2021/2115(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Highlights the central role played by~~Notes that 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~~has existed for 10 years; stresses that Member States are facing an economic downturn in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, therefore calls for enhanced EEAS performance ~~has~~ to be ~~underpinned by a corresponding staff increase; calls for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to deliver on the Union’s external policy prioriti~~achieved solely through increased cost- efficiency and optimisation; calls for surplus resources to be returned to net paying Member States;

Amendment 11 #

Urmas PAET

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 ~~of staff~~ in terms of ~~gender and~~ geographical origin among staff within different categories and grades, particularly at middle and senior management levels; calls on the EEAS to lead by example, as set out in the Gender Action Plan III, and significantly improve the representation of women and marginalised groups across all levels, with the goal to establish gender parity in leadership and management positions, gender-responsive leadership and gender-sensitive recruitment processes as soon as possible; calls on all Member States to nominate more women and candidates from marginalised groups to seconded positions in the EEAS; points also to a remaining overrepresentation of some Member States’ diplomats among the Heads of Delegation and calls for further efforts to address those imbalances;

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 Heads of Delegation and calls for further efforts to address those imbalances; encourages EEAS to create and share guidelines on best practices on the conducting of recruitment procedures in order to ensure diversity, openness, fairness and transparency;

Amendment 14 #

Evin INCIR

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~~n intersectional distribution of staff in terms of ~~gender and geographical origin~~race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, status, age, class, caste and sexual orientation and gender identity 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 Heads of Delegation and calls for further efforts to address those imbalances;

Amendment 15 #

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 Heads of Delegation and calls for further efforts to address those imbalances;

Amendment 16 #

David LEGA

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 ~~ensur~~promoting 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 Heads of Delegation and calls for further efforts to address those imbalances;

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 #

David LEGA

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~~; underlines the importance of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force~~, which are increasingly used to undermine the democratic order in the Union and in countries in the Union’s vicinity; underlines the importance of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force and calls for the broadening of its mandate, including in relation to state sponsored disinformation originating in China and the Middle East, particularly Iran, and calls for providing it with the necessary financial and personnel resources;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. WCalls for increased efforts to fight foreign interference and manipulative disinformation, which negatively influence the Union’s ability to implement effectively its foreign policies and undermines the values on which the EU is founded; notes the increase of disinformation campaigns linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the negative role certain state and non-state actors played in the dissemination of these campaigns; 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 and malicious foreign influence; underlines the importance of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force and calls for providing it with the necessary financial and personnel resources;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Notes growing instability, deteriorating security environment, geopolitical impact of COVID-19 pandemic and ~~the~~ rise of unprecedented challenges in the international environment, which increased demands on the Union to act as a global player;

Amendment 20 #

Jérôme RIVIÈRE, Thierry MARIANI

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 propaganda and expose disinformation and malicious foreign influence; underlines the importance of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force and calls for providing it with the necessary financial and personnel resources;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. ~~Welcomes the ECA’s Special Report on Disinformation affecting~~Considers that the desire on the part of 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 and malicious foreign influence; underlines the impin particular the EEAS, to tackle issues relating to ‘disinformation’ is about taking subjective positions vis-à-vis third countries; calls fort an~~ce of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force and calls for providing it~~ end to the activities of the Task Force on Disinformation within the ~~necessary financial and personnel resources~~EEAS;

Amendment 22 #

4. ~~Welcomes~~Takes note of the ECA’s Special Report on Disinformation affecting the Union anwhich concluded that "it has not delivered call~~s for implementing the ECA recommendations in the Union’s action plan against disinform~~ its intended results" and that "there is no monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework accompanying the EU action plan and the European democracy action plan, which undermines accountability" and that "the plans include generic objectives that cannot be measured, several actions that are not time-bound and no provisions for evaluation"; stresses the continuous need to ~~fight~~efficiently expose foreign propaganda and ~~expose~~ disinformation and malicious foreign influence~~; underlines the importance of the EEAS Strategic Communication Task Force and calls for providing it with the necessary financial and personnel resources~~, especially with regard to the Chinese origins of Covid-19;

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 ~~Union's external rel~~ir international cooperations and an instrument to communicate ~~its~~their shared 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 capabilitie~~, increase cost-efficiency and cut costs.

