[ParlTrack]

Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Grants the Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2020 /~~ Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2020;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020 /~~ Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)

-A. whereas all Union bodies, offices and agencies ought to be transparent and fully accountable to the citizens of the Union for the funds entrusted to them;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)

-A a. whereas Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 stipulates the requirements with which the European Border and Coast Guard Agency should comply, including in areas such as the respect for fundamental rights;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Notes the resignation of the executive director of the Agency on 28 April 2022 and the appointment by the management Bboard of an executive director ad interim as of 1 July 2022; notes the vacancy notice for a new executive director of the Agency published on 21 June 2022; ~~calls on the management board of the Agency to appoint an executive director as soon as possibl~~reiterates the Parliament’s letter to the Commission stressing that the new executive director should have relevant knowledge and experience of fundamental rights management and a track-record of positive organisational change management, among other things; calls on the management board of the Agency to appoint an executive director as soon as possible; invites the management board, before advancing this recruitment, to commit to increased transparency and accountability to Parliament, to be confirmed through a written exchange;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas despite the lack of a needs and impact assessment since December 2019 the Agency has been implementing a new mandate ~~with an essential scale-up that is significant in terms of missions and staff,~~ that requires an adequate budget;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Subheading -1 (new)

Conditionality

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 (new)

-1. Reiterates that several conditions have been set out in the Agency’s discharge of the 2019 financial year, and that the discharge of the 2019 financial year has made explicit that a failure to meet these conditions would, among other things, increase the risk of a refusal to grant the discharge for the financial year 2020; emphasises the need to evaluate the performance of the Agency on each of the 2019 conditions in the 2020 discharge, to nurture consistency between the discharges across the years, and as a means to assess the Agency’s performance, including on legal compliance;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 a (new)

-1 a. Recalls the seven conditions set out in the 2019 discharge: a.Notes with concern that despite the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year to recruit the remaining 20 fundamental rights monitors at AD grade, in order to fulfil the obligation stemming from Article 110 of Regulation 2019/1896 to recruit a total of 40 fundamental rights officers at AD grade before December 5, 2020, no extra fundamental rights monitors have been recruited, that the totality of fundamental rights monitors is now still at 5 at AD grade, and 15 at AST grade, and that hence the Agency does not comply to the condition as set out in the 2019 discharge;recalls the conclusion of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group that the lower rank of the majority of fundamental rights monitors may affect their authority and autonomy, access to classified and sensitive information, and therefore their effectiveness, and that AST-grade monitors may only be deployed to operations coupled with AD-grade monitors, which implies that current monitors can only be employed at five areas of operation simultaneously;notes with concern the concluding findings of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group indicating that the Executive Director of the Agency has caused a significant and unnecessary delay in the recruitment of fundamental rights monitors; b.Recalls the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year, stemming from article 107 (3) of Regulation 2019/1896, to recruit three Deputy Executive Directors, each assigned individual area(s) of responsibility;notes with concern the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group’s finding that the Executive Director has initially delayed the recruitment of three Deputy Executive Directors, and that the Executive Director has refrained from delegating independent powers to them, but welcomes that since then three deputy directors have been recruited; c.Recalls the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year to put in place a detailed procedure for the implementation of Article 46 of Regulation 2019/1896;stresses that implementation does not merely require a procedure but also actions in line with this procedure;notes in that regard with concern that the Agency has not thoroughly evaluated its activities in Greece, even though reports by institutions of Member States, the Council of Europe and the UN, show that the Agency was carrying out joint border surveillance operations in sections where at the time, fundamental rights violations were taking place;remarks that implementing Article 46 requires the Agency to fulfil the separate condition of the 2019 discharge on the suspension of support to return-related operations from Hungary, which have been deemed incompatible by the Court of Justice of the European Union with the Return Directive and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; d.Recalls the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year to implement an adapted Serious Incident Report (SIR) mechanism in line with the recommendations of the Working Group on Fundamental Rights and Legal Operational Aspects of Operations in the Aegean Sea (WG FRaLO);regrets in this regard that as of yet a SIR does not automatically trigger an investigation, even though a Serious Incident Report should always trigger an investigation and the Agency has been recommended to proceed swiftly on the matter;regrets that the Agency has not yet made progress on agreeing with Member States on deadlines to provide responses to the SIRs, even though the Agency was recommended to do so; e.Notes the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year to establish a fully functioning fundamental rights monitoring system in line with Article 110 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 and reiterates in this regard the delay of recruitment of fundamental rights monitors;notes that despite the Agency’s claim that the fundamental rights officer is able to act independently and autonomously, the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group has concluded that the fundamental rights officer has insufficient resources, has not always been consulted prior to an operation, contrary to Article 109(e) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 in which this is required, and that attempts have been made by the Executive Director to steer the work of the fundamental rights officer in handling a SIR;notes that the fundamental rights officer indicates he is granted only a minimum amount of time to consult on a joint operation, and in some cases only post facto, even though the Agency states that he is consulted on each and every operation; f.Recalls the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year to successfully implement recommendation 5 of the Court’s Special Report 08/2021 at the end of 2021 the latest;notes that in light of the recommendation of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group that fundamental rights should be part of the expertise of relevant units, in the ongoing process of implementing the Court’s recommendation 5, no explicit attention is given to training the fundamental rights expertise of relevant units;notes that the Agency’s implementation does not address the Court’s recommendation to ensure that in internal communication, information is shared on a need-to-know- basis;notes that besides not addressing issues as recommended by FSWG and the Court, the Agency has set the due date to successfully implement recommendation 5 on 30/06/2022, which is after the deadline set by the Court and the condition of the 2019 discharge (end of 2021 the latest); g. Recalls the condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year to suspend the operations to support return- related operations from Hungary as long as the return operations issued by the Hungarian authorities are, as concluded by the Court of Justice of the European Union, incompatible with the Return Directive and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; notes with great concern the finding of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group that the Agency’s decision to suspend its activities did not reveal that the Agency’s operational assistance on the Return operations in Hungary continued, that this situation has not changed since the findings of the Working Group and that this means that the Agency is still active in Hungary, assisting with operations that the Court deemed incompatible with Union law in December 2020;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Calls on the executive management of the Agency to continue with the implementation of the Agency’s mandate; recalls remarks made in the meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control on 13 July 2022 that the fast growing pace imposed by the new mandate of the Agency caused difficulties that were, with hind sight, underestimated, leading to delays in recruitment in particular; reiterates the findings of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group, highlighting that recruitment delays were unnecessary, and that the deliberate actions of the former executive director against strengthening the fundamental rights capacity of the Agency were instrumental to this delay;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 b (new)

