BETA


2020/2149(DEC) 2019 discharge: General budget of the EU - European External Action Service

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead CONT MITUȚA Alin (icon: Renew Renew) LENAERS Jeroen (icon: EPP EPP), GARCÍA MUÑOZ Isabel (icon: S&D S&D), PEKSA Mikuláš (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), CZARNECKI Ryszard (icon: ECR ECR), FLANAGAN Luke Ming (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL)
Committee Opinion AFCO
Committee Opinion AFET ANDROULAKIS Nikos (icon: S&D S&D) Angel DZHAMBAZKI (icon: ECR ECR), Urmas PAET (icon: RE RE), Ernest URTASUN (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), Thierry MARIANI (icon: ID ID), Özlem DEMIREL (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL), Vangelis MEIMARAKIS (icon: PPE PPE)
Committee Opinion DEVE
Lead committee dossier:

Events

2021/09/24
   Final act published in Official Journal
2021/04/28
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided by 606 votes to 85, with 7 abstentions, to grant the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the financial year 2019.

Members noted with satisfaction that no specific issues were identified in the sample of transactions concerning the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the third consecutive year. The Court did not identify material levels of error in the EEAS annual activity report.

Budgetary and financial management

Parliament acknowledged the operational difficulties encountered by the EEAS in the financial management of the EU Network of Delegations due to various crisis situations. It called on the EEAS to inform the Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control promptly on the budgetary impacts and expenses incurred because of the pandemic.

The total budget of the EEAS for 2019 amounted to EUR 694.8 million (an increase of 2.4 % compared to 2018) split as follows: EUR 249.7 million for EEAS headquarters and EUR 445.1 million for the Delegations. A contribution of EUR 215.8 million was transferred by the Commission to cover the administrative costs of the Commission’s staff working in the Union’s delegations.

For the EEAS budget year 2019, the main orientations were a budgetary reinforcement to deal with the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the strengthening of regional security officers and delegation networks, the deployment of additional staff for the EU Military Staff (EUMS) and the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD), information technology capacity and secure communications.

Members called on the EEAS to ensure that the EU delegation in the UK has a permanent and stable status in accordance with the treaties and that it has the necessary human and material resources to carry out its tasks, including compliance monitoring.

Parliament welcomed the overall improvement in the implementation of the EEAS budget for 2019 with a commitment implementation rate of 99.94% (compared to 99.9% in 2018) and a payment implementation rate of 87.9% (compared to 84.8% in 2018).

Members stressed the importance of simplifying and modernising the financial and administrative management of the EEAS.

Control effectiveness as regards legality and regularity

Parliament noted the rate of anomalies detected in ex ante verifications of commitments and payments (respectively, 308 errors out of 1193, and 394 out of 2119). In both cases the errors are of an administrative nature i.e. incorrect amounts for commitments or a lack of supporting documents for payments presented for ex-ante financial verification.

The EEAS should investigate and resolve cases of administrative errors and report back to the Parliament on its achievements.

Human resources

Noting the EEAS’s vital role in ensuring the coherence of the EU’s foreign policy, Members called for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to not put at risk the Union’s effectiveness on the international scene. Necessary resources are need for a successful implementation of an efficient EU common security and defence policy.

Regarding the overall increase in the number of contractual staff from 322 to 444 (a 38% increase) between 2012 and 2018, Parliament supported the EEAS's efforts to strengthen its administration and asked the EEAS to report to Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee on the results and impact of the increase in contractual staff.

The EEAS is invited to strengthen the Union's delegations in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries and to create local reporting posts to improve the Union's understanding of its neighbours and to enable them to move closer to the Union's acquis.

Parliament noted with satisfaction the upward trend in the proportion of women in senior positions (30.3% compared to 27.1% in 2018 and 24.5% in 2017).

Geographical imbalances in the composition of the EEAS staff are a recurrent issue and should be addressed.

Strategic communication activities

Parliament welcomed the strengthening of the EEAS' strategic communication capacity to combat disinformation and hybrid threats through the establishment of three task forces for Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Southern Europe, and the participation of the EEAS in the early warning system established in the EU institutions and the Member States. It called on the EEAS to further develop this policy with the Parliament's new special committee on foreign interference in order to refine its capacity response.

Members called for the creation of strategic communication task forces specifically dedicated to interference from China and the Middle East, in particular Iran. Strategic communication should also focus on combating disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ethical framework and conflicts of interest

Parliament called on the EEAS to increase awareness of its ethical framework and culture among its staff. It called on the EEAS to apply the Staff Regulations effectively and consistently in order to prevent conflicts of interest, including, but not limited to, senior officials and seconded national experts (SNEs).

