2016/2179(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Welcomes the fact~~Acknowledges that the annual accounts of Frontex (“the Agency”) present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position on 31 December 2015 and that its transactions are legal and regular; notes that costs incurred for pre-financed services related to maritime surveillance were underestimated by EUR 1 723 336; ~~regrets~~is concerned that this underestimation resulted in a material misstatement in the Agency’s balance sheet; welcomes the Agency’s commitment to improving its procedure for estimating costs to be accrued;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Regrets the conclusions of the European Court of Auditors in its Special Report No 12/20161a that the Agency does not have quantitative objectives and targets for its joint operations, which hampers the measurement of the joint operations' effectiveness in the long term; notes the Agency's reply that quantification of objectives may not be possible in the field of irregular migration; calls on the Agency to develop and implement quantitative objectives with specific target values as soon as possible and where applicable; _________________ 1aEuropean Court of Auditors, Special Report No 12/2016: Agencies’ use of grants: not always appropriate or demonstrably effective, p. 26.

Amendment 11 #

Caterina CHINNICI, Maria GRAPINI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3 c. Regrets the conclusions of the European Court of Auditors in its Special Report No 12/20161a that the Agency has not established an appropriate conflict of interest policy for the staff members of the bilateral negotiation teams; calls on the Agency to establish formal conflict of interest policies for external experts, internal staff and governing board members involved in the selection and award process of grants, taking into account the accumulated effect of several minor conflict of interest and defining effective mitigating measures; _________________ 1aEuropean Court of Auditors, Special Report No 12/2016: Agencies’ use of grants: not always appropriate or demonstrably effective, p. 30.

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the contribution of the Agency to saving more than 250 000 people at sea in 2015; welcomes the increase of the Agency’s search and rescue capacity following the tragic events of spring 2015; looks forward to those capacities being strengthened further following the adoption of the new mandate in mid-2016 which includes search and rescue as a stand along component of European integrated border management and assigns it as a specific task of the Agency; welcomes the signature of an important agreement with CSDP Mission EUNAVFOR Med regarding maritime surveillance;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the contribution of the Agency to saving more than 250 000 people at sea in 2015; welcomes the increase of the Agency’s search and rescue capacity following the tragic events of spring 2015; wbel~~comes the signature of an important agreement with CSDP Mission EUNAVFOR Med regarding maritime surveillance~~ieves nevertheless that a coherent Union response to search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean must be independent from border management and control missions, and designed as a stand-alone mission;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the contribution of the Agency to saving more than 250 000 people at sea in 2015; welcomes the increase of the Agency’s search and rescue capacity following the tragic events of spring 2015; wbel~~comes the signature of an important agreement with CSDP Mission EUNAVFOR Med regarding maritime surveillance~~ieves nevertheless that a coherent Union response to search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean must be independent from border management and control missions, and designed as a stand-alone mission;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. ~~Welcom~~Notes the contribution of the Agency to recovering and saving more than 250 000 people at sea in 2015; ~~welcom~~acknowledges the increase of the Agency’s search and rescue capacity following the ~~tragic~~ events of spring 2015; ~~welcome~~recalls the signature of an important agreement with CSDP Mission EUNAVFOR Med regarding maritime surveillance;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Welcomes the support provided to national authorities in hotspot areas in relation to identification and registration of migrants, return-related activities and Union internal security; welcomes the signature of an operational cooperation agreement with Europol to deter cross- border crime and migrant smuggling.deleted

Amendment 17 #

Patricija ŠULIN, Monika HOHLMEIER, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Welcomes the~~Is concerned at the lack of support provided to national authorities in hotspot areas in relation to identification and registration of migrants, return-related activities and Union internal security; ~~welcomes~~expresses restrained satisfaction at the signature of an operational cooperation agreement with Europol to deter cross- border crime and migrant smuggling.

Amendment 2 #

Monika HOHLMEIER, Patricija ŠULIN, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Welcom~~Notes the fact that the annual accounts of Frontex (“the Agency”) present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position on 31 December 2015 and that its transactions are legal and regular; notes that costs incurred for pre-financed services related to maritime surveillance were underestimated by EUR 1 723 336; regrets that this underestimation resulted in a material misstatement in the Agency’s balance sheet; welcomes the Agency’s commitment to improving its procedure for estimating costs to be accrued;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Regrets that the Agency continues to operate on the basis of correspondence and exchanges with its host Member State Poland; calls on both parties to conclude a comprehensive headquarters agreement as soon as possible to enhance transparency regarding the conditions under which the Agency and its staff operate;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Believes that there is insufficient assurance of the legality of grant transactions in the area of joint land/sea/air operations and in joint return operations.

