunities for older men and women on the labour market;
Amendment 39 #
2010/2239(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that the period spent by women on taking care of children or other dependent family members should be recognised in the calculation systems and taken into account to the period of work as well as all kind of contracts;
Amendment 55 #
2010/2239(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Member States - particularly the new Member States - to review their pension systems, taking into account the higher life expectancy of women and the major pay differentials between men and women, which are reflected in the amount of the pensions granted, often pushing themwomen below the poverty line;
Amendment 88 #
2010/2239(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Emphasises the application of the subsidiarity principle in the area of decision making on national pension systems and the need to preserve existing socio-cultural values in a given society.
Amendment 89 #
2010/2239(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls at the same time for any new legislation on pension systems to offer Member States the option of maintaining or introducing more favourable provisions and to avoid bringing about any regression in relation to the situation prevailing in each Member State.
Amendment 15 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the term ‘violence against women’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life3 . It should also be stated that violence against men and children has the same repercussions. For child victims, this may cause a recurring phenomenon in which children are raised to accept violence as a norm, which may increases the likelihood that they themselves will go on to carryout such acts at school, or later on in life,
Amendment 26 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas violence is an extremely traumatic experience for any man, woman or child, but gender-based violence is preponderantly inflicted by men onperson, whose consequences, whether physical or psychological, often stay with the victim throughout their life; whereas, however, women and, girls, and both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victimschildren are the most frequent victims of various forms of violence both in the home and outside it,
Amendment 35 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas male violence against womperpetrated against women, mostly by men, not only reflects but also reinforces the inequality between men and women and thus often shapes women’s place in society: their health, access to employment and education, integration into social and cultural activities, economic independence, participation in public and political life and decision-making, and relations with men,
Amendment 45 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas there is no regular and comparable data collection on different types of violence against women in the European Union, which makes it difficult to ascertain the real extent of the phenomenon and to find appropriate solutions to the problem. Reliable data collection is highly problematic as women and men are reluctant through fear or shame to report their experiences to the relevant stakeholders,
Amendment 87 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – indent 6
Paragraph 1 – indent 6
– minimum requirements set up by Member States as to the number of victim support structures per 10 000 inhabitants for victims of gender-based violence in the form of centres with specific expertise to help victims,
Amendment 92 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – indent 7
Paragraph 1 – indent 7
– minimum standards set up by Member States to ensure that victims have professional support in the form of advice from a legal practitioner irrespective of their role in the criminal proceedings,
Amendment 98 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – indent 8
Paragraph 1 – indent 8
– plans to develop methodological guidelines and undertake new data collection efforts to obtain statistical data on gender-based violence at Member State level;
Amendment 127 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the European Commission, using all available expertise, to develop and provide annual statistics on gender- based violencethe various forms of gender- and age-based violence, whether in the public or the domestic domain, including figures on how many women, girls and children are killed annually or physically, mentally or sexually attacked by their partner or ex- partner or a family member, based on data from the Member States;
Amendment 138 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) will, in the form of a survey, interview a representative sample of womenn anonymous survey, with the help of specialists interview a representative group of victims and witnesses of violence from all Member States regarding their experiences of violence, and asks that the focus be placed on examining the actual responses women receive from the various authoritiesthese victims receive in practice from the responsible authorities, professional and support services when reporting;
Amendment 142 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges Member States, in their national statistics, to make visible the magnitude of gender-based violence and to take steps to ensure that data are collected anonymously on gender- based violence, including the sex of the victims, sex of the perpetrators, their relationship, age, crime scene, and injuriphysical or psychological consequences;
Amendment 154 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. HighlightRecognises the serious problem of prostitution in the European Union and asks that the link between the legal framework of the Member State in question and the form and extent of the prostitution taking place be studied further;
Amendment 159 #
2010/2209(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Draws attention to the serious problem of domestic violence, which has specific characteristics, is mostly perpetrated by men against women and has disastrous consequences for all members of the family, especially the children; calls on the Member States to take proper account of this type of violence with the aim of exposing it and helping its victims; and stresses the need for open discussion of the phenomenon throughout society and support for preventive information campaigns;
Amendment 11 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas groups at risk of poverty include parents bringing up small children without a partner, and this predominantly means single mothers,