Documents
2021/04/27
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2021/03/26
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Alin MITUȚA (Renew Europe, RO) calling on the European Parliament to grant the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the financial year 2019.

Members noted with satisfaction that no specific issues were identified in the sample of transactions concerning the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the third consecutive year. The Court did not identify material levels of error in the EEAS annual activity report.

Budgetary and financial management

The report acknowledged the operational difficulties encountered by the EEAS in the financial management of the EU Network of Delegations due to various crisis situations.

The EEAS is asked to inform the Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control promptly on the budgetary impacts and expenses incurred because of the pandemic.

The report noted that the total budget of the EEAS for 2019 amounted to EUR 694.8 million (an increase of 2.4 % compared to 2018) split as follows: EUR 249.7 million for EEAS headquarters and EUR 445.1 million for the Delegations.

The main budgetary trends in 2019 concern, inter alia , reinforcement to deal with the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Members called on the EEAS to ensure that the Union Delegation to the United Kingdom has a permanent and stable status consistent with the Treaties and that it is provided with the human and material resources to carry out its tasks, in particular with regard to monitoring of compliance.

The headquarters’ budget amounted to approximately EUR 250 million, of which EUR 161.8 million (64.8 %) concerned the payment of salaries and other entitlements of statutory and external staff, EUR 32 million (3 %) were for buildings and associated costs, and EUR 35.3 million (14 %) related to IT computer systems including classified information systems, equipment and furniture.

Members stressed the importance of simplifying and modernising the EEAS’s financial and administrative management.

Control effectiveness as regards legality and regularity

The report noted the rate of anomalies detected in ex ante verifications of commitments and payments (respectively, 308 errors out of 1193, and 394 out of 2119). In both cases the errors are of an administrative nature i.e. incorrect amounts for commitments or a lack of supporting documents for payments presented for ex-ante financial verification.

The EEAS should investigate and resolve cases of administrative errors and report back to the Parliament on its achievements.

Human Resources

Noting the EEAS’s vital role in ensuring the coherence of the EU’s foreign policy, Members called for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to not put at risk the Union’s effectiveness on the international scene. Necessary resources are need for a successful implementation of an efficient EU common security and defence policy.

Geographical imbalances in the composition of the EEAS staff are a recurrent issue and should be addressed.

Working environment

The report noted that there is an increase in cases reported to the mediation service concerning either unsolved disagreements around rights and obligations or different kinds of conflict at work, reaching 183 cases in 2019 (compared to 135 cases in 2018).

Documents
2021/03/01
   EP - Vote in committee
2021/02/05
   CSL - Supplementary non-legislative basic document
Documents
2021/02/05
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2021/01/27
   EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2020/12/15
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2020/09/15
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2020/09/10
   EP - ANDROULAKIS Nikos (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in AFET
2020/07/10
   EP - MITUȚA Alin (Renew) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2020/06/29
   EC - Non-legislative basic document
2020/06/28
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published

Documents

Votes

Décharge 2019 : Budget général de l'UE - Service européen pour l'action extérieure - 2019 discharge: EU general budget - European External Action Service - Entlastung 2019: Gesamthaushaltsplan der EU – Europäischer Auswärtiger Dienst - A9-0063/2021 - Alin Mituța - Proposition de décision #

2021/04/27 Outcome: +: 606, -: 85, 0: 7
DE ES PL RO FR NL HU IT BG CZ PT EL SE DK BE AT IE SK LT FI HR LV SI MT CY LU EE
Total
95
59
51
33
78
29
21
74
17
21
21
20
21
14
21
19
13
14
11
13
12
8
8
6
6
6
7
icon: PPE PPE
172

Hungary PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2

Malta PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
145

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Greece S&D

2

Lithuania S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
97

Hungary Renew

2

Italy Renew

2
3

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Ireland Renew

2

Slovakia Renew

2

Lithuania Renew

1

Finland Renew

3

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Slovenia Renew

2

Luxembourg Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
72

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
63

Germany ECR

For (1)

1

Romania ECR

1

Netherlands ECR

4

Bulgaria ECR

2

Greece ECR

Abstain (1)

1
3

Lithuania ECR

1

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1

Latvia ECR

2
icon: The Left The Left
39

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Portugal The Left

4

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Denmark The Left

1

Belgium The Left

Against (1)

1

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2
icon: NI NI
37

Germany NI

2

Netherlands NI

1

Slovakia NI

Against (1)

2

Lithuania NI

1

Croatia NI

2
icon: ID ID
73

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

Czechia ID

Against (2)

