2022/2126(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Welcomes the introduction of the digital signature; encourages the Undertaking to work towards further digitalisation;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6 c. Salutes that Clean Sky engages the best talent and resources in Europe and is jointly funded and governed by the Union and the major European aeronautics companies; notes that it utilises the key skills and knowledge of the leading European aeronautic research establishments and academic faculties; emphasizes that small and medium-size enterprises and innovative sub-sector leaders will help to shape promising new supply chains;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)

6 d. Welcomes the ongoing progress on delivering vital full-scale in-flight demonstrations of novel architectures and configurations, as well as on advanced technology inserted and demonstrated at full systems level enabling step-changes in environmental and economic performance and bring crucial competitiveness benefits to European industry;

Amendment 12 #

Maria GRAPINI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Welcomes the fact that, despite the COVID-19 crisis, the programme has entered its delivery phase with 107 demonstrators at completion, 30% completed in 2021 and above 80% of deliverables achieved by end 2021; notes however that delays of 6.5 months on average are expected for one fourth of the demonstrators; suggests that necessary and effective measures should be taken in the future to avoid such delays;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7 a. Notes the Joint Undertaking's high-level objective, as set out in the Council Regulation 2021/2085, to expand and foster integration of the climate- neutral aviation research and innovation value chains, including academia, research organisations, industry and SMEs, as well as the stated mission of developing disruptive new aircraft technology to pave the way towards the Union’s ambition of climate neutrality by 2050;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Salutes the progress of the Undertaking in R&D related to technologies for engine manufacturing and SAF and calls to further intensify the research in order to contribute to the greening of aviation by technological advancements; recalls onthat the ~~Commission to provide sufficient funding to implement those new technologies via retrofitting and renewal schemes.~~only way to efficiently and structurally green aviation and to avoid demand management measures is to invest massively in the production of currently available zero- emission fuels, particularly synthetic fuels with direct air capture, and considers that sufficient funding by the Commission should be provided to such production;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Salutes the progress of the Undertaking in R&D related to technologies for engine manufacturing and SAF and calls to further intensify the research on the electrification of aviation but also on the use of hydrogen in order to contribute to the greening of aviation by technological advancements; calls on the Commission to provide sufficient funding to implement those new technologies via retrofitting and renewal schemes.

Amendment 16 #

Maria GRAPINI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Suggests that the Undertaking provide information to private and public stakeholders to support their dialogue with internal and external counterparts on environmental issues, policies, necessary infrastructures and critical success factors for the transition to climate-neutral aviation;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Notes with satisfaction that the ex- post audit results in 2021 had a representative error rate of 2.52 % and that the corresponding residual error rate (remaining error after implementing corrective actions resulting from the ex- post controls) of 1.10 %, is well below the 2 % target;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Welcomes that the Joint Undertaking's priorities include the development of hydrogen technology, as well as electric-powered architectures; stresses that hydrogen used in the aviation sector should also be based only on additional renewable sources;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Welcomes the continued implementation of the Undertaking’s Anti-Fraud Strategy; calls the Undertaking to follow OLAF recommendations in order to avoid cases of fraud;

Amendment 2 #

Tomasz Piotr PORĘBA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Stresses that the Financial Regulation and high management standards have to be observed by all the Union’s institutions;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8 b. Recalls the increasing concerns due to the evidence of non-CO2 emissions impacting climate even to a higher extent and urges the Undertaking to incorporate this aspect as a priority in its work; insists on the importance of lowering aromatics, sulphur and naphthalenes as much as possible and in a timely manner; considers that the Joint Undertaking is well placed to contribute substantially to this endeavour;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Notes that the follow up on the Court of Auditors' 2020 recommendation regarding the use of interim staff is still outstanding; calls on the Undertaking to address the issue as soon as possible; as this situation creates instability and significant risks for the Undertaking; notes that the implementation of the Undertaking's research and innovation agenda cannot be realized with this level of statutory staffing;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Regrets that there was no call launched in 2021 for proposals;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Commends the strong SME involvement in terms of participation (29% of the total number of participations in funded projects - 555 out of 1887) and the high level of success of SME applicants (43%); recalls that the Undertaking creates new opportunities for SMEs;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Highlights the essential role played by the Undertaking ensuring aviation sector's involvement in the European Green Deal;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Salutes the launch, in December 2021 of the Clean Aviation Joint undertaking that will run the Clean Aviation programme from 2022 to the end 2031 with projected funding of EUR 4.1 billion (including EUR 1.7 billion from the European Union); commends the preparatory work of the Undertaking in that regard and emphasises that its activities should be strictly geared towards the development of zero-emission technologies and their respective fuels;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Notes that Clean Sky 2 programme clearly demonstrates the benefits of a true public private partnership; notes that stake holder participation was at a high level, including SMEs (often their first participation in the European framework programme), research centres and academia; also notes that the industry is increasingly using Clean Sky as the focus of their research and innovation programmes because of the efficiency and effectiveness of Clean Sky research at European level; emphasizes that the Undertaking has proven tobe an appropriate management body;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Welcomes the adoption of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in December 2021; notes that the adoption of the SRIA also confirmed the three key thrusts for the research and innovation efforts in Clean Aviation, that will drive energy efficiency and emissions reductions of future aircraft and they will also form the architecture of the Joint Undertaking’s10-year programme focusing on hybrid electric and full electric architectures, ultra-efficient aircraft architectures and disruptive technologies to enable hydrogen-powered aircraft;