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 #

Urmas PAET

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~~, which increased demands on the Union to act as a global player~~;

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 #

Jérôme RIVIÈRE, Thierry MARIANI

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;~~underlines the importance of the EEAS in ensuring the coherence of the Union’s foreign policy and notes that enhanced EEAS performance has to be underpinned by a corresponding staff increase; highlights the need to provide necessary resources for a successful implementation of our Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy and calls for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to deliver on the Union’s external policy priorities;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Highlights the central role played by~~Wants 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; calls for sufficient human resources to be made available in order to deliverto focus primarily on analysis and research; opposes any programmed increase in its staff; calls, in particular, for the EEAS not to recruit independently but to do so on the basis of diplomats being made available from the respective diplomatic corps onf the ~~Union’s external policy prioriti~~Member States;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

source: 700.658

2022/02/03 CONT 55 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the European External Action Service (EEAS) is responsible for the management of the administrative expenditure of its Headquarter (HQ) in Brussels and for the network of the 1434 Union Delegations and Offices;

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Welcomes that following the “Innovative 2019” exercise, aiming at fostering simplification and modernisation of working procedures and processes, several actions were launched in 2020, in particular the centralisation of high-value calls for tenders, the treasury functions and the payment of individual entitlements; notes that in 2020 some operations, in particular pre-award matters for all procurement procedures, have been increasingly centralised at HQ level to improve the quality of the procurement procedures and to alleviate the workload of the Delegations; notes with satisfaction that the full centralisation is expected during year 2021;2 supports the planned workload assessment on Delegations in 2022 as an appropriate review mechanism to help prioritise resources and organisational aspects of the Delegation network;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Understands that the current provisions on procurement set down in the Financial Regulation for application by Delegations in third countries have proved to be inefficient; agrees with the EEAS’ call for a revision of the relevant procurement provisions either by the integration of a separate chapter for Delegations in third countries ~~or by adjusting the value threshold~~, in both cases aiming to adapt the rules in force to the capacities and the local context of the Delegations;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Notes that in 2020 the EEAS published 40 high-value procurement procedures (with a value above the Directive thresholds for services and supplies and above EUR 500 000 for works); notes that the Court examined fifteen procurement procedures for personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies organised in 2020 by some institutions, including EEAS; observes that the Court detected some problems in the procedures used by the audited institutions when procuring urgently required protective masks; observes that these institutions had set strict minimum requirements in the tender specifications (including European reference quality standards for medical face masks and delivery dates);

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)

19 a. Notes that the EU Delegation to Syria was the only one to express a reservation (since 2017) on the management of administrative expenditure due to the current security climate; notes with appreciation that the EEAS succeeded to resolve two pending issues in 2020, regarding income tax of local agents and access to the Delegation's Syrian bank account;

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Welcomes that the nomenclature of errors regarding procurement procedures, used for ~~both ex ante and~~ ex post controls at the EEAS, has been aligned with the one used by the Court, allowing for a better comparison of the results; appreciates that, following the Court’s assessment of the EEAS Annual Activity Report for 2019, the EEAS internal audit strategy was amended to provide more accurate information on the error rates used for the annual statement of assurance, making a clear distinction between the detected errors and the residual errors and thus, providing more accurate information regarding the action taken to correct the errors detected during the ex-post control exercise;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)

21 a. Welcomes the implementation of the Multi-Annual Strategic Audit Plan developed by the IAS; calls on the EEAS to inform the discharge authority about the results and lessons learnt from this strategy;

Amendment 16 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. Highlights that the Union is confronted with a volatile international environment and an increasing number of crises, which has led to increasing demands on the Union to play an important role at an international level; notes that the enhanced role of the EEAS in dealing with new challenges such as disinformation shall be underpinned by a corresponding staff increase; supports the EEAS’ call on the budgetary authority for sufficient human resources in order to deliver the Union’s effectiveness as a global actor; underlines in particular the urgent need to use flexibly available resources such as a higher number of SNEs from Member States to adjust to new requests;

Amendment 17 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Notes that in the AST and AST/SC categories the percentage of women decreased to 65.35 % compared to 66.3 % in 2019; stresses that imbalances remained among the different grades, with women representing 66.2 % of staff in the lower grades (AST2 to AST9) but only 33.3 % in the higher grades (AST10 to AST11); points out the gender balance reached with regard to contract agents (59.4 %) and local agents (54.5 %), while the majority of seconded national experts were men (75.2 %, mostly due to the limited female presence in the Member States military);