Amendment 58 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 78 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 95 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the European Commission and the Member States to take the necessary measures to promote the reconciliation of work and private life, in order to enable woenable women to pursue their careers, in full-time or part-time work or by means of other flexible forms of employment who are exposed to the risk of poverty to pursue their careers, by providing access to flexible work arrangements or to full-time workich not only reconcile work and family life but also secure their financial independence and reduce the risk of poverty;
Amendment 98 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Points out that single mothers are among the groups of people at greatest risk of poverty and draws attention to the need for flexible forms of employment and arrangements for childcare provision; calls therefore on the Commission and the Member States to take the necessary practical measures in this regard;
Amendment 103 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Regrets that the commitments assumed in Barcelona in 2002, targeting childcare, and fixing objectives until 2010, are far from being met; cCalls on the Council and the Member States to reconsider the above-mentioned objectives concerning childcare facilities, reflecting both the findings of recent research and the experience provided by the new Member States;
Amendment 135 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
Amendment 144 #
2010/2162(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 4 #
2010/2151(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Council and the Member States to respond positively to the Commission's proposal and to agree that the EDF will be fully incorporated in the Union's budget from 2014 onwards; as part of the next financial framework; believes this measure to be long overdue and that the budgetisation of the EDF should take place at the earliest possible date;
Amendment 7 #
2010/2151(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls the Commission's commitment37 to ensuring that a benchmark of 20% of its allocated assistance under the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) is dedicated to basic and secondary education and basic health; calls for reporting against the same benchmark to be provided for the EDFs; calls on the Commission to prioritise support to health systems and to take full account of the recommendations by the Court of Auditors as formulated in its abovementioned Special Report No 10/2008; urges the Commission to place greater emphasis on maternal health and stresses the importance of education and awareness of sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of the women's health agenda, since this is the Millenium Development Goal in respect of which progress has been most disappointing;
Amendment 24 #
2010/2151(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to take all necessary measures in order to combat corruption in the beneficiary states, through maintaining a close dialogue with partner governments on corruption issues and, by taking a pro-active approach, to ensure that the appropriate systems are in place and that sanctions are available when necessary; believes that the provision of funds should be reconsidered if such cooperation is not forthcoming and if no guarantee as to the basic effectiveness of the systems to tackle corruption can be obtained;
Amendment 29 #
2010/2143(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes in this respect the establishment, from 1 January 2010, of a new Directorate in charge of Security and requests the newly established Directorate to conduct an in-depth review of Parliament's security policy and to work on proposals to adopt security solutions for Parliament which are more technology- oriented and cheaper , resulting in considerable savings in terms of staff and budget, and which ensure the recruitment of highly professional staff, and offer not only a more efficient but also a more reliable and effective service;
Amendment 120 #
2010/2143(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69 a (new)
Paragraph 69 a (new)
69a. Believes the Parliament, as a public institution, is not competent to judge the artistic merit of film productions; insists the LUX prize be discontinued in 2011;
Amendment 121 #
2010/2143(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69 b (new)
Paragraph 69 b (new)
Amendment 122 #
2010/2143(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69 c (new)
Paragraph 69 c (new)
69c. Opposes attempts to expand the prize by organising events in the member states which would imply substantially increased costs relating to publicity and promotion, venues and translation;
Amendment 135 #
2010/2143(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78 a (new)
Paragraph 78 a (new)
78a. Believes that, with such a wide variety of locations available within the buildings of Parliament for canteens, bars, and retail space, a variety of competitive catering outlets, including established high street brands (coffee shops, sandwich outlets, restaurants, and so forth),could, if allowed to establish themselves inside Parliament, offer a better service to staff; calls for a plan to be prepared to indicate how the different catering facilities, could be offered for tender separately when current contractual arrangements come to an end;
Amendment 49 #
2010/2142(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that in the present understanding of ‘shared management’ most of the management functions are carried out by national bodies not directly accountable at Union level and over which the Commission has no authority; insists that this does not absolve the Commission of its responsibility for the implementation of the budget but, on the contrary, requires it to take a hard line with any Member States not fulfilling their responsibilities under shared management;
Amendment 71 #
2010/2142(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls its repeated invitations to the Commission to present a proposal for the introduction of mandatory national management declarations (NMDs) issued and signed at ministerial level and duly audited by an independent auditor so as far as such declarations are a necessary and indispensable first step to improve the efficiency of national systems and to enhance national accountability for the use of Union money; reiterates1 that for Member States with federal systems or substantial decentralisation such national declarations could take the form, in whole or in part, of a collation of regional declarations , provided that each component declaration has been audited and signed by an elected political office- holder; __________________ 1 For example paragraphs 23 and 24 of the European Parliament decision of 24 April 2007 on the discharge for implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2005, Section III – Commission (OJ L 187, 15.7.2008, p. 23).