-1 b. Concludes that the Agency has not, or only for a small part, met the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh condition in the discharge resolution of the 2019 financial year; recalls that a failure to meet these conditions would increase the risk of a refusal to grant discharge for the 2020 financial year; calls upon the Agency to explain to the discharge authority how it will fulfil the outstanding points and by when; stresses that until the conditions are sufficiently met, no discharge can be granted;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 a (new)

OLAF investigation

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 c (new)

-1 c. Recalls the confirmation of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) of an investigation involving the Agency; notes the confirmation from OLAF that it has closed an investigation concerning Frontex on 15 February 2022; notes that no further details have been given about the nature of this investigation, but stresses that the fact that an OLAF- investigation is started is an indication of serious issues related to the Agency; emphasises that it is in the public interest to know about the findings of the investigation, in order to ensure that taxpayers’ money is well spent and to be able to hold the Agency accountable for potential shortcomings; stresses the importance of the findings to become public for the Parliament to scrutinise the Agency, and notes the centrality of a proper-functioning accountability- mechanism to the discharge procedure; concludes that until the moment the OLAF-findings are shared with the Members, the Parliament will not be able to know whether the findings concern 2020 and thus discharge for this financial year should be postponed until the findings are made public; reiterates its call to the Agency to fully cooperate on this matter;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 b (new)

The Court’s Special Report 08/2021 entitled: ‘Frontex’s support to external border management: not sufficiently effective to date’

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 d (new)

-1 d. Notes with concern the findings of the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) in its Special Report 08/2021 entitled ‘Frontex’s support to external border management: not sufficiently effective to date’; points out that the audit covered the period from the end of 2016, when the Agency’s new mandate under Regulation (EU) 2016/16242 came into force, to the end of 2020, and therefore entirely covered the year 2020; reiterates the request to the Court, made in the 2019 discharge, to carry out a specific audit in the future that analyses the respect for fundamental rights by the Agency, since such an assessment was not included within the scope of the Court’s special report; recalls that in the 2019 discharge the Court was asked to carry out a specific audit regarding fundamental rights; calls on the Court to inform the discharge authority on the steps taken;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 e (new)

