Activities of Peter JAHR related to 2021/2167(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2020
Amendments (22)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the top three concerns in the inquiries closed by the Ombudsman in 2020 were transparency in environmental decision making, , accountability (access to information and documents) (25 %), culture of service (24 %) and proper use of discretionary powers, including in infringement procedures (17 %); whereas other concerns include ethical issues, respect for fundamental rights, sound financial management, whistleblowing, respect for procedural rights, recruitment and good management of EU personnel issues;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the Ombudsman plays a key role in ensuring the full transparency, democratic accountability and integrity of the EU decision-making processes;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas following an inquiry into the performance of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) during the COVID-19 crisis, the Ombudsman found serious shortcominggaps in the ECDC’s transparency practices, including on the data underlying its risk assessments and interactions with international partners, and made proposals aimed at improving the public scrutiny of the ECDC’s activities related to the COVID-19 vaccines; whereasthe Ombudsman considered that this was not a case of maladministration; whereas the suggestions of the Ombudsman were followed by the ECDC;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the EU has planned a period of unprecedented levels of spending and investment under NextGenerationEU, which will also create significant links with the private sector, therefore making it even more crucial for the EU institutions to have a decision-making process founded on full transparency and on the most stringent ethical rules in order to prevent conflicts of interest and corruption cases;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the Ombudsman launched an inquiry into the refusal by the Council to address the issue of corporate sponsorships of the Presidency of the Council of the EU; whereas the Ombudsman found maladministration in the Council’s inaction in relation to eliminating the reputational risks that such commercial sponsorships entail to the impartiality of its Presidency and for the image of the EU as a wholeCouncil accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendation;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the Ombudsman found that the Commission should have carried out a more criticalin-depth scrutiny of all risks of conflicts of interest before awarding a contract to carry out a study on integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives into EU banking rules to BlackRock Investment Management, a company managing investments in the fossil fuel and banking sectors, which are areas that fall within the scope of the new rules on ESG; whereas the Ombudsman underlinconsidered that the EU rules on public procurement are not robust and clear enough to prevent conflicts of interestis was not a case of maladministration;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas according to the Ombudsman, the Commission’s failure to finalise a ‘sustainability impact assessment’ (SIA) before concluding the negotiations on a trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur constituted maladministration; whereas the Ombudsman’s findings confre is no legal requiremed that the Commission had disregarded its own guidelines on the use of SIAs and violated the principles set out in Article 21 TEU, which also apply to trade policynt for the European Commission to finalise the SIA before the conclusion of the trade negotiations;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas the Ombudsman found instances of maladministration in the decision by the European Banking Authority (EBA) to approve the job move of its then Executive Director as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), a lobby organisation for the financial industry, failing to mitigate the risks of conflicts of interest, as well as continuing to give him access to confidential information; whereas EBA has accepted and started to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas the Commission’s strategy in dealing with petitions refers to its 2016 Communication entitled ‘EU law: Better results through better application’, whose rules establish no administrative procedure or practice concerning petitions; whereas the Commission’s approach, resulting in its systematic refusal to take action on individual petition issues and on petitions concerning areas under Article 6 TFEU can amount to maladministration;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
R. whereas the Ombudsman is a potential redress mechanism for citizens facing problems in gaining access to documents held by the EU institutions; whereas a significant number of the Ombudsman’s inquiries in 2020 resulted in access being granted to documents of wider public interest, in spite of the fact that the applicable EU legislation is structurally inadequate, as it is outdated and no longer reflects the current practices adopted by the EU institutions;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets the factNotes that the Commission did not provide adequate explanations to the Ombudsman’s requests on key elements of its work during the COVID-19 crisis; criticiseonsiders the fact that in relation to its decision-making on emergency public procurement, the Commission did not clarify its approaccould bring forth on how it ensured transparency on the appointments procedure of the members of the various committees, as well as on their independence, and on how it monitored the use of the negotiated procedure;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to ensure full transparency on all details of the research into, and the development, purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, by publishing non-redacted versions of the Advance Purchase Agreements and the Purchase Agreement and by making the disclosure of all details in future contracts concerning COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 technologies mandatory; emphasises that any; emphasises that the lack of transparency in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic is at odds with citizens’ right to information and fuels disinformation and distrust;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Deeply regrets the fact that the Council’s current practices with regard to its decision-making process are still marred by a lack of transparency; deplores the fact that the Council is persisting in preventing citizens from having direct and timely access to its legislative documents, while the legislative process is ongoing, in breach of citizens’ right to participate effectively in the decision-making process;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Reiterates its call for the publication of all trilogue documents in order to uphold citizens’ democratic rights, as full transparency at all stages of the legislative process, including in the informal negotiations between the three main EU institutions, is crucial to enabling citizens to hold their elected representatives and governments accountableonce the procedures are closed, in order to uphold citizens’ democratic rights;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Urges the Commission to refrain from approving ‘active substances’ used in pesticides in cases where critical areas of concern or no safe use have been identified, or when additional data confirming their safety is needed, given the already serious consequences which the use of pesticides has caused for human health and the environment;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to ensure an approval process for ‘active substances’ in pesticides, which is fully transparent and free from conflicts of interest, committing to put an end to the use of all synthetic pesticides by 2035 at the latest, as well as immediately prohibiting the export of pesticides that have been banned in the EU and stopping the import of foodstuffs produced outside the EU using such unsafe chemicals; asks the Ombudsman to continue investigating the systems in place at EU level to make sure that the current policies and procedural safeguards in this field guarantee the highest levels of human health and environmental protection, and that the collection and examination of scientific evidence is fully transparent, accurate and free from conflicts of interest;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Strongly criticises the Commission for its failure to finalise the SIA before concluding the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations; underlines that this meant that the Commission concluded the negotiations without appropriate and updated information about the potential social, environmental and economic impacts of the proposed agreement and without properly taking into account the views of all stakeholders, which must represent an additional reason to stop the adoption ofRegrets that the SIA has not been published before concluding the EU- Mercosur trade agreementnegotiations;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Criticises the decision ofonsiders that the Council should provide guidance to those Member States, which held the Presidency of the Council, on how to use corporate sponsorship, as it caused serious damages to the EU’s image, stressing the importance for the future to refrain from any sponsorship; considers paramount the adoption of the most stringent rules preventing such practices from taking place with a view to safeguarding; welcomes the decision of the Council to accept the Ombudsman’s recommendations; considers paramount the adoption of rules in order to preserve the reputation and integrity of the Council and of the EU as a whole;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Asks the Commission to comply fully and in a timely manner with the Ombudsman’s recommendations made following her inquiry on the BlackRock case by adopting strengthened and clearer rules, including in the framework ofWelcomes the decision of the Commission to update its internal guidelines, aimed at preventing any conflicts of interest in all procedures related to public procurement with a view to, inter alia, safeguarding the integrity of the decision-making processes concerning the adoption of new rules on ESG issues at EU level;
Amendment 111 #
23. Welcomes the adoption of the new Statute of the Ombudsman, whose provisions reinforce the Ombudsman’s role, adding further competences on areas related to whistleblowing, harassment and conflicts of interest; considers it of the utmost importance to allocate an increasedadequate budget to the Ombudsman, in order to provide her with the necessary resources to effectively handle her overall workload;