Amendment 114 #
2010/2142(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. reiterates its call for the Court of Auditors to work with Member-State authorities to develop a matrix system of control in line with its resolution of 27 April 20061; suggests that the Court of Auditors conduct a number of 'matrix audits' annually on the same basis as the matrix scoreboard so that the control systems for a given policy area overall and of each Member State in respect of that policy area can be judged; further suggests that such 'matrix audits' be repeated periodically so progress can be clearly and authoritatively assessed; 1 Paragraph 24 of the European Parliament resolution with comments forming an integral part of the decision on the discharge for implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2004, Section III – Commission.
Amendment 123 #
2010/2142(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Believes that control systems cannot aim at zero risk in all spending areas, not only because it would be extremely expensive, but also because it is unlikely that zero risk in all spending areas will ever be achieved; accepts that a certain risk of error will always exist when implementing Union spending programmes; emphasises that tolerating risk is not the same as tolerating error and reaffirms that the Commission must pursue a zero-tolerance approach to all cases of mismanagement and fraud;
Amendment 150 #
2010/2142(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 c (new)
Paragraph 45 c (new)
45c. Reiterates its belief that transparency is one of the main instruments in achieving 'legal and regular' expenditure; believes that the objective should be the creation of a single, comprehensive, multilingual online system which can be accessed easily by any individual and would therefore allow the public to have easy access to full and complete information about the expenditure of the Union by budget line and by beneficiary; calls therefore on the Commission to publish online details of all items of Union expenditure above a de minimis threshold and to pursue the establishment of a user-friendly online system recording all beneficiaries;
Amendment 158 #
2010/2142(DEC)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 g (new)
Paragraph 45 g (new)
45g. calls on the Commission to review its systems for evaluating the effectiveness of expenditure programmes to assess whether they are adding value, delivering value for money, and achieving the objectives for which they were established; insists that such evaluations should be both conducted and then assessed independently; calls therefore for independent evaluations to be submitted to Parliament and its relevant committees for scrutiny;
Amendment 12 #
2010/2115(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas persisting stereotypes regarding the family life still exist in all Member States and the stereotypes between men and women exist in areas such as childcare and domestic tasks which then impact on the perception of women being able to take leadership or management positions in business and in order to change these perceptions a cultural shift from traditional to modern roles of men and women, mothers and fathers is required,
Amendment 13 #
2010/2115(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas the division of labour between men and women in the family home can favour men in the workplace in relation to the hours they can work, attendance levels and ability to focus solely on career and progression and would begin to provide some explanation as to why there are more men in leadership positions than women,
Amendment 68 #
2010/2115(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – point c
Paragraph 4 – point c
c. establishing arrangements to help parents employed in business to balance family and work commitments, especially support of the foundation and existence of company childcare. Urges Member States to create national policies which would increase the number of childcare facilities available to working parents,
Amendment 78 #
2010/2089(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Regards it as essential to increase the number of women involved in the development of healthcare policies, and programme planning and the provision of healthcare services;
Amendment 85 #
2010/2089(INI)
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers that the EU and the Member States must take account of women's reproductive health and maternal mortality in their policies.