Amendment 18 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Gilles BOYER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28

28. Notes that in the AST and AST/SC categories the percentage of women decreased to 65.35 % compared to 66.3 % in 2019; ~~stresse~~regrets that imbalances remained among the different grades, with women representing 66.2 % of staff in the lower grades (AST2 to AST9) but only 33.3 % in the higher grades (AST10 to AST11); points out the gender balance reached with regard to contract agents (59.4 %) and local agents (54.5 %), while the majority of seconded national experts were men (75.2 %);

Amendment 19 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Welcomes the many actions launched by EEAS to reach the gender balance, as well as to create an open and inclusive working environment, to integrate result-oriented and flexible working conditions incorporating work-life balance; welcomes specific actions like networking for women in pre-management positions and tailored programmes for women in middle-management positions as a talent-base for future senior management posts, mandatory training on unconscious bias for members of recruitment panels, enhanced coordination with Member States to encourage more female candidates and support spouses seeking to find employment in third countries; applauds that, to further improve gender mainstreaming, a gender auditing of internal policies is ongoing, and asks the EEAS to report to Parliament about the recommendations and follow up to promote a strong gender-responsive leadership; Underlines that this a recurrent issue and reiterates the call for the EEAS to continue its efforts to achieve gender balance at all hierarchical levels and welcomes actions such as the mandatory presence of both genders on selection panels, the active encouragement of female applicants for all managerial positions, specific training sessions for female staff who wish to prepare for a managerial career and more flexible working arrangement.

Amendment 2 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas under the EEAS Internal Rules the Secretary General of the EEAS acts as Authorising Officer by Delegation for the Institution and the Director General for ~~Budget and Administration~~Resource Management has the role of principal subdelegated authorising officer;

Amendment 20 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Is concerned by the lack of gender balance across the applications for management posts, where only 27 % of applicants were women; observes that women made up 53 % of the applicants for heads of administration, 82 % of applicants for assistant to head of Delegation and 100 % of applicants for assistant to deputy head of Delegation; calls on the EEAS to exploring strategies to encourage and facilitate female candidates to apply for management posts; insists on encouraging Member States to put forward qualified women for management positions, including senior management positions; encourages the EEAS to better promoting its carrer opportunities and vacancies among national diplomats, international studies professionals, academia and civil society;

Amendment 21 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Reiterates its concern about the geographical imbalances in the composition of the EEAS staff as it is a recurrent issue, especially concerning the positions of Heads of delegations, middle and senior management; Is aware of the EEAS efforts to achieve a meaningful geographical representation while respecting the competences and merits of candidates and reiterates, in this regard, the necessary provision of additional SNEs to face the EEAS’ increasing workload; observes that at the end of 2020 EEAS staff included nationals from all Member States and welcomes the efforts made by the EEAS to keep the Human Resources Network of Member States informed about the composition of staff, to publish vacancies and to promote national efforts to increase the number of candidates;

Amendment 22 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO, Joachim Stanisław BRUDZIŃSKI, Elżbieta RAFALSKA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Is aware of the EEAS efforts to achieve a meaningful geographical representation while respecting the competences and merits of candidates and reiterates, in this regard, the necessary provision of additional SNEs to face the EEAS’ increasing workload; urges the EEAS to continue its efforts to improve the geographical representation, as this is a recurring problem, especially in the positions of Heads of Delegation and middle and senior management; observes that at the end of 2020 EEAS staff included nationals from all Member States and welcomes the efforts made by the EEAS to keep the Human Resources Network of Member States informed about the composition of staff, to publish vacancies and to promote national efforts to increase the number of candidates;

Amendment 23 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Considers it important to ensure a balanced representation of countries that joined the Union after 2004 or later (EU13) and thus, welcomes that the number of staff from these Member States at the end of 2020 had increased by 6 % compared to the previous year; ~~points out that the share of~~Underlines, however, that considerable discrepancies between the representation at management level of countries with comparable population size persists; Regrets that only 30 management positions (33 in 2019) from 267 positions are held by citizens of the EU 13 ~~in the EEAS staff is 23 % at the end of 2020, which is more than the share within the Union~~, less than the 3 biggest member states taken individually; stresses that the EEAS, like all Union institutions, must ensure that all Member States are proportionally represented while at the same time respecting the competences and merits of the candidates; Calls on the EEAS to make significant progress and to enhance the geographical balance in order to have a prop~~ulation, which corresponds to 20 %~~er representation of nationals from all Member States, reflecting their diversity, as indicated in the Article 27 of the Staff Regulations;