source: 739.641

2023/02/02 CONT 15 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Michal WIEZIK, Ramona STRUGARIU, Olivier CHASTEL, Alin MITUȚA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Not~~Welcomes from the report of the Courts of Auditors (the ‘Court’s report’) that the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year ended on 31 December 2021 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Joint Undertaking at 31 December 2021, the results of its operations, its cash flows, and the changes in net assets for the year then ended, in accordance with its Financial Regulation and with the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer~~; notes~~ and that the underlying transactions to the accounts are legal and regular in all material respects;

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Emphasises that the Court’s finding confirmed persistent systemic errors for declared personnel costs and that in particular, SMEs and new beneficiaries are more error-prone than other beneficiaries, highlights that these errors are also regularly reported in Court’s previous annual reports since 2017; emphasises therefore that streamlining of the H2020 rules for the declaration of personnel costs and wider use of simplified cost options is a precondition to stabilise error rates to below materiality level; emphasises that JU should strengthen its internal control systems to address the increased risk regarding SMEs and new beneficiaries and strongly encourage the use of the Personnel Costs Wizard by certain categories of beneficiaries that are more prone to errors, such as SMEs and new beneficiaries; welcomes that in 2022 all Joint Undertakings have started implementing actions for error rate reductions in line with the action proposed by the Court including exploring the options of simplified forms of costs such as unit costs, lump sums and flat rates.

Amendment 11 #

Hannes HEIDE, Maria GRAPINI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. ~~Notes~~Is deeply concerned that, in 2021, important documents (for example, evaluation committee members' declarations of absence of conflict of interests; procurement evaluation reports; recruitment evaluation reports; decisions on recruitment selection boards; procurement award decisions, and employment contracts) were authorised by coping and pasting an image of the signature of the responsible authorising officer into the document in Word format and then converting the file into PDF format; agrees with the Court observation that this practice may present legal risks, as a rejected candidate may challenge the regularity of the signed evaluation documents; calls on the Joint Undertaking to immediately stop this practice and to opt for a secure authorisation method;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12 a. Notes that there is no harmonised definition of "administrative costs" among the Joint Undertakings, which is a basis for calculating the financial contributions of its members and a precondition for the purpose of comparable figures; calls with this in mind for common guidelines for all Joint Undertakings to take a harmonised approach for the classification of certain administrative cost expenditure categories, such as expenditure for consultations, studies, analysis, evaluations, and technical assistance;

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. ~~Not~~Welcomes that, in 2021, the Joint Undertaking continued to apply the decisions adopted by the Governing Board regarding the rules on the prevention and management of conflicts of interest applicable to the bodies of the Joint Undertaking and to the JU staff members~~; notes~~ and that the related processes, for instance concerning Members of the JU’s Governing Board, experts of evaluation procedures, panels for procurement and recruitment, applied consistently the required precautionary measures to identify potential conflicts; ~~not~~underlines that a Joint Undertaking policy on sensitive functions has been drafted based on a dedicated risk assessment and will be finalised in the year 2022;