Amendment 3 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas every generation worries about its teenagers fears for them or in some cases just fears them; whereas a society’s moral values can be gauged simply by observing the way in which it treats its teenand whereas the teenage years are often a critical agers; whereas ‘it takes a village to bring up a child’, in other words the necessary supervision sometimes has to be brought to bear while young persons are being brought up by their parents within the family,
Amendment 9 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas now more than ever before, the behaviour of young people is strongly influenced by the media, but above all by the internet, and whereas juvenile delinquency is no longer confined to acts of violence against others, theft, gang crime, illegal smoking, drinking, and taking socially accepted drugs such as cannabis,of soft and hard drugs, and the influence of cults, or suicidal acts, but it now also extends to early sexualisation and exposure to pornography, for which the Internet has become a prime vehiclexposure to pornography, dangerous games such as the ‘scarf game’ (voluntary strangulation), Jackass, and happy slapping, gang rape, substances which are smoked, drunk, or injected, self-harm, or the glorification of anorexia, excesses of which teenagers can be boall of which are phenomena spread and encouraged primarily by the instigators and victimsternet,
Amendment 28 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas combating juvenile delinquency should not be used as a pretext for restricting personal freedoms; whereas every person is a human being, regardless of his or her socio-economic status; and whereas every citizen should consequently be allowed to act for his or her own benefit and for the good of others,
Amendment 39 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas companies naturally expect their apprentices or young professionals to have not only technical expertise and job skills, but also ‘flexible skills’ in terms of their human and social capacity; whereas political institutions, on the other hand, are less explicit aboutdo not concern themselves to the necessary extent with the direct or indirect financial cost entailed in investment in human and social capacity building for future generations, in spite of the fact that any other investment to serve the common good is normally factored into GDP,
Amendment 42 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas the tendency to make men and women submit to the ever increasing demands of the inept flexicurity imposed by the labour market, because it supposedly improves performance, raises the question whether the goal to pursue within the EU should be a competition- driven social economy geared to human needs as reflected in social relations, thus laying emphasis on individual and collective conscience, freedom, and responsibility,deleted
Amendment 59 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas emotional and social behaviour is determined essentially during the first years of children’s lives through their relationships, primarily with their mother, their father, or other adult caregiverschildren's relationships primarily with their mother, their father, or other adult caregivers during the first years of their lives are very influential in determining their social behaviour and in shaping their social relations, but so too is their environment outside the family, especially preschool and school facilities of all kinds, above all in families where both parents are in professional employment,
Amendment 124 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to set up innovative policies recognising the importance of the educative role of family members who decide to foster the development of the human and social capital of future generations, focusing initially on the irreplaceable role of older people who have left the formal labour market but who, by handing down values and knowledge, whether of work or of human relations, can help young generations to blossom and contribute to their informal learning processes; calls for the activities carried out under the heading of solidarity between generations to be included among the key factors in the prevention of juvenile delinquency;deleted
Amendment 144 #
2010/2017(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the Member States to promote fiscal policy framed in such a way as to allow for the financial obligations entailed in parenting, including childcare costs, and to apply tax arrangements or a tax relief system to that end; calls on the Commission and the Member States to give a summary overview of the fiscal practice of each Member State in the area of fiscal expenditure connected with childcare, especially expenditure connected with child-minding or placing children in preschool facilities;
Amendment 9 #
2010/0067(CNS)
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) Certain safeguards should be introduced to ensure that spouses are aware of the implications of their choice. The agreement on the choice of applicable law should at leamust be expressed in writing, dated and signed by both parties and the signatures must be officially certified. However, if the law of the participating Member State in which the two spouses have their habitual residence lays down additional formal rules, those rules must be complied with. For example, such additional formal rules may exist in a participating Member State where the agreement is inserted in a marriage contract.
Amendment 14 #
2010/0067(CNS)
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
3. The agreement referred to in paragraph 2 shall be expressed in writing, dated and signed by both spouses. Any communication by electronic means which provides a durable record of the agreement shall be deemed equivalent to writing and the signatures shall be officially certified.
Amendment 19 #
2009/2205(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 49 #
2009/2205(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Considers that a comprehensive informprofessional carers' support policy is needed, encompassing their status and social security rights, the provision of social services and support services, etc.;
Amendment 78 #
2009/2205(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Asks the Commission to update and strengthen monitoring mechanisms regarding the implementation of fundamental rights issues by the end of 2012; calls also for increased awareness of these, often under-used, mechanisms as older women are especially unaware of their rights;
Amendment 82 #
2009/2205(INI)
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Affirms that every EU citizen must have a right to adequate social and health services at a reasonable price; calls on the Commission to put forward a directive on basic services, which would take national conditions into consideration; emphasises that older women are especially vulnerable and invites the Commission to consider a system where all European citizens are granted the right to a basic income that is dependent on the Member State’s standard of living;
Amendment 86 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 6 a (new)
Recital 6 a (new)
(6a) The objectives set out in the Presidency Conclusions of the Barcelona European Council of 15 and 16 March 2002 stated that Member States should remove obstacles to women's involvement in the labour market and aim to provide by 2010 childcare facilities for at least 90% of children between the age of three and the compulsory schooling age and aim for at least 33% of children under the age of three, and that such children should have equal access to such facilities in towns and rural areas.