Amendment 24 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO, Joachim Stanisław BRUDZIŃSKI, Elżbieta RAFALSKA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Considers it important to ensure a balanced representation of countries that joined the Union after 2004 or later (EU13) ~~and thus, welcom~~; notes that the number of staff from these Member States at the end of 2020 had increased by 6 % compared to the previous year; points out that the share of EU13 in the EEAS staff is 23 % at the end of 2020~~, which is more than the share within the Union population, which corresponds to 20 %~~;

Amendment 25 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Notes that the EEAS ~~Medical Service~~ provides guidance and accompanying measures to mitigate the risks of burnout, including psychological support, advice on appropriate local assistance, trainings on stress management and a helpline; welcomes that the EEAS adopted a set of rules to maintain the right to disconnect for all members of staff with specific rules on the use of email and telephone outside working hours;

Amendment 26 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40

40. Commends the EEAS’ attention to social dialogue and underlines the positive impact of the direct participation of members of staff having first-hand experience of the measures submitted for discussion; welcomes in particular the broad consultation on the future of the EEAS where more than 500 colleagues from both HQ and Delegations took part and seven focus groups channelled all reflections into concrete working proposals, a project known as #EEAS@20; encourages the EEAS to keep this approach in order to respond to the expectation of members of staff while addressing the needs of the service;

Amendment 27 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42

42. Notes that the EEAS administration handled four formal requests for assistance which concerned allegations of harassment, out of which three cases have been closed without any sanction, while the opinion of the Disciplinary Board has been requested for the last case; asks the EEAS to report on this case in due time; commends that in 2020 the EEAS launched its first-ever mandatory training for managers on how to create a harassment-free work environment; Encourages the EEAS to continue to organise systematic training and awareness sessions in the area of proper conduct of its staff; believes that such sessions should be part of compulsory training for newly recruited staff;

Amendment 28 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43

43. Notes that in 2020 the EEAS recruited 41 remunerated Blue Book Trainees for a 5-month traineeship in its HQ; notes that 385 trainees were employed for 101 Delegations, for traineeships with an average length of 5 months; ~~points out~~regrets that 39 traineeships were still unpaid; notes that all the trainees received a personal computer to telework; calls on the EEAS to take the ~~appropriate~~urgent steps to ensure that all its trainees receive a decent remuneration; recommends to allocate more budget to pay trainees;

Amendment 29 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Gilles BOYER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43

43. Notes that in 2020 the EEAS recruited 4157 remunerated Blue Book Trainees for a 5-month traineeship in its HQ; notes that 385 trainees were employed for 101 Delegations, for traineeships with an average length of 5 months; points out that 39 traineeships were unpaid; notes that all the Blue Book trainees received a personal computer to telework; calls on the EEAS to take the appropriate steps to ensure that all its trainees receive a decent remuneration;

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Whereas in the context of the discharge procedure, the discharge authority wishes to stress the particular importance of further strengthening the democratic legitimacy of the Union institutions by improving transparency and accountability, and implementing the concept of performance-based budgeting and good governance of human resources;

Amendment 30 #

Jeroen LENAERS, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)

43 a. Expresses its grave concern about the revelations on alleged modifications conducted by EEAS to its critical report assessing narratives and disinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic, following pressure from Chinese diplomats; notes that EEAS confirmed that there has been influence attempts from China; highlights that specific references to China running a 'global disinformation' campaign and Chinese criticism of France's reaction to the pandemic were absent in the final version of the report; seriously questions in this context the denial by the High Representative of any link between China's influence attempt and the modification of the report; stresses that EEAS is the main Union institution responsible for countering foreign interference; highlights that EEAS should lead by example by never bending for external pressures and foreign attempts that destabilize or influence its functioning; regrets the loss of credibility of the EEAS as a result of these revelations; urges the EEAS to take action to counter any future foreign interference attempts; requests the EEAS to keep the discharge authority informed about possible additional inference attempts and its subsequent response;

Amendment 31 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Gilles BOYER, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