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. ~~Notes~~Points out that according to an assessment of the European Court of Auditors, the risk of fraudulent bankruptcies or other fraudulent behaviours, to escape the financial problems and supply restrictions, needs to be considered in the context of the Covid- 19 pandemic as additional threat for legality and regularity; noappreciates that the Joint Undertaking has established a specific risk- based sample of ex-post audits to cover the stratum in the Joint Undertaking population of Grant Agreement for Partners (GAP) projects, which indicate a certain exposure to Covid- 19 constraints as described by the Court of Auditors, like financial weaknesses, operational delays, high personal costs as compared to average;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. ~~Not~~Deplores that, in the year 2021, OLAF issued the conclusions and its reports regarding two cases pertaining to grants of Clean Sky and Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking~~; notes~~ and that the alleged fraud was confirmed in both cases;

Amendment 2 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Acknowledges that Horizon Europe envisages ambitious goals for the Joint Undertaking, that can only be achieved if effective solutions that address the weaknesses in the internal control systems and prepare for the future challenges arising from increased responsibilities, e.g. in the area of human resources management and planning, are designed and implemented; points out, in this context, that particularly complicated and burdensome calculations and reporting requirements represent a significant risk of error and calls therefore, to explore the possibilities of simplifications wherever possible and compatible with the existing legal framework;

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Notes, from the Joint Undertaking’s Report on budgetary and financial management 2021,~~Understands that the budget execution was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic situation, in particular for what concerns payment appropriations for the administrative expenditure~~; notes that~~ and that nonetheless, the Joint Undertaking has had a 99.6% rate of implementation for the commitment appropriations in 2021 (excluding the unused appropriations not required in current year) and the payment appropriations were executed to 82.3% of the available funds (excluding the unused appropriations 2021 of EUR 59.8 million. 56.3% of execution rate if the unused appropriations are included as total payment budget);

Amendment 4 #

Michal WIEZIK, Ramona STRUGARIU, Olivier CHASTEL, Alin MITUȚA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Note~~Highlights that the implementation rate for the Joint Undertaking’s 2021 commitment and payment budget available for Horizon 2020 projects was 100% and 83% respectively;

Amendment 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7 a. Notes with concern, from the follow-up of previous years’ observations of the Court that the situation with the increased use of interim staff during the past years remains high at around 13% of statutory staff; recalls that the high level of contractual staff tends to increase significantly the Joint Undertaking’s staff turnover rate and further destabilises the staffing situation; emphasises, moreover, that the use of interim staff should remain a temporary solution or it could negatively affect the Joint Undertaking’s overall performance, such as the retention of key competences, unclear accountability channels, possible judicial disputes and lower staff efficiency; notes the Joint Undertaking’s reply that it has been obliged to constantly enlarge the use of interim staff during the past years due to the limitations of the rigid staff establishment plan under the condition of increasing tasks and workload, and that this trend is expected to continue with the two programmes – the Clean Sky 2 and the new Clean Aviation programme running in parallel; notes, furthermore that a more optimal solution would be to provide more flexibility to the Joint Undertaking with regards to number of contract agents’ posts in the staff establishment plan; reminds, however that the Joint Undertaking should develop a formalised model or guidance on how to estimate staff needs (including essential competences), with the objective of optimising the use of staff resources;

Amendment 6 #

Hannes HEIDE, Maria GRAPINI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. ~~Not~~Welcomes that the Joint Undertaking also further implemented together with the other Joint Undertakings, the use of Systal, an online HR tool to perform secure selection processes; notes that, in accordance with the decision of the Governing Board regarding the reclassification system, in 2021 the Joint Undertaking has performed the reclassification exercise and as a result, eleven TA end three CA staff members were reclassified;

Amendment 7 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9 a. Notes, from the Annual Activity Report 2021, in terms of gender balance, that the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking has a lower percentage of women in programme participation, project coordinators, advisors and experts compared to the previous year; regrets that these figures have decreased and calls for increased efforts in terms of gender balance;

Amendment 8 #

Hannes HEIDE, Maria GRAPINI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9 b. notes that the part of the employers' contributions for the staff of the Joint Undertakings corresponding to the ratio of their non-EU subsidised revenues to their total revenues, has not been paid by the Joint Undertakings to the EU pension scheme since 2016, as the Commission has neither foreseen this expenditure in the budget of the Joint Undertakings nor formally requested the payments; calls for the Commission to take steps to avoid similar issues in the future.

Amendment 9 #