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Notes the high level of carry-overs for committed appropriations for administrative (Title II, 38 %) and operational expenditure (~~35 %); welcom~~Title III, 35 %); acknowledges the commitment of the Agency to continue to improve its financial and budgetary management procedures; notes that for Title II, the main reason for high carry-overs is the IT contracts extending beyond the year-end whereas for Title III, it is the multiannual nature of the Agency's operations;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 – point 1 (new)

(1) Regrets that not all members of the Management Board published their statements of commitment to the Agency; calls the Management Board members from Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Norway, Sweden and the Commission to complete and publish their statements of commitment to the Agency; regrets the lack of separate and full declarations of interest by all Management Board members; regrets that the Executive Director did not publish his declaration of interests; urges the Executive Director to publish his declarations of interest and to ensure its independent verification for preventing and managing conflicts of interest; reiterates that transparency is key to the public trust; calls upon the Agency to establish clear rules regarding the protection of whistle-blowers and "revolving doors";

Amendment 5 #

Caterina CHINNICI, Maria GRAPINI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Recalls that Frontex should provide its Fundamental Rights Officer with adequate resources and staff for setting up the complaint mechanism and for further developing and implementing the Agency's strategy to monitor and ensure the protection of fundamental rights;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Regrets that the Agency reimbursed depreciation charges for a vessel that had exceeded its useful life; notes that the Agency recovered only the payments from 2015; notes the Agency’s statement that this cost recovery was made in line with the principle of proportionality; highlights the risk of double funding for the reimbursement of vessels and fuel consumption under “Commission ISF Borders” and “Frontex joint operations”; notes that rules for reimbursing costs are complex and calculated differently for every Member State; ~~encourages the Agency to obtain rights to use simplified cost options and other funding mechanisms in addition to grants;~~

Amendment 7 #

Monika HOHLMEIER, Patricija ŠULIN, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Regrets that the Agency reimbursed depreciation charges for a vessel that had exceeded its useful life; notes that the Agency recovered only the payments from 2015; notes the Agency’s statement that this cost recovery was made in line with the principle of proportionality; highlights the risk of double funding for the reimbursement of vessels and fuel consumption under “Commission ISF Borders” and “Frontex joint operations”; notes that rules for reimbursing costs are complex and calculated differently for every Member State; encourages the Agency to ~~obtain rights to use~~make use of simplified cost options and other funding mechanisms in addition to grants where possible to increase the cost-effectiveness;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Regret~~Notes that the Agency reimbursed depreciation charges for a vessel that had exceeded its useful life; notes that the Agency recovered only the payments from 2015; ~~note~~accepts the Agency’s statement that this cost recovery was made in line with the principle of proportionality; highlights the risk of double funding for the reimbursement of vessels and fuel consumption under “Commission ISF Borders” and “Frontex joint operations”; notes that rules for reimbursing costs are complex and calculated differently for every Member State; encourages the Agency to obtain rights to use simplified cost options and other funding mechanisms in addition to grants;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Notes with concern the high number of ongoing corrective measures in answer to the Court of Auditors' comments in 2012, 2013 and 2014 related to recruitment procedures, headquarters agreement, expenditures claimed by cooperating countries and contributions from Schengen associated countries; calls on the Agency to complete as many corrective actions as possible during the year 2017;

source: 597.594

2017/03/07 CONT 13 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Benedek JÁVOR, Patricija ŠULIN

Proposal for a decision 1 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 2015 / Postpones its decision on granting 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 2015;

Amendment 10 #

Benedek JÁVOR

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)

19 a. Welcomes the contribution of the Agency to saving more than 250 000 people at sea in 2015; welcomes the increase of the Agency's search and rescue capacity following the tragic events of spring 2015; believes, nevertheless, that a coherent European response to search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean must be independent from border management and control missions and must be designed as a stand-alone mission;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)

19 a. Calls for a greater exchange of information between Frontex, Union justice and home affairs agencies and the Member States, in full respect of data protection rules and, in particular, the principle of purpose limitation, in order to improve the effectiveness of Frontex grant-funded joint operations; regrets that the actual impact of joint operations is difficult to assess;

Amendment 12 #

Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Patricija ŠULIN

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)

19 b. Notes that, according to the Court's report, the majority of Frontex operational programmes lack quantitative objectives and specific target values for the joint operations; notes with concern that this, together with insufficient documentation from cooperating countries, might hamper the ex post evaluation of the effectiveness of joint operations in the long term; invites Frontex to improve its strategic programme planning, to set relevant strategic objectives for its grant activities and to establish an effective result- oriented monitoring and reporting system with relevant and measurable key performance indicators;

Amendment 13 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Notes with concern a significant gender imbalance ~~both~~of 93 % / 7 % in the Agency’s management board ~~and in~~ ; notes also that bothe members of ithe Agency's senior management team are of the same gender;

Amendment 2 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Raffaele FITTO, Notis MARIAS

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 2015 /~~ Postpones its decision on granting the executive director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the ~~Agency’s budget~~budget of the Agency for the financial year 2015;

Amendment 3 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Raffaele FITTO, Notis MARIAS

Proposal for a decision 2 2
Paragraph 1

1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2015 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2015;

Amendment 4 #

Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1

Amendment 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)

- having regard to Special report No 12/2016 of the Court of Auditors, 'Agencies’ use of grants...',

Amendment 6 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Notes with concern~~Acknowledges that the Court issued a qualified opinion on the reliability of the Agency’s accounts; takes note that the basis for the qualified opinion was the underestimation of the cost incurred in 2015 but not yet invoiced for pre-financed services related to maritime surveillance by EUR 1 723 336; notes moreover that this accounting error affected the accrued charges and resulted in a material misstatement in the Agency’s balance sheet and statement of financial performance; points out however that the accounting error did not lead to any irregular or illegal transaction, and that no funds were misspent;

Amendment 7 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. ~~Points out~~Notes that carryovers ~~are~~can often be partly or fully justified by the multiannual nature of the agencies’ operational programmes, and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and implementation nor are they always at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality, in particular if they are planned in advance and communicated to the Court;

Amendment 8 #