45. Calls on the EEAS to monitor the positions of the former heads of Delegations, given their sensitive political role and functions in host countries; invites the EEAS to systematically review potentially problematic transitions to the private sector or to third country organisations and to continue monitoring the occupation of the former senior officials until the end of the mandatory cooling-off period, as unaddressed conflict-of-interest situations may compromise the enforcement of high ethical standards throughout the Union administration;

Amendment 32 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Notes that in 2020 the EEAS examined only 25 notifications of intention to engage in an occupational activity after leaving the service, out of which six notifications came from former senior members of staff; asks the EEAS to automatically request information on the intended occupation of senior staff members leaving their positions; underlines that the geopolitical sensitive information senior staff members have access to cannot be compromised; welcomes the retroactive publication of its decisions on occupational activities of former senior officials in compliance with Article 16(3) of the Staff Regulations; is aware of the automatic application of a lobbying and advocacy ban to every official having left the service;

Amendment 33 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)

47 a. Considers that the highest ethical standards should be applied to avoid potential conflicts of interests, taking into account the specificities of work in Delegation to mitigate reputational risk for the Union and the EEAS, particularly for Heads of Delegation;

Amendment 34 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

48. Notes that the EEAS does not hold meetings with organisations and self- employed individuals qualified as lobbyists in line with Article 11 TEU; strongly encourages the EEAS to nevertheless explore the possibility of joining the Union’s transparency register, on the basis of a service level agreement, in order to improve transparency by disclosing all meetings with all lobby organisations that try to influence the law-making and policy implementation processes of the Union institutions; reiterates its disagreement with the EEAS’ opinion that an obligation to record meetings with lobbyists in third countries would make it difficult for Heads of Union Delegations to engage with the Union's economic interests in third countries; believes that citizens should be allowed to know which organisations Union Ambassadors are meeting;

Amendment 35 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

Amendment 36 #

Sabrina PIGNEDOLI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48

48. Notes that the EEAS does not hold meetings with organisations and self- employed individuals qualified as lobbyists in line with Article 11 TEU; encourages the EEAS to ~~nevertheless explore the possibility of~~ join~~ing~~ the Union’s transparency register, on the basis of a service level agreement;

Amendment 37 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

49. Observes that EEAS has received 20 requests for information from OLAF related to possible cases of fraud, involving Union staff or external actors and in the case of five of them OLAF decided to open an investigation; observes that the Ombudsman has handled 14 cases concerning EEAS without issuing any recommendation; welcomes that cooperation with the EPPO is being explored on the advice and with the support of OLAF; calls on the EEAS to timely and diligently inform the discharge authority about the outcome of those investigations;

Amendment 38 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Gilles BOYER, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49

49. Observes that EEAS has received 20 requests for information from OLAF related to possible cases of fraud, involving Union staff or external actors and in the case of five of them OLAF decided to open an investigation; observes that the Ombudsman has handled 14 cases concerning EEAS without issuing any recommendation; welcomes that cooperation with the EPPO is being explored on the advice and with the support of OLAF; Invites EEAS to intensify the cooperation with EPPO and to integrate it as a component of its general anti-fraud strategy;

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 a (new)

49 a. Emphasises the necessity for the EEAS to fully comply with the Commission's Guidelines on Whistleblowing, in particular to protect whistleblowers in good faith against any form of prejudice.

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Regrets, despite the Court's general consideration, that its audit has a rather limited scope and conclusions; requests that the audit work for the chapter on Administration be more focused on issues that are of high relevance or even critical for the EEAS

Amendment 40 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53 a (new)

53 a. Encourages the EEAS to prioritise open source technology in order to retain control over its own technical systems, avoid dependency and vendor lock-in, provide stronger safeguards for user’s privacy and data protection, as well as increase security and transparency for the public;

Amendment 41 #

Joachim KUHS, Charlie WEIMERS, Jean-François JALKH, Matteo ADINOLFI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57

57. Supports the EEAS in its efforts to increase the use of colocations in its Delegations, which has more than ~~doub~~quadrupled over the past 5 years (from 20 in 2011 to 116 in 2020) and represents 7 % of the total office surface; appreciates that the management of colocations viathe Framework Agreement with each colocation partner has facilitated the recovery of EUR 12 million of costs in 2020;

Amendment 42 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57 a (new)

