Next event: Indicative plenary sitting date 2022/05/02
Progress: Awaiting committee decision
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | CONT | GARCÍA MUÑOZ Isabel ( S&D) | LENAERS Jeroen ( EPP), MITUȚA Alin ( Renew), PEKSA Mikuláš ( Verts/ALE), KUHS Joachim ( ID), FLANAGAN Luke Ming ( GUE/NGL) |
Committee Opinion | AFCO | ||
Committee Opinion | AFET | GAHLER Michael ( EPP) | Urmas PAET ( RE), Ernest URTASUN ( Verts/ALE), Özlem DEMIREL ( GUE/NGL), Evin INCIR ( S&D) |
Committee Opinion | DEVE |
Lead committee dossier:
Subjects
Events
PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2020, as part of the 2020 discharge procedure.
Analysis of the accounts of the EU Institutions: European External Action Service
The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective. They are prepared according to the highest available international public sector standards.
The discharge is a Parliament decision that reflects its conclusions at the end of a process, the discharge procedure, on the way the Commission (and other institutions and bodies) has carried out its task of implementing the EU budget.
The decision is based in particular on the European Court of Auditors reports, in particular its annual report, in which the Court provides a Statement of Assurance (DAS) on the legality and regularity of transactions (payments and commitments).
Implementation of the EEAS’s appropriations for the financial year 2020
The initial budget for 2020 approved by Budget Authority was EUR 731.1 million , representing an increase of 5.2% compared to 2019. This amount was divided between:
- budget headquarters: EUR 276.3 million : 62.3% of this budget (EUR 172.1 million) was allocated to the payment of salaries and other entitlements of statutory and external staff. Other significant costs in the budget relate to buildings and associated costs (15% or EUR 42.2 million) and computer systems (including classified information systems), equipment and furniture with 18% or EUR 48.5 million;
- budget delegations: EUR 454.7 million : this amount was divided between EUR 132.3 million (29.1%) for remuneration and entitlements of statutory staff, EUR 79.4 million (17.5%) for external staff and outside services, EUR 33.9 million (7.5%) for other expenditure related to staff, EUR 162.6 million (35.7%) for buildings and associated costs and EUR 46.5 million (10.2%) for other administrative expenditure.
In addition to the EEAS’s own budget, the EEAS also disposed of an amount of EUR 212.4 million (including assigned revenues and carried over amounts) of Commission money to cover the administrative costs of Commission staff working in EU Delegations.
The EEAS’s activities in 2020 were marked by :
- the continuation of a challenging security environment affecting several areas of the work under civil unrest and political turmoil due to intensified conflicts or election processes;
- the COVID-19 pandemic which lead to a special situation for the entire Institution and impacted heavily the operations of the HQ and EU Delegations. The EEAS implemented the Joint Communication on the Global EU response to COVID-19 and the Team Europe package with Member States. It contributed to addressing the urgent needs arising from the crisis through an emergency humanitarian response, support to the strengthening of health systems and research capacities, as well as to address the socio-economic consequences. By mobilising all existing cooperation programmes and redirecting existing financial resources, Team Europe has mobilised over EUR 38 billion in support to partner countries with over 50% of the funds disbursed in 2020. A particular focus was put on the most vulnerable partner countries and fragile populations, especially in the Neighbourhood, Africa and the Western Balkans, but also in the Middle East, parts of Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean;
- the EEAS contributing to the efforts at multilateral level. The EU used its convening power to secure funding and commitment across the world for universal access to prevention, diagnostic and treatment against COVID-19, including through the Coronavirus Global Response Pledging Conference. It pledged EUR 1.4 billion to this COVID-19 response pillar in the form of grants and guarantees. Team Europe contributed EUR 850 million to COVAX, the global vaccine initiative;
- the HR/VP supported the repatriation of stranded EU citizens. Coordinated by the EEAS and EU Delegations, more than 625 000 European nationals were repatriated between January and May 2020;
- an unprecedented disruption to the 2020 budget execution caused by the pandemic;
- the EU Delegation to China organising the voluntary evacuation of non-essential expatriate staff and / or their family members;
- the EEAS withdrew evacuation decisions in Iraq, Haiti and Afghanistan after significant reinforcements of these Delegations’ security.
Documents
- Committee opinion: PE699.319
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE703.193
- Committee draft report: PE699.078
- Non-legislative basic document published: EUR-Lex
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2021)0381
- Committee draft report: PE699.078
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE703.193
- Committee opinion: PE699.319
Amendments | Dossier |
31 |
2021/2115(DEC)
2021/12/07
AFET
31 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Notes growing instability and the rise of unprecedented challenges in the international environment, which increased demands on the Union to act
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2.