Amendment 90 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 8 a (new)
Recital 8 a (new)
(8a) The provisions of this Directive concerning maternity leave should not conflict with Member States’ other rules on parental leave and this Directive should not undermine those rules.
Amendment 92 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) The vulnerability of pregnant workers and of workers who have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding makes it necessary for them to be granted the right to maternity leave of at least 1824 continuous weeks, allocated before and/or after confinement, and renders necessary the compulsory nature of maternity leave of at least six weeks allocated after confinement.
Amendment 99 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 13 a (new)
Recital 13 a (new)
(13a) For the purposes of helping workers reconcile their professional and family rights and obligations, it is essential to provide for longer maternity leave, including in the event of adoption for children under the age of 12 months.
Amendment 104 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 18 a (new)
Recital 18 a (new)
(18a) Member States are urged to introduce into their national legal systems measures to ensure real and effective compensation or reparation, as they consider to be appropriate, for any harm caused to a worker by any breach of the obligations under this Directive, in a way which is dissuasive and proportionate to the damage suffered.
Amendment 107 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) This Directive lays down minimum requirements and thus offers the Member States the option of introducing or maintaining more favourable provisions. The implementation of this Directive should not serve to justify any regression in relation to the situation prevailing in each Member State, in particular in relation to national laws which, by combining parental leave and maternity leave, provide for an entitlement to the mother of at least 24 weeks of leave allocated before and/or after confinement, and remunerated at least at the level provided for in this Directive with due consideration to National legislation. Member States that have not already done so are strongly encouraged to take the appropriate measures to ensure equal treatment of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, in the public and private sectors, as well as for workers who do not fall within the definitions contained in Article 2 of Directive 92/85/EEC, so as to maximise the benefits of higher fertility rates and higher women’s employment. To that end tax incentives for employers should be considered.
Amendment 110 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point -1 a (new)
Article 1 – point -1 a (new)
Directive 92/85/EEC
Recital 14
Recital 14
-1a. Recital 14 is replaced by the following: “Whereas the vulnerability of pregnant workers, workers who have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding makes it necessary for them to be granted the right to maternity leave of at least 24 continuous weeks, allocated before and/or after confinement, and renders necessary the compulsory nature of maternity leave of at least six weeks allocated [...] after confinement;"
Amendment 112 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point -1 c (new)
Article 1 – point -1 c (new)
Directive 92/85/EEC
Recital 17
Recital 17
-1c. Recital 17 is replaced by the following: "Whereas, moreover, provision concerning maternity leave would also serve no purpose unless accompanied by the maintenance of all rights linked to the employment contract [...] including maintenance of pay, which meet employment law standards in Member States;"
Amendment 114 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point -1 e (new)
Article 1 – point -1 e (new)
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 7
Article 7
-1e. Article 7 is replaced by the following “Article 7 Night work 1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that workers referred to in Article 2 are not obliged to perform night work [...]: (a) during the ten weeks prior to childbirth; (b) during the remainder of the pregnancy where necessary for the health of the mother or the unborn child; (c) during the period of breastfeeding for no more than six months 2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 must entail the possibility, in accordance with national legislation and/or national practice, of: (a) transfer to a compatible daytime working timetable; or (b) leave from work or extension of maternity leave where such a transfer is not technically and/or objectively feasible [...]. 3. Workers wishing to be exempted from night work shall, in accordance with rules laid down by the Member States, inform their employer and, in the case referred to in paragraph 1 (b), submit a medical certificate to the employer. 4. For single parents and parents with children with severe disabilities, the periods referred to in paragraph 1 may be extended in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Member States."
Amendment 119 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1
Article 1 – point 1
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that workers within the meaning of Article 2 are entitled to a continuous period of maternity leave of at least 1824 weeks allocated before and/or after confinement.
Amendment 132 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1
Article 1 – point 1
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 8 – paragraph 2a (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 2a (new)
2a. In relation to multiple births the period of maternity leave referred to in paragraph 2 shall be increased in accordance with national legislation.
Amendment 136 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1
Article 1 – point 1
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 8 – paragraph 4
Article 8 – paragraph 4
4. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that additionalthe appropriate leave is granted in specific situations such as in the case of premature childbirth, stillbirth, caesarean section, children hospitalised at birth, children with disabilities and multiple births. The duration of the additional leave, mothers with disabilities, teenage mothers, multiple births or births occurring within 18 months of the previous birth. The duration of the additional maternity leave after confinement should be proportionate and allow the special needs of the mother and the child/children to be accommodated.
