23 Amendments of Jens GEIER related to 2014/2040(BUD)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Is astonished that the Heads of State and Government keep announcing on every summit the importance of the EU budget in respect to growth and job creation, whereas at the same time the Council keeps cutting the EU budget in exactly these fields; reminds the Council that it was agreed during the MFF negotiations to frontload funds for a number of programmes; is convinced that the severe cuts in Heading 1a commitment and payment appropriations are oppositional to the compromise agreed upon in the MFF;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Is alarmed by the Council’s cut in Heading 1a of 1.85% in commitment appropriations and 8.57% in payment appropriations; finds this cut completely unacceptable since the margins of the MFF should be fully used to support the recovery of the economy and to pay all outstanding bills to the beneficiaries;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recalls that multiannual programmes such as Horizon 2020, COSME and CEF are crucial for achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy and thus to securing a steady growth path for the EU; believes that proper functioning of the programmes is also essential for efficient absorption of funds from the whole MFF; remindspoints out that several of the crucial programmes are still in their starting phase and the 2015 Budget will be decisive for the success of the new multiannual programmes for 2014-2020; underlines that the 2015 Budget should therefore provide for all necessary measures such as bringing forward investment by frontloading commitments to ensure that the programmes reach their full pace of operation without further delay;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70 a (new)
Paragraph 70 a (new)
70 a. Reduces the establishment plan of the European Parliament in order to comply with the staff reduction agreed in the framework of the Staff Regulations Reform;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 71
Paragraph 71
71. Notes that political groups have frozen their staff resources since 2012 and that their needs were only partially covered in the preceding budgetary years; insists that the total level of staff in political groups in 2015 should notand the following years should under no circumstances be lower than the current level; stresses that the activities of the political groups do not correspond to the administrative work; reduces the establishment plan of its secretariat general by 47 posts for 2015; underlines that when this decrease is added to the decrease of 67 posts in 2014, this would correspond to the -2 % target over 2 years;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 71
Paragraph 71
71. Notes that political groups have frozen their staff resources since 2012 and that their needs were only partially covered in the preceding budgetary years; insists that the total level of staff in political groups in 2015 should not be lower than the current level; stresses that the activities of the political groups do not correspond to the administrative work; reduces the establishment plan of its secretariat general by 47 posts for 2015; underlines that when this decrease is added to the decrease of 67 posts in 2014, this would correspond to the -2 % target over 2 years; and the following years should under no circumstances be lower than the current level; recalls that such a decision has already been taken by the European Parliament in the previous legislature1 a; stresses that the activities of the political groups do not correspond to the administrative work; __________________ 1a European Parliament resolution of 23 October 2013 (P7_TA(2013)0437)
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73
Paragraph 73
73. Decides to increase the appropriations for funding of the European political foundations by EUR 3 million, to ensure that political foundations, who support political groups with professional political support, can fully execute their activities as well as to intensify their research and advocacy activities in order to communicate and put forward ideas to advance the process of European integration; stresses that this increase will be budgetary neutral as it will be offset from the contingency reserve; sets therefore the overall level of its budget for 2015 at EUR 1 794 929 112; points out that this will correspond to a 0 % increase over the level of its estimates, adopted in the Plenary Session of 17 April 2014;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading
Subheading
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74
Paragraph 74
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 76
Paragraph 76
76. Approves the creation of 12 new posts, as initially requested by the Court of Justice; increases accordingly the related budget lines relating to the staff remuneration and allowances (by EUR 511 000), the entitlements relating to entering the service, transfer and leaving the service (by EUR 126 000), and adjusts the establishment plan of the Court of Justice plan as presented in its budget estimates;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 77
Paragraph 77
77. Readjusts the standard abatement rate to its initial level of 3 %, reinstating the appropriations of EUR 2 167 million, in order to ensure that the Court of Justice can deal adequately with the ever-increasing workload and allow the full use of its establishment plan; emphasises that the decrease proposed by the Council is fully in contradiction with the 98 % staff occupancy (98% - the highest possible figure if one considers the unavoidable effect of staff movement during the year) and with an outturn rate for remunerations of close to 99% in 2013;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81
Paragraph 81
81. Readjusts the standard abatement rate to its initial level of 2,1%, restoring the appropriations of EUR 878 000 cut by the Council, in order to allow the Court of Auditors to meet its needs in respect of the establishment plan;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
Paragraph 82
82. Restores the DB for the budget lines related to the remuneration of other staff, since the increase requested over 2014 reflects the expected advancement in step of existing staff (item 1400: + EUR 125 000), and to the in-service training and staff exchanges (item 1404: + EUR 125 000), which is intended to cover expenditure relating to the secondment or temporary assignment to the Court of Auditors of officials from the Member States or from other States, and other experts or expenses relating to short-term expertise in order to ensure that the European Court of Auditors can fulfil its legal obligations towards its staff;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84