-1 e. Notes with concern that the Court found, in its Special Report 08/2021, several shortcomings related to the Agency’s primary activities, namely the situation monitoring, risk analysis, vulnerability assessment, joint operations and rapid border interventions, return operations and the Agency’s training and the lack of needs and impact assessments prior to the exponential increase in the Agency’s expenses; expresses with concern that the Agency has not yet taken sufficient measures to adapt its organisation to fully implement its mandate under Regulation (EU) 2016/1624, and that the Court highlighted significant risks related to the Agency’s mandate under Regulation (EU) 2019/1896;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 f (new)

-1 f. Regrets the lack of needs and impact assessments prior to the proposal for Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 that exponentially increased the Agency’s resources; urges the Commission and the Court to regularly assess the Agency’s and Member States’ performance to identify the actual work the Agency is doing to comply with the legal bases to which it should abide;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the report of the Agency on the implementation of the seven conditions formulated for the 2019 discharge of the Agency; ~~notes that fiv~~deeply regrets that only three of the seven conditions are ~~reported as~~ being implemented by the Agency~~; regrets to note~~ and that ~~two~~four conditions still have not been fully met;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 g (new)

-1 g. Notes with concern the Court’s conclusion that the Agency’s operational reporting fails to inform decision-makers adequately as it lacks information on actual costs and performance;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 h (new)

-1 h. Notes with concern the Court’s conclusion that although a functional information exchange framework is in place to provide relevant migration information about the situation at the external borders, and to support the management of irregular immigration, it did not function well enough to provide accurate, complete and up-to-date situational awareness at the Union’s external borders; regrets that adequate information exchange framework has not yet been established for cross-border crime, affecting the capacity of the Agency and Member States to respond quickly to any threats detected; is concerned by serious drawbacks undermining complete situational awareness at the Union external borders, such as the lack of information, of technical standards for border control equipment, of a common catalogue for cross-border crime reporting, and of near- real-time information about the situation at the Union’s air borders, and by delays in updating the common integrated risk analysis model; notes that this is a shared responsibility of the Agency, the Member States and the Commission, and that it is a shared responsibility of these stakeholders to ensure that the matters are resolved; reiterates the discharge authority’s call expressed in Resolution (EU) 2021/1615 regarding the need to improve the monitoring and reporting regarding situations and incidents on the Union’s borders, in particular with regards to respecting fundamental rights;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. ~~Note~~Regrets that one of the conditions not yet met is the recruitment of 40 fundamental rights monitors (FRMs), as on 1 ~~June~~September 2022, 314 FRMs were in service, ~~with three more to take office on 1 September 2022,~~ more than one and a half year after the deadline set in the Agency’s founding regulation (5 December 2020); notes that the Agency now strives to have 46 FRMs; ~~notes the explanation provided by the Agency that the delay was due to lengthy recruitment procedures in Union institutions~~regrets that even though the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group has established that the recruitment of FRMs was unnecessarily delayed by the Agency’s previous executive director, the Agency continues to contend that the delay was due to lengthy recruitment procedures in Union institutions; urges the Agency to meet its legal obligations on this matter as soon as possible and keep the discharge authority informed about the progress made;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 i (new)

-1 i. Notes the Court’s conclusion that Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 introduced significant additional reporting requirements for Member States, which requires an automated transmission of data from Member States to the EUROSUR’s database; notes the statement of the Member States that the Agency’s direct involvement in this automation is not yet apparent;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

-1 j. Notes with concern the Court’s finding that the Agency did not provide adequate information about the impact or costs of its activities, did not carry out a robust evaluation of joint operations, did not explain any deviation or identify the impact of any gaps in resources, and did not provide information about the real costs of its joint operations; stresses that the Agency has an obligation to provide adequate information about the impacts and costs of its activities and calls upon the Agency to inform the discharge authority about its progress in addressing this matter;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 k (new)

-1 k. Reiterates that the Agency falls short in implementing the condition of the 2019 discharge to successfully implement recommendation 5 from the Court’s report; is concerned that the Agency has missed deadlines for the implementation of legal obligations, action plans and (other) recommendations in the past; requests the Court to conduct a factual investigation once the deadlines of recommendations 1 to 4 have passed (at the end of 2022), in order to assess whether, and if so to what extent, and how the Agency has implemented the Court’s recommendations adequately and in time; emphasises that the Court’s findings on the Agency’s progress should be an integral part of the discharge of future financial years, as at these moments the actual progress of the Agency on the recommendations can be assessed, and the adequate implementation of the recommendations is a cornerstone of the accountability-mechanism between the Agency and the discharge authority;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 c (new)