Amendment 143 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1
Article 1 – point 1
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 8 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 5 a (new)
(5a) Where national legislation and/or practice provide for maternity leave in excess of 18 weeks this can be counted towards any additional periods of maternity leave provided for under paragraphs 3 and 4.
Amendment 145 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1
Article 1 – point 1
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 8 – paragraph 5 b (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Member States shall guarantee mothers’ rights by ensuring special working conditions so as to help children with disabilities.
Amendment 146 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 1
Article 1 – point 1
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 8 a (new)
Article 8 a (new)
1b. The following Article 8a is inserted: “Article 8a Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the provisions of this Directive concerning maternity leave also apply in the event of adoption of children less than 12 months old."
Amendment 149 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Directive 92/85/EEC
Article 10 – point 1
Article 10 – point 1
1. The Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that employers cannot, for reasons of their own convenience, interrupt maternity leave to care for a child, and to prohibit the dismissal and all preparations for a dismissal of workers within the meaning of Article 2 during the period from the beginning of their pregnancy to at least six months following the end of the maternity leave provided for in Article 8(1). Dismissal during that period shall be formally justified and shall be duly specified in writing, save in exceptional cases not connected with their condition, which are permitted under national legislation and/or practice and, where applicable, provided that the competent authority has given its consent.
Amendment 154 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Directive 92/85/CEE
Article 10 – point 4 a (new)
Article 10 – point 4 a (new)
Amendment 162 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 3 – point c a (new)
Article 1 – point 3 – point c a (new)
Directive 92/85/CEE
Article 11 – point 3 a (new)
Article 11 – point 3 a (new)
(ca) The following point 3a is inserted: "3a. The allowance received by workers within the meaning of Article 2 shall not be lower than the allowance received by workers who have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding within the meaning of Article 2 in the event of a break in activity on grounds connected with the worker’s state of health."
Amendment 163 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 3 – point d a (new)
Article 1 – point 3 – point d a (new)
Directive 92/85/CEE
Article 11 – point 5 a (new)
Article 11 – point 5 a (new)
(da) The following point 5a is inserted: "5a. Member States shall take the necessary measures to encourage employers and to promote dialogue between the social partners to provide for reintegration and training support for workers returning to work after maternity leave, where necessary and/or where requested by the worker and in line with national legislation."
Amendment 164 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 3 a (new)
Article 1 – point 3 a (new)
Directive 92/85/CEE
Article 11 a (new)
Article 11 a (new)
3a. The following Article 11a is inserted: "Article 11a Time off for breastfeeding A mother who is breastfeeding her child shall be entitled to a period of leave for that purpose. Member States are urged to give due consideration to nursing mothers. "
Amendment 165 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 1 – point 3 b (new)
Article 1 – point 3 b (new)
Directive 92/85/CEE
Article 11 b (new)
Article 11 b (new)
3b. The following Article 11 b is inserted: "Article 11b Prevention of discrimination Member States shall encourage employers through collective agreements or practice, to take effective measures to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of pregnancy, maternity or adoption leave."
Amendment 169 #
2008/0193(COD)
Proposal for a directive – amending act
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. The Commission’s report shall take account, as appropriate, of the viewpoints of the social partners and relevant nongovernmental organisations. In accordance with the principle of gender mainstreaming, the report shall inter alia provide an assessment of the impact on women and men of the measures taken. It shall also include an impact study analysing the social and economic effects, in the EU as a whole, of a further increase in the duration of maternity leave. In the light of the information received, the report shall, where necessary, include proposals to revise and update Directive 92/85/EEC as amended by this Directive.
Amendment 20 #
2008/0192(COD)
Council position
Recital 17 a (new)
Recital 17 a (new)
(17a) The period for which maternity benefits may be granted to female self- employed workers and to the participating spouses or, when and insofar as recognised by national law, the life partners of self-employed workers should be equal to the duration of maternity leave to employees as laid down by national law.
Amendment 23 #
2008/0192(COD)
Council position
Recital 18 a (new)
Recital 18 a (new)
(18a) National governments should ensure that self- employed workers who are pregnant or have just given birth and who are breastfeeding and the spouses of self- employed workers who assist within the company/business who are pregnant or have just given birth and who are breastfeeding are granted readily available access to services required for motherhood.