2

Denmark ID

For (1)

1

Austria ID

3

Finland ID

Against (1)

1

Estonia ID

Against (1)

1

Décharge 2019 : Budget général de l'UE - Service européen pour l'action extérieure - 2019 discharge: EU general budget - European External Action Service - Entlastung 2019: Gesamthaushaltsplan der EU – Europäischer Auswärtiger Dienst - A9-0063/2021 - Alin Mituța - Am 1 #

2021/04/28 Outcome: +: 627, -: 43, 0: 24
DE IT ES PL FR RO HU AT PT BG EL BE FI SK CZ IE LT DK HR SE NL LV SI EE MT CY LU ??
Total
93
73
59
52
79
32
21
19
21
17
19
20
14
14
20
13
11
13
12
21
29
8
8
7
6
6
6
1
icon: PPE PPE
173

Hungary PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2
icon: S&D S&D
142

Greece S&D

2

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Lithuania S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Estonia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: Renew Renew
97

Italy Renew

2

Hungary Renew

2

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Finland Renew

3

Slovakia Renew

2

Ireland Renew

2

Lithuania Renew

1

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1
3

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Slovenia Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3

Luxembourg Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
71

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Denmark Verts/ALE

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
62

Germany ECR

For (1)

1

Romania ECR

1

Bulgaria ECR

2

Greece ECR

1

Slovakia ECR

Abstain (1)

2

Lithuania ECR

1

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1
3

Netherlands ECR

4

Latvia ECR

2
icon: The Left The Left
39

Portugal The Left

4

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Denmark The Left

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2
icon: NI NI
36

Germany NI

2

Slovakia NI

2

Lithuania NI

1

Croatia NI

2

Netherlands NI

Against (1)

1

NI

1
icon: ID ID
74
3

Finland ID

2

Czechia ID

For (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Denmark ID

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

Estonia ID

For (1)

1

A9-0063/2021 - Alin Mituța - § 51/1 #

2021/04/28 Outcome: +: 602, 0: 57, -: 35
DE IT ES FR RO NL PL HU PT AT SE CZ BG BE FI EL IE SK LT HR SI EE MT CY LU LV DK ??
Total
93
73
59
79
32
29
52
21
21
19
21
20
17
20
14
19
13
14
11
12
8
7
6
6
6
8
13
1
icon: PPE PPE
173

Hungary PPE

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Latvia PPE

2

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
142

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Greece S&D

2

Lithuania S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Estonia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
97

Italy Renew

2

Hungary Renew

2

Austria Renew

For (1)

1
3

Finland Renew

3

Ireland Renew

2

Slovakia Renew

2

Lithuania Renew

1

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Slovenia Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3

Luxembourg Renew

2

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
71

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

1
icon: The Left The Left
39

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2

Denmark The Left

1
icon: NI NI
36

Germany NI

2

Netherlands NI

1

Slovakia NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Lithuania NI

1

Croatia NI

2

NI

1
icon: ID ID
74

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1
3

Czechia ID

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Finland ID

2

Estonia ID

For (1)

1

Denmark ID

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
62

Germany ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Romania ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

Abstain (1)

4
3

Bulgaria ECR

2

Greece ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Slovakia ECR

Abstain (1)

2

Lithuania ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Croatia ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Latvia ECR

2

A9-0063/2021 - Alin Mituța - § 51/2 #

2021/04/28 Outcome: -: 349, +: 283, 0: 62
IT FR DE FI BE IE NL CZ EE LU SI ?? LT LV CY DK MT EL AT SK SE HR BG PT ES HU RO PL
Total
73
79
93
14
20
13
29
20
7
6
8
1
11
8
6
13
6
19
19
14
21
12
17
21
59
21
32
52
icon: Renew Renew
97

Italy Renew

Abstain (2)

2

Finland Renew

3

Ireland Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3

Luxembourg Renew

2

Slovenia Renew

2

Lithuania Renew

1

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Slovakia Renew

2

Sweden Renew

Against (1)

3

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Hungary Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
71

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

1

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: The Left The Left
39

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Cyprus The Left

2

Denmark The Left

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1
icon: ID ID
74

Finland ID

2

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

Czechia ID

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Estonia ID

Abstain (1)

1

Denmark ID

For (1)

1
3
icon: NI NI
36

Germany NI

2

Netherlands NI

Against (1)

1

NI

Against (1)

1

Lithuania NI

1

Slovakia NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Croatia NI

2
icon: ECR ECR
62

Germany ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

Abstain (1)