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2 a. Emphasises the need to ensure the coherence of EU’s foreign policy, there is also a need to provide necessary resources for a successful implementation of an efficient EU Security and Defence Policy;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Notes the lack of diversity and remaining gender and geographical imbalances within the EEAS staff, despite slightly positive trends in previous years; reiterates the importance of ensuring greater diversity, gender equality and a balanced distribution
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Notes the remaining gender and geographical imbalances within the EEAS staff, despite slightly positive trends in previous years; reiterates the importance of ensuring a balanced distribution of staff in terms of gender and geographical origin within different categories and grades, particularly at middle and senior management levels; points also to a remaining overrepresentation of some Member States’ diplomats among the
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Notes the remaining gender and geographical imbalances within the EEAS staff, despite slightly positive trends in previous years; reiterates the importance of ensuring a
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Notes the remaining
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Notes the remaining gender and geographical imbalances within the EEAS staff, despite slightly positive trends in previous years; reiterates the importance of
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3 a. Urges the EEAS to follow-up without further delay on their announcement provided in their written answers to the Committee on Budgetary Control in the context of the 2019 discharge, to adopt and implement its self- standing implementation provisions on outside activities and assignments, which create a sui generis legal basis for Heads of Delegations to better protect the image and reputation of the EU as a whole;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Welcomes the ECA’s Special Report on Disinformation affecting the Union and calls for implementing the ECA recommendations in the Union’s action plan against disinformation; stresses the continuous need to fight foreign propaganda and expose disinformation, espionage and malicious foreign influence
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Notes growing instability, deteriorating security environment, geopolitical impact of COVID-19 pandemic and
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Welcomes the ECA’s Special Report on Disinformation affecting the Union and calls for implementing the ECA recommendations in the Union’s action plan against disinformation based on a published timeline; believes that improvements to the coordination and accountability of EU actions against disinformation and to the operational arrangements of the StratCom division and its task forces should be treated as a priority, including enhancing engagement with Council and Parliament and reaching recruitment targets; stresses the continuous need to fight foreign
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 22 #
4.
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Underlines the importance of public diplomacy and strategic communication as an integral aspect of the Union's external relations and an instrument to communicate its values and interests and to enhance the Union’s visibility; calls on the EEAS to continue its efforts to modernise its approaches and invest in new skills and capabilities; reiterates the importance of promoting rule of law, fundamental freedoms and values that the EU is based on.
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Underlines the importance of Member States coordinating public diplomacy and strategic communication as an integral aspect of the
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5 a. Welcomes the findings of the Court of Auditors in their Special report no 07/2016 that EEAS owns buildings that it does not use, considers that EU delegations and EEAS buildings would be a natural place to start cutting costs and requests a detailed review to be carried out to identify delegations that could be closed or merged to enable further cost reductions.
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5 a. Repeats its call for a more dedicated review of the administrative expenditure and support activities of the EEAS and specifically on topics that are becoming of higher or even critical relevance for the EEAS; calls on the Court of Auditors to explore ways of providing more information on the administrative expenditure of other Union institutions in the context of the discharge.
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5 a. Recalls the leading role of EU delegations in third countries with respect to the conduct of EU's foreign policy goals; calls on EU delegations to continue their coordinated efforts to increase the visibility of EU-funded projects.
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5 a. Emphasises the growing need for a coherent updated EU-Arctic policy; notes that the new NDICI instrument opens up opportunities to finance the Arctic region.
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 b (new) 5 b. Calls on the EEAS to strengthen the role of the EU delegations in third countries in order to reinforce their ability to debunk disinformation campaigns threatening democratic values orchestrated by foreign state actors; in light of the ongoing disinformation campaigns, calls for support to more active and effective communication policy on the European perspective for candidate and potential candidate countries and on EU values and democracy more general, aimed at both local and EU citizens.
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Notes growing instability and the rise of unprecedented challenges in the international environment
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 b (new) 5 b. Calls on the EEAS to strengthen the Union Delegations engagement in our neighbourhood and particularly in the Western Balkan countries in order to provide a best possible assistance to the countries engaged in pro-democratic and pro-European reforms.
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 b (new) 5 b. Deplores that the EU continues to reward blackmail by giving EUR 700 000 to the unrecognised Lukashenko regime in connection to the migration crisis at the EU’s external borders; calls for an immediate reversal of policy as there are reasonable indications to suspect that Lukashenko will use EU money for further hybrid warfare activities against Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1 a. Notes with grave concern that the total financial impact of all reservations by Directors-General to declarations of assurance amounted to EUR 1219 million for 2020, 16% higher than in 20191a; _________________ 1aAnnual Management and Performance Report 2020
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1 a. Emphasises that the EU needs a robust and resilient external service with clear political leadership in order to tackle the current challenges;
Amendment 6 #
1 b. Notes with grave concern that the financial impact of the reservations for the policy area 'External relations' increased from EUR 16 million in 2019 to EUR 21 million in 2020; calls for immediate action to be taken by the Commission to address this issue;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the central role played by the European External Action Service (EEAS) in conducting the Union’s external policy and welcomes that it lived up to the many challenges over the 10 years of its existence;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2.
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the central role played by the European External Action Service (EEAS) in conducting the Union’s external policy and welcomes that it lived up to the many challenges over the 10 years of its existence; notes, however, that enhanced EEAS performance has to be underpinned by a corresponding staff increase and a stronger EU esprit de corps within the EEAS; calls for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to deliver on the Union’s external policy priorities;
source: 700.658
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History
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