Respect of fundamental rights

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Regrets that the Agency has not evaluated its activities in Greece, even though reports by institutions of Member States, the Council of Europe and the United Nations show that the Agency was carrying out operations in sections where simultaneously, fundamental rights violations were taking place; regrets that the discharge authority has addressed this matter in its first 2020 discharge report on the Agency, but that the Agency has not provided any substantial information on how it plans to follow up on this; emphasises the urgency of this matter in light of the developments in Greece; urges the Agency to conduct a thorough evaluation as soon as possible and keep the discharge authority updated;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 l (new)

-1 l. Recalls that the Agency has not, or has not fully, fulfilled all of the conditions of the discharge of the 2019 financial year that relate to the respect of fundamental rights;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Regrets that the Agency has not yet revised the SIR SOP; notes that this was initially planned for the second quarter of 2022 but that this has, according to the Agency due to the war in Ukraine, been delayed to the third quarter of 2022;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 m (new)

-1 m. Recalls the establishment of the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group (FSWG) by Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs; notes that the FSWG published its report on the fact-finding investigation on the Agency concerning alleged fundamental rights violations on 14 July 2021, the aim of which was to gather “all relevant information and evidence regarding alleged violations of fundamental rights in which the Agency was involved, was aware of and/or did not act, internal management, procedures for reporting, and the handling of complaints”; recalls that the FSWG concluded that the Agency had “evidence in support of allegations of fundamental rights violations in Member States with which it had a joint operation, but failed to address and follow-up on these violations promptly, vigilantly and effectively ”and that “as a result, Frontex did not prevent these violations, nor reduced the risk of future fundamental rights violations”;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Notes that the ~~second~~fourth condition not yet met is the call on the Agency to suspend its support-related activities in Hungary~~, in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/18961~~ ; is appalled that the Agency continues to choose not to act in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council1and in line with the conclusions of the Court of Justice of the European Union in infringement procedures against Hungary; notes that the Agency argues that, instead of suspending the support- related activities, it rather takes additional safeguarding measures to get assurance from the Hungarian authorities that fundamental rights have been respected, and monitors this closely; ~~notes that the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Officers recommend partially suspending return operations and additional safeguards when conductions return operations;~~ is concerned about the extent to which the Agency’s approach relies on Hungary’s assurances; notes that the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Officer stresses that the continuous support of the Agency in Hungary can implicate the Agency in the violation of the non-refoulement principle, and recommends the Agency to suspend its support-related activities in Hungary, and build in additional safeguards if the Agency would nonetheless continue to operate; stresses that the Agency has in no way shown how reversing Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 and continuing operational presence helps to promote respect for fundamental rights and reduce the violation of it, and instead of that chooses not to comply to the law on no evidential basis; reiterates its call upon the Agency to suspend its operations in Hungary; _________________ 1 Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (OJ L 295, 14.11.2019, p. 1).

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 n (new)

-1 n. Recalls that FSWG identified gaps in the framework of cooperation with Member States, which may hinder the fulfilment of the Agency’s fundamental rights obligations, and highlighted the respective responsibilities of Member States and the Commission to ensure effective cooperation with the Agency, especially as it relates to the respect of fundamental rights, for instance by providing evidence on the substance of cases being investigated; acknowledges the limits experienced by the Agency in practice to only investigate fundamental rights compliance in relation to assets financed or co-financed by the Agency;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 o (new)

-1 o. Recalls Article 80(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, that stresses that the Agency shall guarantee the protection of fundamental rights, and Article 106 (m) of that Regulation, that obliges the Agency to assess prior to any operational activity whether fundamental rights violations are likely to persist; shares in this light its concern about the FSWG conclusion that recommendations and advice provided by the former fundamental rights officer over a four- year period was ignored by the Executive Director, notably regarding the Agency’s operations in Hungary; notes with concern the finding of the FSWG that “implementing rules on the supervisory mechanism to monitor the application of the provisions on the issue of force fail to guarantee that sufficient fundamental rights expertise is involved in decision making”;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 p (new)

-1 p. Recalls the conclusions of the European Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry regarding the Agency’s complaints mechanism for alleged breaches of fundamental rights OI/5/2020/MHZ; notes that, although the European Ombudsman did not decide to take the matter further, she did identify shortcomings in the complaints mechanism, which could make it more difficult for individuals to report alleged fundamental rights violations and seek redress;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 q (new)