57 a. Seriously questions the purchase projects envisaged in D.R. Congo (offices), Afghanistan (plot of land), Mali (offices) and in the UK (Residence)1a; requires a justification note from the EEAS regarding the eventual guarantee of its private property over the planned purchase of the land in Afghanistan given the Taliban practices to seize public and private estate; _________________ 1a Working document on the real estate policy of the European external action service in 2020(article 266.11 of the financial regulation)

Amendment 43 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Gilles BOYER, Michal WIEZIK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58

58. Underlines that during the COVID- 19 pandemic, the Union institutions observed a 600 % increase in cyber- attacks; welcomes the several initiatives launched by the EEAS to raise security awareness and promote a security culture across the institution, such security campaigns, training of members of staff to detect security threats and providing guidance on how to mitigate threats or reduce their impact; supports the EEAS in increasing its safety measures protecting both members of staff and the EEAS’s digital infrastructure from external threats and attacks; Stresses that the EEAS needs adequate personnel, procedures, infrastructure, tools in order to reducing the security risks, especially related to cybersecurity;

Amendment 44 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59

59. Points out that the EEAS has managed a total budget of EUR 65 600 000 for 2020 covering security services; notes that the total amount spent on security installations & maintenance for Delegations was EUR 12 942 311; observes that the whole budget for secure communications amounted to EUR 18 163 000; takes notes of the expected challenges for the protection of EU Delegations identified by the EEAS and, in particular, the lack of autonomous action to mobilise any defence capabilities in case of crises and evacuations; notes that the EEAS has reached agreements with some Members States to support, in some countries, the evacuation of expatriate staff and dependant, which has the negative aspect that this option limits the autonomy of the EEAS and EU Delegations to stay in host countries during crises; reiterates its call for fully using the potential of the Lisbon Treaty provisions to works towards a European defence union and its support for more cooperation, increased investment and pooling resources to create synergies at EU level in order to better protect Europeans;

Amendment 45 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 a (new)

60 a. Deeply regrets that the EEAS has given into Chinese pressure, as it toned down the language of one of its reports initially calling China a “propagator of disinformation” related to the COVID-19 pandemic; notes that the High Representative admitted that Chinese officials had “expressed their concerns” over the leak of the draft publication, which led to the changes; asks the EEAS to set up strong measures to protect the EEAS staff from foreign interference;

Amendment 46 #

Jeroen LENAERS, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66

66. Notes the success of many EEAS media campaigns on key issues, such as ’We Take You Home’ on the repatriation of Union citizens due to COVID-19, ‘United in Distance’ to showcase stories of solidarity across the world in times of crisis, ’EU in Action’ on the work on the ground of the Union as a security provider, and ’BeTheWave’ on climate issues; points out that EEAS channels have also contributed to enhance visibility of 'Team Europe' worldwide; highlights that that EEAS social media account is one of the global leaders ~~in terms of engagement~~ amongst diplomatic services ~~and its website received 13 million~~with over 700 thousand followers and evident growth in terms of audience interactions, while its website received 21 million page views and 13 million unique page views in 2020;

Amendment 47 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66 a (new)

66 a. Calls urgently for the deployment of adequate capabilities by the EEAS in order to address information manipulation and interference emanating from China; stresses further the need to significantly boost expertise and language capacity with regard to China and other strategically important regions;

Amendment 48 #

Alin MITUȚA, Olivier CHASTEL, Ramona STRUGARIU, Pierre KARLESKIND, Gilles BOYER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67 a (new)

67 a. Welcomes that the EEAS published five Special Reports on COVID- 19 disinformation to raise awareness of persistent actors’ activity, such as Russia, and highlight the emergence of new actors; Welcomes the increased East Strat Com Task Force budget; calls for further substantial increase in the budget in order for the Union to successfully counter- attack the disinformation campaigns; reiterates its calls for more information campaigns to better inform about Union policies in the Eastern Partnership countries;

Amendment 49 #

Charlie WEIMERS, Joachim KUHS, Jean-François JALKH, Matteo ADINOLFI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69 a (new)

69 a. Is concerned by researchers accusing EU vs Disinfo of not respecting the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles because its methodology would not be transparent enough, it would violate the right to freedom of expression and of the press by labelling publishers and media outlets that report on third party opinions as “disinforming outlets”, as well as it would fail to provide objective impartiality, as it does not provide the right to be heard; asks the EEAS to provide more information to the Parliament on the compliance of its review methodology with EU law and international standards;

