Activities of Dennis de JONG related to 2017/2179(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union agencies for the financial year 2016: performance, financial management and control PDF (428 KB) DOC (75 KB)
Amendments (9)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises that the agencies are highly visible in the Member States and have significant influence on policy and decision making and programme implementation in areas of vital importance to European citizens, such as health, safety, security, freedom and justice; reiterates the importance of the tasks performed by agencies and their direct impact on the daily lives of Union citizens; reiterates also the importance of the autonomy of the agencies, in particular of the regulatory agencies and those with the function of independent information collection; recalls that the main reasons for establishing agencies was for the purpose of making independent technical or scientific assessments, operating Union systems and facilitating the implementation of the Union Single Marketwhilst recognising that stakeholders have found their way to the agencies, it is concerned that in general the visibility of agencies for European citizens is still limited, whereas for their accountability and independence a high level of visibility is required;
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that, according to the Court of Auditors’ summary of results of the Court’s 2016 annual audits of the Union agencies and other bodies (“the Court’s summary”), the agencies’ 2016 budget amounted to some EUR 3,4 billion, representing an increase of about 21,42 % compared to 2015 and about 2,4 % (2015: 2%) of the Union’s general budget; points out that the increase is mainly related to agencies working on matters related to industry, research and energy (additional EUR 358 000 000) and civil liberties, justice and home affairs (additional EUR 174 000 000); notes moreover that of the EUR 3,4 billion budget, some EUR 2,4 billion were financed by the Union general budget, whereas some EUR 1 billion were financed by fees and also by direct contributions from Member States, the European Free Trade Association countriesRecalls that the main reasons for establishing agencies was for the purpose of making independent technical or scientific assessments, which make clear and effective rules to prevent conflicts of interest indispensable, operating Union systems and facilitating the implementation of the Union Single Market; calls on all agencies to participate in the inter-institutional agreement on the transparency register that is currently subject of negotiations between the Commission, the Council and other sources Parliament;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. NotEmphasises that the agencies employ 10 364 (2015: 9 848) permanent, temporary, Interinstitutional Working Group on decentralised agencies examined, in particular, the EASA pilot case for fee- financed agencies; states that even if agencies are fully fee-funded, they are still fully accountract or seconded staff, representing an incable to the discharge authority considering the reputational risks involved; expreasse of 5,24 % compared with the previous year; points out that the number of staff increased the most in agencies dealing with matters related to industry, research and energy (110), civil liberties, justice and home affairs (177) and economic and monetary affairs (85)s, moreover, its concerns with the quality indicators used in the EASA pilot, as these are heavily focusing on customer satisfaction and less on air safety; calls upon the Commission to examine how the independence of fully fee-funded agencies can be ensured and to consider in this regard a system that the fees are paid to the Commission instead of to the agencies directly and that the agencies continue to be funded through the Union budget;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that the Network provides for concrete added value in the relations between the Union Institutions and the decentralised agencies; considers that it would be an asset to support the management of the Network´s Shared Support Office in Brussels; strongly supports its request for one temporary agent post, whose cost would be shared amongst the agencies in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) 2019 budget request, especially if the competences of the EU Agency’s Network are clarified and, whilst respecting the autonomy of the agencies, are strengthened, whenever possible;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Notes with satisfaction that some agencies already cooperate according to their thematic grouping, such as the justice and home affairs agencies5 and the European supervisory authorities6 ; encourages other agencies which have not already started, to cooperate further with other agencies within the same thematic grouping whenever possible, not only in establishing shared services and synergies, but in their common policy areas as well; emphasizes that there are two locations for the Railways Agency, four agencies on social policies and six agencies on Justice and Home Affairs issues; expresses its disappointment with the outcome so far in this respect of the Inter-Institutional Working Group on decentralised agencies, as no specific proposals were developed to merge or co-locate agencies concentrating on related policy fields and calls upon the Commission to prepare a survey of possible steps in this direction; encourages the Court to consider presenting landscape reviews of the agencies’ common policy areas; _________________ 5 European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), European Agency for the Operational Management of Large- Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), European Asylum Support Office (EASO), European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), European Monitoring Centre for Drugsand Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), European Police College (CEPOL), European Police Office (Europol), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), The European Union’s Judicial Cooperation Unit(Eurojust) 6 European Banking Authority (EBA), European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Observes that decentralised agencies increased the use of contract staff by 718 full-time equivalents to implement new tasks, in partial compensatation for the 5 % staff cut and the levy for the creation of the redeployment pool; urges the agencies to not replace permanent staff by more expensive external consultants; notes that this mostly concerns Frontex, Europol, EASO and EASA, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) and the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA); is of the opinion that the use of contract staff is not in line with the targets set to achieve the staff reductions and should be used only as a temporary measure, in agencies with the greatest demand for new staff due to an increase in workload; calls on the Commission to deliberate again on its plans for a further 1 % annual staff reduction;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Welcomes the fact that 26 Agencies (84 %) have guidelines in place for granting public access to documents; calls on the remaining agencies who don’t yet have such guidelines to adopt them without further delay; approves the development of internal systems in place to handle the requests, including specially trained access-to-documents teams, dedicated to handling the incoming requests in agencies facing a higher frequency and complexity of requests; calls on the agenciesNetwork to develop common guidelines for applying public access to documents to be implemented by the agencies, especially as regards intellectual property rights;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Notes that the agencies are actively promoting their work through various channels but reiterates its call for more visibility in Member States by developing a comprehensive plan to reach more Union citizens, in particular by regularly updating their websites to provide information and promote the work they have delivered; notes in addition that social media is increasingly becoming a standard communication tool for the agencies; observes that open days, targeted campaigns and videos explaining the core work of agencies are some of the activities used in educating citizens and providing them with opportunities to learn more about the work of the agencies and the Union institutions; acknowledges that the general or specialised media relations activities are regularly measured through different indicators, as well as that each Agency has its communication plan with specific activities tailored for its needs;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Takes note of the Court’s opinion No 1/2017 on the revision of the Financial Regulation, in which it is proposed to update the arrangement for the audit of the decentralised agencies; regrets that the legislative proposal does not foresee any reduction of the excessive administrative burden that continues to be borne by the decentralised agencies; notes that the audit of the decentralised agencies “remains under the full responsibility of the Court, which manages all administrative and procurement procedures required”; reiterates moreover that the new audit approach involving private sector auditors has resulted in a significant increase of the administrative burden on the agencies, as well as that the time spent on procurement and administration of audit contracts created additional expenditure, thus straining further the diminishing resources of the agencies; emphasises that it is imperative to resolve this issue, in accordance with the Common Approach, within the context of the current revision of the Financial Regulation and the subsequent revision of the Framework Financial Regulation; calls on all parties involved in these revisions to provide clarity on this issue as a matter of urgency so as to significantly reduce the excessive administrative burden; calls on the Court to take action by doing random checks;