-1 q. Recalls Article 111 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, that obliges the Agency to ensure that the Agency cooperates with the fundamental rights officer to take the necessary steps to further develop an independent and effective complaints mechanism to monitor and ensure respect for the fundamental rights in all the activities of the Agency; notes in this regard with concern the finding of the FSWG that “the Fundamental Rights Officer (FRO) and the Consultative Forum (CF)were frequently not involved from the start in the development of rules, procedures and strategies on matters concerning fundamental rights”; notes in this regard also with concern the finding of the FSWG that the whistleblower guidelines currently do not offer similar levels of protection for seconded national experts and other non-staff members; remarks that the failure of the successful implementation of the SIR is a failure to comply with Article 111 as well; calls on the Executive Director to revise his relationship with the fundamental rights officer and consultative forum, following up on their recommendations in a timely manner, and report to the discharge authority about the progress made;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 r (new)

-1 r. Notes that the FRO formally registered ten serious incident reports (SIRs) with three final FRO reports issued closing the SIRs and three more considered closed pending the publication of the FRO reports; notes that the concerned SIRs involve alleged violations of fundamental rights in the course of operational activities, including return operations, coordinated by the Agency (i.e. relating to Member States’ and Agency staff);

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1 d (new)

Transparency, good governance and integrity

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Concludes with deep regret that the Agency has not implemented ~~most~~the majority of the conditions formulated by the discharge authority ~~in a satisfactory manner; calls nevertheless on~~, and that important conditions are outstanding; stresses that meeting those conditions is a crucial aspect for the discharge authority to grant discharge for the financial year 2020; urges the Agency to adopt promptly a detailed procedure for the implementation of Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, in line with the recommendations made by the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Officer in its annual report for 2022, and inform the discharge authority about the progress made;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 s (new)

-1 s. Emphasises the need for the Agency to cooperate with all its internal and external stakeholders in good faith, as embedded in Article 11 of Regulation 2019/1896;notes in that regard: a. the finding of the FSWG that the Executive Director failed “to respond or follow up to the many expressions of concerns, recommendations, opinions or observations submitted by the FRO over the course of four years” and recommendation to apply professional courtesy in this regard; b. the finding of the FSWG that the Executive Director failed to cooperate to ensure compliance with some of the provisions in Regulation (EU) 2019/1896; c. the finding of the FSWG that the Executive Director delayed recruitment of three Deputy Directors needed to promote the checks and balances within the Agency’s top management, whereas simultaneously the Executive Director did expand the Executive Management’s cabinet to a total staff size of 63, and the strong concerns FSWG has about whether the Deputy Directors are delegated independent powers; d. the finding of the FSWG that the Executive Director continues to maintain that he is not aware of any information that fundamental rights allegedly have been or are being violated, even though there is a large number of reports on alleged fundamental rights violations at borders where the Agency is operational; e. the finding of the FSWG that the Executive Director recategorized a SIR situation related to a suspected violation of fundamental rights and requested the fundamental rights officer to remove all information gathered, whereas the fundamental rights officer did not request this and should be able to take on such matters independently; f. the fact that the Executive Director misled the European Parliament, as in a hearing before the Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on July 6, 2020, he stated that the March 2 incident (referring to a suspected fundamental rights violation) was “the only case”, even though he knew of at least one other incident as he signed a letter about this to the Greek Minister, he misrepresented facts referring to another case involving Danish vessels in the same hearing, and the FSWG’s finding that he knowingly provided false information to the FSWG about information received by the Agency from UNCHR related to fundamental rights concerns about the Agency’s operations in Greece, and notes that the aforementioned matters have been taken place in this discharge’s year; urges the Executive Director to approach all relevant stakeholders with transparency, integrity and honesty, and calls on him to recognise the findings of the reports on alleged fundamental rights violations at borders where the Agency is operational;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 t (new)

-1 t. Recalls with concern that the Agency falsely claimed in response to the concerns raised in the discharge for the 2016 year about the transparency of meetings with lobbyists, that “Frontex only met with registered lobbyists who are registered in the EU Transparency Register”, while that year it held meetings with 24 private bodies of which over half were not registered in the EU Transparency register, and 105 of the 149 groups that met with the Agency between 2017 and 2019 were not registered in the EU Transparency Register; calls on the Agency to open up for the 2020 year about which private parties it met during its biannual industry days, and at other moments; urges the Agency to demand from private organisations with which it meets that they are registered in the EU Transparency Register, and to update the discharge authority on the progress made in this regard;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 u (new)