4

Lithuania ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Latvia ECR

2

Greece ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Slovakia ECR

2
3

Croatia ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Bulgaria ECR

2

Romania ECR

Abstain (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
142

Finland S&D

2

Belgium S&D

3
6

Czechia S&D

Against (1)

1

Estonia S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

Against (1)

1

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Lithuania S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2
4

Greece S&D

2

Slovakia S&D

3
icon: PPE PPE
173

Finland PPE

3

Estonia PPE

Against (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE

2

Slovenia PPE

4

Latvia PPE

2

Cyprus PPE

2

Denmark PPE

Against (1)

1

Malta PPE

2

Hungary PPE

Against (1)

1

Décharge 2019 : Budget général de l'UE - Service européen pour l'action extérieure - 2019 discharge: EU general budget - European External Action Service - Entlastung 2019: Gesamthaushaltsplan der EU – Europäischer Auswärtiger Dienst - A9-0063/2021 - Alin Mituța - Proposition de résolution #

2021/04/29 Outcome: +: 586, -: 93, 0: 12
DE PL ES RO FR HU IT NL BG CZ PT SE BE EL AT DK LT SK HR IE FI LV SI MT CY LU EE
Total
93
50
59
32
79
21
74
28
17
21
21
21
20
19
19
14
11
14
11
13
13
8
8
6
6
6
7
icon: PPE PPE
175

Hungary PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2

Malta PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
142

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Greece S&D

2

Lithuania S&D

2

Finland S&D

1

Latvia S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Estonia S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
97

Hungary Renew

2

Italy Renew

2
3

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Lithuania Renew

1

Slovakia Renew

2

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Ireland Renew

2

Finland Renew

3

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Slovenia Renew

2

Luxembourg Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
72

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
60

Netherlands ECR

4

Bulgaria ECR

2
3

Greece ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1

Latvia ECR

2
icon: The Left The Left
38

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Portugal The Left

4

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Belgium The Left

Against (1)

1

Denmark The Left

1

Ireland The Left

Against (2)

4

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2
icon: NI NI
34

Germany NI

2

Netherlands NI

1

Lithuania NI

1

Slovakia NI

2

Croatia NI

Against (1)

1
icon: ID ID
73

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

Czechia ID

Against (2)

2

Belgium ID

2

Austria ID

3

Denmark ID

Against (1)

1

Finland ID

2

Estonia ID

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
75 2020/2149(DEC)
2020/12/14 AFET 21 amendments...
source: 662.009
2021/02/08 CONT 54 amendments...
source: 680.753