Amendment 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 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 50 #

Jeroen LENAERS, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Petri SARVAMAA, Monika HOHLMEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72

72. ~~Not~~Welcomes that following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union on 31 January 2020, the EEAS finally established~~, in close cooperation with the Commission and Parliament, an EU Delegation~~ an EU Delegation in London and a UK Division within its HQ structure; regrets however the delay in the granting of diplomatic status to EP staff working at the Liaison Office in London, and ~~a UK Division within its HQ structure~~the initial refusal of the EEAS to bring this issue to a satisfactory conclusion; understands that the Establishment Agreement replaces any temporary provisions and ensures that the Delegation in London, its members of staff and property, enjoy privileges and immunities equivalent to those referred to in the Vienna Convention in a similar way as the other 143 Delegations and Offices; regrets that EEAS negotiated the draft establishment agreement with the UK authorities without consulting the European Parliament; stresses that sending regular updates to the Parliament rather than properly consulting the Parliament does not meet EEAS' obligation of “appropriate support and cooperation” as laid down in Article 3(4) of the Council Decision establishing the EEAS; notes that by the end of 2020, almost 40 positions (including expatriate and local staff) were filled out of the 43 positions available in total; is aware that the Delegation is located in the building, property of the Union, used in the past by the Representation of the Commission and the European Parliament Liaison Office (EPLO);

Amendment 51 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72

72. Notes that following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union on 31 January 2020, the EEAS established, in close cooperation with the Commission and Parliament, an EU Delegation in London and a UK Division within its HQ structure; understands that the Establishment Agreement replaces any temporary provisions and ensures that the Delegation in London, its members of staff and property, enjoy privileges and immunities equivalent to those referred to in the Vienna Convention in a similar way as the other 1434 Delegations and Offices; notes that by the end of 2020, almost 40 positions (including expatriate and local staff) were filled out of the 43 positions available in total; is aware that the Delegation is located in the building, property of the Union, used in the past by the Representation of the Commission and the European Parliament Liaison Office (EPLO);

Amendment 52 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 a (new)

73 a. regrets past situations of leakage to the press of confidential reports on elections observation missions and welcomes the solution founds between the EP and EEAS on the transmission of files; expresses confidence that EEAS will keep facilitating the regular exchange of views between the Chief Observers and Deputy Chief Observers and the MEPs, before, during and after an election observation mission;

Amendment 53 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78

78. Supports that in a number of countries additional measures were taken to reduce the medical risks posed to members of staff because the health care systems were deemed fragile; highlights that the EEAS shipped vaccines to the 72 Delegations asking for support, which were provided to around 4,000 people, including expatriate staff in Delegations, their family members and to local agents; points out that all members of staff in HQ were provided with a corporate laptop and that over 5 000 were dispatched to the Delegations, together with PPE and medical supplies for those who were most exposed, despite the challenging delivery in countries with quarantine or lockdown measures; acknowledges that the IT infrastructure was ramped up rapidly to meet the requirements of full-scale teleworking, including increasing the internet capacity and the capacity for video conferencing;

Amendment 54 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 79

79. Notes that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak also exposed the Union’s strategic and systemic vulnerabilities, such as supply chains or pharmaceutical products, and drew attention to the need for the Union to strengthen its own resilience and autonomy, while at the same time to pursue more assertively international partnerships; acknowledges the pandemic also brought further impetus to on-going processes, not only towards the twin digital and green transitions, but also at global level, such as moving the EU-Africa Partnership to the next level, re-invigorating the European Union-United States relationship, paying additional attention to Latin America, and putting the strategic outlook to China in practice;

Amendment 55 #

Charlie WEIMERS, Joachim KUHS, Jean-François JALKH, Matteo ADINOLFI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82

82. Supports the EEAS’ approach to calling for an assertive and comprehensive response as a main tool to aid recovery from a deep geopolitical crisis and to “build back better” at home and globally; encourages the EEAS to fully integrate in the internal management strategy the lessons drawn from the pandemic outbreak, in terms of business continuity and crisis management approaches, IT responsiveness, resilience of the organisation, duty of care towards its staff, effectiveness of internal communication and flexibility of working processes.

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 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 #