-1 u. Notes with concern the fact that on March 4, 2020, the Agency’s Executive Director took a private flight from the Agency’s office to Brussels, worth EUR 8 500 of taxpayers’ money, even though it was notified a day in advance that the Brussels meeting would be scheduled, at the same day there was a commercial flight available at a fraction of this cost, and the airline offering this commercial flight confirmed to the Agency that it still had seats available at this flight, in contrast to the claims made by the Agency; remarks with concern that the Agency has had instances of excessive spending before, such as a EUR 94 000 costing dinner on the Agency’s annual one-day event in 2015 in Warsaw, a EUR 580 152,22 costing internal event in a Polish resort in 2018, and EUR 494 542,46 for the same event in 2019; stresses that this is in contrast with a responsible handling of taxpayers’ money and urges the Executive Director to change his approach in this regard;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Note~~Recalls the Court’s ~~remark that,~~findings that the Agency did not provide adequate information about the impact or costs of its activities, did not carry out a robust evaluation of joint operations, did not explain any deviation or identify the impact of any gaps in resources, and did not provide information about the real costs of its joint operations; acknowledges that for the financial planning of its return operations, the Agency relies on estimates provided by the cooperating countries and that complete and timely availability of this information is crucial; notes the Court’s observation that in 2020 in one case a national authority included two previously unannounced return operations, totalling EUR 355 000, in a grant agreement at the financial closure of the action, resulting in a sudden budgetary deficit for the Agency, that forced the Agency to make an ex-post budgetary commitment, contravening the Agency’s Financial Regulation; acknowledges the dependence of the Agency on cooperating countries and calls on the Agency to be more strict in setting and enforcing standards related to completeness and timeliness for the receipt of information related to financial planning of operations, including the return operations;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Notes that OLAF and the Agency’s management board have made an anonymised version of the OLAF final report on the Agency’s activities; notes that this has only been made available to the Members of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs; recalls that having access to that report was deemed necessary by the discharge authority to take a fully informed decision on the 2020 discharge; regrets the long delay taken to granting the access; stresses that the findings of the OLAF report are a matter of public interest; notes that it has by now been clarified that OLAF is the report’s owner and that all pending actions following up on the report’s findings have been closed; requests that since the Agency’s conduct concerns the handling of taxpayers’ money, the report is made publicly available without further delay;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Recalls the ~~discharge authorit~~Court’s conclusion that the Agency’s obspervation~~s on the application of the unit-~~al reporting fails to inform decision-makers adequately as it lacks information on actual costs a~~pproach for the deployment~~nd performance; reiterates its request to the Court to assess the progress of the~~avy technical equipment and~~ Agency on recommendations 1 to 4; calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the results of the suggested contacts with the Court and the Commission to solve the issue of lacking supporting evidence;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Notes that the serious concerns raised on the basis of the partial presentation of findings from the final report in the Committee on Budgetary Control meeting of 28 February 2022 are indeed confirmed in the final report; ~~notes from the statements of the Chair~~stresses that this discharge procedure concerns the 2020 year and since OLAF´s findings also concern 2020, OLAF´s findings are relevant for this discharge procedure regardless of the Agency’´s ~~management board in the Committee on Budgetary Control meeting of 13 July 2022 that actions have be~~actions since the previous Executive Director´s resignation; notes that media reports on the investigation set out how the individuals subject to the investigation knew about fundamen taken in follow-up to OLAF’s conclusions in the final report; notes the comments from the Chair of the Agency’s management board, and the Commission’s deputy director-general for Migration and Home Affairs that the report shows the failings of the individuals concerned, and that there is no structural issuel rights violations from very early onwards, did not address these as they are legally required to, but instead consciously chose to ignore and even conceal the facts, consciously mislead the Parliament, and disrespected the Commission and their own colleagues working on fundamental rights issues; is profoundly concerned about the reported findings of the investigation; expresses its utter disappointment in the behaviour and actions by the persons subjected to the investigation;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10 a. Notes from the statements of the Chair of the Agency’s management board in the Committee on Budgetary Control meeting of 13 July 2022 that actions have been taken in follow-up to OLAF’s conclusions in the final report; notes with deep concern the comments from the Chair of the Agency’s management board, and the Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs that the report shows the failings of the individuals concerned, and that there is no structural issue; notes that the Agency’s failings are not merely related to individuals; stresses, first of all, that there are structural problems with checks and balances when misconduct by individuals is able to continue for so long; stresses, second of all, that media reports on OLAF findings about Member States pressuring the Agency’s coast guards and concealing pushbacks imply challenges for the Agency beyond the past leadership; is, third of all, deeply concerned about the expressed intentions of several staff to quit the Agency because of the organisational culture and overall working environment, which also points to structural problems; is, fourth of all, concerned about the way the Agency continues to apply Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896, as is indicated by the present executive director ad interim´s decision to increase presence in the Aegean Sea despite media reports on OLAF’s findings pointing to persistent fundamental rights violations in this area;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)

