17 Amendments of Monica MACOVEI related to 2012/2214(DEC)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the importance of the tasks performed by agencies, and their direct impact on the daily lives of citizens, for example relating to the quality of medicines, food safety, aviation security, the control of outbreaks of infectious diseases; emphasises, in this context, the utmost importance of their autonomy and independence, in particular of the regulatory agencies and those with the function of collecting independent information collectionduring the certification process, and recalls that the main reason for establishing agencies was for the purpose of making independent technical or scientific assessments;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Reminds all the agencies of their obligation to send to the authority responsible for discharge a report drawn up by their director summarising the number and nature of internal audits conducted by the internal auditor, the recommendations made and the follow-up to them, as provided for in Article 72(5) of the framework Financial Regulation;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Commends the good cooperation with the responsible committee from the side of the Union Agencies Network (‘"the Network’"), a forum for coordination, information exchange and agreement of common positions on issues of common interest for agencies, and encourages the strengthening of the Network; notes with satisfaction the availability and openness of the directors of the agencies contacted in the framework of the annual discharge procedure; proposes that the Network be supported by an external independent coordinator, for example a former Executive Director of one of the agencies, when further discussinghas noted with surprise the Network's letter of 19 October 2012 asking the Parliament to "revert to its practice of earlier years"; on the contrary encourages and expects the Network to support the changes requested by the Parliament in the previous discharge for an improved management, transparency and anti-conflict of interest measures to the benefit of consumers and taxpayers' money; (Justification: Creating a new position for and implementnformal structure is questionable ing the Roadmap;erms of accountability and financial impact)
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – indent 4
Paragraph 9 – indent 4
– potential conflicts of interest on boards, including at the Agencies' management board level;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes, in this context, the reply of the Network; welcomes the coordinated action of the agencies and their intention to tackle the challenges identified by the Court of Auditors and urges the sNetting up of specialised sub-networks of the Network which will be involved to guarantee technical expertise; commends the identified approach aimwork, as well as the individual agencies, to report back to the discharge authority on the progress of the implementation of the concrete measures to redress the shortcomings identified by the Court of Auditors and the Parliament ing to she discharge best practices and, wherever possible, draft guiprocedure for the financial year 2010; underlines that can be voluntarily adopted by each Agency or that can be a starting point for the Commission for further activities in the area;the responsibility lies with each Executive Director and the Management Board of the Agencies; (Justification: Responsibilities should not be diluted, especially given that the Network is an informal structure without task and/or power making it accountable;)
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that the agencies undergo numerous different audit and control procedures in the course of the year which are often very unevenly distributed and which may create difficulties for the agencies; believes that the matter should be addressed primarily by better coordination of those various audits in order to cover all Agencies, as reflected in action point 53 of the Roadmap; believes that Agencies should be consulted in order to find practical solutions which would not hamper the performance of their core tasks; invites the Court of Auditors, the Commission, and the agencies and the Network to come up with an approach suitable for all involved parties; (Justification: In case of uneven control, the risk is not that Agencies face too much control but that some are not controlled enough)
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2
Subheading 2
Conflicts of interest and Transparency
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Is of the opinion that the added- value of Special Report 15/2012 lies in the regular monitoring of the Agencies' progress regarding the management and prevention of conflicts of interest; invites therefore the Court of Auditors to plan a follow-up Special Report on the issue and to extend the scope of its audit to other Agencies;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21 a. Takes note that the Court of Auditors identified a number of significant shortcomings related to post- employment issues which weakens the prevention of 'revolving doors' type of conflict of interest situations; supports the Court of Auditors' recommendation stressing the need to address the post- employment issues and takes the view that the 'cooling-off' period of anyone who has served as director of an agency or has discharged major responsibilities within an agency needs to be clarified;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Endorses the Court of Auditors' recommendation inviting all Union institutions and decentralised bodies to examine whether the recommendations of the Special Report 15/2012 are relevant and applicable to them; is of the opinion that all Agencies should develop and implement comprehensive independence policies and procedures, establishing inter alia a breach of trust mechanism and clear sanctions, or change those already in place based on the lessons learned and recommendations from the Court of Auditors' Special Report 15/2012; calls therefore on all Agencies to inform the discharge authority on this matter before the end of 2013;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Welcomes the Court of Auditors' recommendation for the Union legislator to consider further developing the Union regulatory framework dedicated to the management of conflict of interest situations, notes, however, that the OECD guidelines, on which the Court of Auditors has based its work on Special Report 15/2012, while offering an international benchmark on the issue, are not fully applicable to an agency and they do not fully meet the specific needs of the decentralised agencies as a large variety of actors are involved in its work;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Welcomes the interinstitutional Joint Statement on decentralised agencies and its provisions on the management and prevention of conflict of interest (paragraphs 11 and 18) and on the Agencies' independence (paragraph 20);
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Reminds that a high level transparency is key to mitigate risks of conflict of interest; calls therefore on the Agencies that have not yet done so to make available on their website the list of their Management Boards members, their management staff, external and in-house experts together with their respective declaration of interests and curriculum vitae;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 4
Subheading 4
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37