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

events/0/date
Old
2020-06-29T00:00:00
New
2020-06-28T00:00:00
events/6
date
2021-09-24T00:00:00
type
Final act published in Official Journal
procedure/final
title
OJ L 340 24.09.2021, p. 0176
url
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  • The European Parliament decided by 606 votes to 85, with 7 abstentions, to grant the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the financial year 2019.
  • Members noted with satisfaction that no specific issues were identified in the sample of transactions concerning the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the third consecutive year. The Court did not identify material levels of error in the EEAS annual activity report.
  • Budgetary and financial management
  • Parliament acknowledged the operational difficulties encountered by the EEAS in the financial management of the EU Network of Delegations due to various crisis situations. It called on the EEAS to inform the Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control promptly on the budgetary impacts and expenses incurred because of the pandemic.
  • The total budget of the EEAS for 2019 amounted to EUR 694.8 million (an increase of 2.4 % compared to 2018) split as follows: EUR 249.7 million for EEAS headquarters and EUR 445.1 million for the Delegations. A contribution of EUR 215.8 million was transferred by the Commission to cover the administrative costs of the Commission’s staff working in the Union’s delegations.
  • For the EEAS budget year 2019, the main orientations were a budgetary reinforcement to deal with the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the strengthening of regional security officers and delegation networks, the deployment of additional staff for the EU Military Staff (EUMS) and the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD), information technology capacity and secure communications.
  • Members called on the EEAS to ensure that the EU delegation in the UK has a permanent and stable status in accordance with the treaties and that it has the necessary human and material resources to carry out its tasks, including compliance monitoring.
  • Parliament welcomed the overall improvement in the implementation of the EEAS budget for 2019 with a commitment implementation rate of 99.94% (compared to 99.9% in 2018) and a payment implementation rate of 87.9% (compared to 84.8% in 2018).
  • Members stressed the importance of simplifying and modernising the financial and administrative management of the EEAS.
  • Control effectiveness as regards legality and regularity
  • Parliament noted the rate of anomalies detected in ex ante verifications of commitments and payments (respectively, 308 errors out of 1193, and 394 out of 2119). In both cases the errors are of an administrative nature i.e. incorrect amounts for commitments or a lack of supporting documents for payments presented for ex-ante financial verification.
  • The EEAS should investigate and resolve cases of administrative errors and report back to the Parliament on its achievements.
  • Human resources
  • Noting the EEAS’s vital role in ensuring the coherence of the EU’s foreign policy, Members called for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to not put at risk the Union’s effectiveness on the international scene. Necessary resources are need for a successful implementation of an efficient EU common security and defence policy.
  • Regarding the overall increase in the number of contractual staff from 322 to 444 (a 38% increase) between 2012 and 2018, Parliament supported the EEAS's efforts to strengthen its administration and asked the EEAS to report to Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee on the results and impact of the increase in contractual staff.
  • The EEAS is invited to strengthen the Union's delegations in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries and to create local reporting posts to improve the Union's understanding of its neighbours and to enable them to move closer to the Union's acquis.
  • Parliament noted with satisfaction the upward trend in the proportion of women in senior positions (30.3% compared to 27.1% in 2018 and 24.5% in 2017).
  • Geographical imbalances in the composition of the EEAS staff are a recurrent issue and should be addressed.
  • Strategic communication activities
  • Parliament welcomed the strengthening of the EEAS' strategic communication capacity to combat disinformation and hybrid threats through the establishment of three task forces for Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Southern Europe, and the participation of the EEAS in the early warning system established in the EU institutions and the Member States. It called on the EEAS to further develop this policy with the Parliament's new special committee on foreign interference in order to refine its capacity response.
  • Members called for the creation of strategic communication task forces specifically dedicated to interference from China and the Middle East, in particular Iran. Strategic communication should also focus on combating disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Ethical framework and conflicts of interest
  • Parliament called on the EEAS to increase awareness of its ethical framework and culture among its staff. It called on the EEAS to apply the Staff Regulations effectively and consistently in order to prevent conflicts of interest, including, but not limited to, senior officials and seconded national experts (SNEs).
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  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Alin MITUȚA (Renew Europe, RO) calling on the European Parliament to grant the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the financial year 2019.
  • Members noted with satisfaction that no specific issues were identified in the sample of transactions concerning the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the third consecutive year. The Court did not identify material levels of error in the EEAS annual activity report.
  • Budgetary and financial management
  • The report acknowledged the operational difficulties encountered by the EEAS in the financial management of the EU Network of Delegations due to various crisis situations.
  • The EEAS is asked to inform the Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control promptly on the budgetary impacts and expenses incurred because of the pandemic.
  • The report noted that the total budget of the EEAS for 2019 amounted to EUR 694.8 million (an increase of 2.4 % compared to 2018) split as follows: EUR 249.7 million for EEAS headquarters and EUR 445.1 million for the Delegations.
  • The main budgetary trends in 2019 concern, inter alia , reinforcement to deal with the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Members called on the EEAS to ensure that the Union Delegation to the United Kingdom has a permanent and stable status consistent with the Treaties and that it is provided with the human and material resources to carry out its tasks, in particular with regard to monitoring of compliance.
  • The headquarters’ budget amounted to approximately EUR 250 million, of which EUR 161.8 million (64.8 %) concerned the payment of salaries and other entitlements of statutory and external staff, EUR 32 million (3 %) were for buildings and associated costs, and EUR 35.3 million (14 %) related to IT computer systems including classified information systems, equipment and furniture.
  • Members stressed the importance of simplifying and modernising the EEAS’s financial and administrative management.
  • Control effectiveness as regards legality and regularity
  • The report noted the rate of anomalies detected in ex ante verifications of commitments and payments (respectively, 308 errors out of 1193, and 394 out of 2119). In both cases the errors are of an administrative nature i.e. incorrect amounts for commitments or a lack of supporting documents for payments presented for ex-ante financial verification.
  • The EEAS should investigate and resolve cases of administrative errors and report back to the Parliament on its achievements.
  • Human Resources
  • Noting the EEAS’s vital role in ensuring the coherence of the EU’s foreign policy, Members called for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to not put at risk the Union’s effectiveness on the international scene. Necessary resources are need for a successful implementation of an efficient EU common security and defence policy.
  • Geographical imbalances in the composition of the EEAS staff are a recurrent issue and should be addressed.
  • Working environment
  • The report noted that there is an increase in cases reported to the mediation service concerning either unsolved disagreements around rights and obligations or different kinds of conflict at work, reaching 183 cases in 2019 (compared to 135 cases in 2018).
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