10 b. Recognises that the structural problems that the Agency is confronted with, are legacy issues and that the current and future leadership of the Agency needs to find a way to deal with those issues in order to help the Agency move forward; emphasises that if the Agency´s current leadership will recognise the structural issues and aims to address them, the Agency has the discharge authority´s full support; stresses, however, that if and as long as the Commission and the Agency’s management board continue to regard the OLAF findings as an isolated incident, the structural issues identified as reported in media remain unaddressed, no new and fresh start can be made, and the Agency will continue to fall short in respecting fundamental rights; notes that the discharge authority considers the following matters as crucial in moving forward successfully: a. recognising that the four challenges identified as set out above, are of structural nature and need to be addressed as such; b. complying to Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 and suspending operations, including in Hungary and in Greece; c. explicating in Joint Operation Plans with Member States how Member States need to cooperate in the handling of SIRs so that these can be addressed effectively, which includes allowing the Agency an access to all relevant sources and assets, including local information sources, that the Agency has the ability to critically review Member States’ assessments of incidents, and that non-compliance from the side of Member States on those matters could lead to a suspending of funding; Stresses that a failure to show substantial progress on those conditions could increase the risk of refusal of granting discharge in the 2021 discharge cycle;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Calls on~~Urges the Agency’s ~~management board and~~ executive management to ~~carefully re-assess~~be granted access to and read the content of the OLAF final report ~~and to address any issues that potentially do have a structural character; calls in particular to review issues potentially~~; urges the Agency and the Commission to acknowledge and address the structural issues mentioned as these seem to related both to the ~~balance between border control and fundamental r~~Agency’s direct operations as well as to oversights, and ~~on sharing of information within the Agency and between the Agency and the Parliament~~ensure that this never happens again; calls upon the Commission and the Agency to inform the discharge authority about how the structural issues will be addressed;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12 a. Notes with deep concern the media reports from July 2022 indicating that the Agency pursued an expansion of intrusive data collection from migrants under the PeDRA programme, including genetic data and sexual orientation, which was shared with the Europol and security agencies of Member States; stresses that this programme does not only target non- suspects, but also loosens the restrictions concerning the exchange of personal data between the Agency and the Europol; highlights the fact that the Data Protection Officer repeatedly warned that this data expansion cannot be achieved without breaching the Union law and recommended to consult the European Data Protection Supervisor; condemns that the Agency ignored this advice and went ahead with it either way; requests the Agency to report to the discharge authority the current status of this matter and keep the discharge authority informed about the steps that will be taken to address it; calls upon the Agency to suspend this programme until further scrutiny;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Recalls the European Ombudsman’s decision in its own initiative enquiry on fundamental rights obligations; notes with concern its conclusion that the Agency should ensure a more proactive approach to transparency, including publishing documents that are needed to understand the respective roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in its operations; notes that the Agency cannot share information of a tactical nature that could be abused for human trafficking or other illegal activities; calls on the Agency to sensibly implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations and keep the discharge authority informed about the progress made;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Regrets that, on 31 December 2020, the establishment plan was 63,01 % implemented, with 662 temporary agents appointed out of 1 050 temporary agents authorised under the Union budget (compared to 484 authorised posts in 2019); notes that, in addition, 387 contract agents and 185 seconded national experts worked for the Agency (with 730 contract agents and 220 seconded national experts authorised for the Agency in 2020); reiterates that seconded national experts and contract agents should get the same level of protection under the whistleblower guidelines and that the FSWG concluded this is currently not the case;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Recalls the discharge authority’s concern about the recruitment of the Agency’s fundamental rights monitors in the appropriate grades; calls on the Agency to swiftly complete the ongoing recruitment procedures and work on embedding the work of the FRO into the operational procedures of the Agency;deleted

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Recalls that the Agency reported to have been notified of 17 cases of alleged harassment in 2020; notes from the Agency’s follow-up to the first 2020 discharge report that two of those 17 cases were opened as informal procedures under the Agency’s manual of procedures for confidential counsellors while the other 15 cases were closed without further follow- up; welcomes the statements of the acting executive director in the meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control that the Agency remains vigilant in this area and that additional measures have been taken, such as the re-opening of a closed case regarding the suicide of the staff member, to make sure all cases are properly treated; requests the Agency to fully cooperate with all relevant authorities in the process and keep the discharge authority informed about the results;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Recalls that the correction coefficient for staff in Warsaw, Poland was 70,09 for 2020; acknowledges that lower salaries can have a negative impact on European applicants, and may contribute to Frontex’s general difficulties in recruiting;deleted