Paragraph 84
84. Acknowledges that in 2015 a minimum of 60 posts are expected to be transferred to the Parliament and that this transfer will be implemented in two phases, the first phase from 1 October 2014 and the second phase later in 2015; includes in the budget the adjustments related to the transfer of 42 posts (30 posts from the EESC and 12 from the CoR) corresponding to the implementation of the 1st phase, and places the half of appropriations corresponding to the transfer of the expected additional posts (a minimum 6 from the EESC and a minimum of 12 from the CoR) in the reserve, to be released once the final decision on the remaining transfer is taken; expects that the final transfer will be completed by July 2015;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 85
Paragraph 85
85. Welcomes the on-going cooperation between the two Committees in administrative matters and encourages them to further strengthen this cooperation, asin furll respect of their common goals and savings can be achieved; invites the EESC and the CoR to explore how their structural and organisational reforms could be pursued in a coordinated manner by deepening their bilateral cooperationrespective political identity, and to further adapt this cooperation to the evolving inter- institutional challenges with the ultimate goal of achieving further savings;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86
Paragraph 86
86. Readjusts the standard abatement rate at its initial level of 4,5%, restoring the appropriations of EUR 503 450 cut by the Council, in order to allow the European Economic and Social Committee to cope with the continued reduction of staff;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 88
Paragraph 88
88. Strongly disagrees with the Commission's cuts of the expenditure directly linked to the political activities of the CoR10 , notably those related to Members' travel and subsistence allowances, attendance at the meetings and associated expenditure or to the information and communication activities; increases, in the light of the start of the new CoR mandate, the concerned budget lines by EUR 332 523 (item 1004) and by EUR 81 000 (item 264); __________________ 10 Due to the fact that the CoR Members are not receiving salaries at Union level, for their political activities in CoR the CoR budget reflects only the reimbursement of their travel and subsistence allowances as well as attendance allowances when participating in meetings.;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 91
Paragraph 91
91. Restores the DB for the budget lines related to the new EDPS mandate (items: 1010, 1011, 2014), the creation of the EDPB task-force (items: 2010, 2012, 2013, 3030, 3031, 3032 and 3034) and those ensuring the proper functioning of the institution, notably in light of its new 2014- 2020 strategy (items: 1110, 1120, 1122); underlines that horizontal cuts of expenditure may be extremely detrimental and counterproductive, especially for such a small institution;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -92 a (new)
Paragraph -92 a (new)
-92 a. Reminds the Council that they agreed to create the EEAS and that it needs sufficient resources to execute their activities; invites the Member States to use synergies of the EEAS and to consider closing national embassies where the EU has a common interest and where European Representations were created;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 92
Paragraph 92
92. Readjusts the standard abatement rates to their initial level of 5,3% for the EEAS Headquarters (HQ), 2,7% for the delegations and 27% for the military SNEs and restores the appropriations as requested in the draft budget (+EUR 689 436 for the HQ, +EUR 616 863 for the delegations and +EUR 300 000 for the military SNEs); stresses that such an increase of the abatement rates will imply a reduction in staff beyond the mandatory 1% cut in the establishment plan and will, respectively, hamper its functioning and impede its development as a new body with growing tasks;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 94
Paragraph 94
94. Urges that the EEAS communications systems be betterare protected against intrusions; deplores the fact that the Council equipped the EEAS with outdated systems for and that the communication systems between the EEAS and the Member States on the one hand, and headquarters11 and delegations12 on the other hand, which must be replaced by new, safer and modern systems; __________________ 11SOLAN: System for communications at the level «EU Secret» with Member States on military and intelligence matters inherited from the Council, which will lose its accreditation in 2015. 12RUE: System for communication with delegations at the level of «EU Restricted», established by the Commission, which need to be replaced by a safer and user friendly system.are safe and modern;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95
Paragraph 95
95. Supports the proposal of the High Representative to include in the EEAS budget the appropriations needed to open a new delegation in the Gulf area, where the Union is under-represented; increases therefore the concerned budget lines, as requested by the EEAS in its estimates, as follows: item 3001: +EUR 160 000, item 3003: +EUR 1,570 000, item 3004: +EUR 520 000;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96
Paragraph 96
96. Transfers from Section III (Commission) to Section X (EEAS) of the budget the appropriation of «common administrative costs» (building rents and acquisitions, IT, furniture, etc.) for the Commission staff in delegations from the Commission's budget to the EEAS, a total appropriation of EUR 71,6 million in commitments and payments that will be consolidated and managed directly by the EEASfor the Commission staff in delegations; underlines that this transfer is budgetary neutral and has no other impact on the administrative appropriations of the Commission nor on the working conditions of Commission staff in delegations and will respond to the simplification in the management of the administrative expenditure of the EU delegations requested by the EEAS, the Council and raised in a recent Court of Auditors report; insists that the transfer shall be implemented in good cooperation between the EEAS and Commission; calls on the Council to respect the budgetary neutrality of this agreement;