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Notes with concern the gender balance reported for 2020 at senior management level with 15 men (75 %) and 5 women (25 %), at the level of the management board with 50 men (83,3 %) and 10 women (16,7 %), and for the Agency’s staff overall, with 870 men (70,5 %) and 364 women (29,5 %); calls upon the Agency to improve the gender balance in its top management and staff, and report to the discharge authority about the progress made;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Commends the staff of the Agency, that has been through a very difficult period, facing challenges about which the acting executive director made statements in the meeting of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of 30 May 2022; calls on the executive management of the Agency and on the management board to continue with making the Agency a safe place to work that encourages people to speak up; takes courage from the statements that many staff members reported wrongdoings they witnessed to their superiors and calls on the Agency to make sure that all signals about professional misconduct are taken serious, and properly followed-up;

2022/09/07
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Recalls that the European Anti- Fraud Office opened an investigation in 2019 involving the Agency; reiterates its call on the Agency to fully cooperate with OLAF and to keep the discharge authority informed on any developments that are relevant for the discharge procedure;deleted

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Notes with concern from the Agency’s replies to the Parliament’s written questions that in total 17 cases of harassment were reported to the Agency’s competent entities in 2020; calls on the Agency to carefully assess each case, taking a zero-tolerance approach to psychological or, sexual ~~harassment~~or any other kind of harassment, and to proceed swiftly with holding those responsible for this misconduct accountable; welcomes the training received by the confidential counsellors and the actions undertaken to raise awareness among staff and inform staff on the confidential counsellors; welcomes the online awareness-raising sessions for executive, senior, and middle managers and team leaders, and that dedicated awareness sessions were organised to staff members that signed up for such sessions;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5

~~Prevention and management of conflicts of interest, and transparency;~~deleted

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Recalls the discharge authority’s remarks in the 2019 discharge regarding transparency and interest representation for the Agency; notes that the Agency implemented a new process to increase transparency and equal opportunities by streamlining industry dialogues; notes that all industry meetings (i-days) were organised online with presentation of more than 60 solutions by 50 companies, with the participation of 430 representatives of the Agency, Member States and Union partners, as well as international organisations; notes that the Agency, in addition to the i-days, organised an online demonstration of technological solutions relevant for the implementation of entry-exit-system back- to-back with the International Conference on Biometrics for Borders, showcasing over 100 solutions, with 23 industry presentations to over 470 conference attendees; calls on the Agency to comply with the highest standards as regards transparency and to keep its online transparency register up-to-date;deleted

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Notes the Court’s finding that on 1 September 2020 the Agency asked the Commission for permission to upgrade 100 AST posts into advanced-level posts (grade AD 7 or higher), for the standing corps and new tasks under the new mandate; notes with concern that the Agency, in anticipation of the Commission’s reply, on 9 September 2020, sent out 47 offers to advanced-level candidates with the Commission informing the Agency that it had no legal authority to upgrade the posts, resulting in the Agency immediately withdrawing the 47 job offers; ~~acknowledges the actions undertaken by the Agency to achieve the required clarity on its establishment plan from the Commission and the pressing nature of th~~emphasises that the Agency should have gotten legal assurance from the Commission before it proceeded, as this would have pre~~quired recruitments; calls on the Agency and the Commission to im~~vented unnecessary disturbance that came with the withdrawal; calls on the Agency to proeve ~~their communication, closer aligning the Agency’s actions with the Commission’s decision-making processes~~nt taking such actions without legal clarity in the future, to avoid such situations from re-occurring;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Recalls the discharge authority’s conditions in the second discharge report of the Agency for 2019 for release of a budgetary reserve; notes that the reserve has not been created in the Agency’s 2022 budget; recalls ~~nevertheless on~~the request to the Agency to inform the discharge authority on the progress made towards the sixeven conditions formulated by the discharge authority;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

Bas EICKHOUT

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. ~~Note~~Recalls that the European Ombudsman handled 13 cases that relate to the Agency, six on public access to documents, six on human resources management and one related to fundamental rights; notes that the Ombudsman did not provide recommendations in six cases, that the implementation of four recommendations is ongoing and that in three cases the recommendation has already been implemented;

2022/03/04
Committee: CONT

62 Amendments of Bas EICKHOUT related to 2021/2146(DEC)

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