2022/2134(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Highlights that transparency and citizens' awareness of the existence of the agencies are essential for their democratic accountability;

Amendment 11 #

Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Max ORVILLE, Sylvie BRUNET

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Welcomes that 9 agencies had introduced their own internal rules to deal with the lack of provisions in EU legislation governing the activities of members of agencies’ boards; notes with concern that the remaining 31 agencies only take into account potential ‘revolving door’ cases concerning their current and former staff, leading to only a small fraction of potential ‘revolving door’ cases of agencies’ board members being subject to any assessment; is concerned that during the period 2019-2021 only 20 of the 40 agencies examined by ECA had considered any potential revolving-door cases related to their senior staff members; calls on agencies to urgently introduce internal rules for members of their boards on conflicts of interest in general and ‘revolving door’ situations in particular;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Notes that one observation regarding recruitment procedures, one regarding payment management and two regarding the accounting system were made to Cedefop; notes that one observation regarding procurement procedures was made to Eurofound and EU-OSHA; notes that one observation regarding internal procedure and one regarding internal controls were made to ELA.; urges EU agencies to improve their public procurement procedures with a view to compliance with applicable rules;

Amendment 13 #

Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Ilan DE BASSO, Carina OHLSSON, Agnes JONGERIUS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Recalls that gender balance must be ensured within the Agencies in accordance with the basic regulations establishing them; regrets the fact that gender equality is absent in the multiannual strategy 2021-2027 for the EUAN; calls on the agencies and the EUAN to integrate gender equality in their strategies, to align the ambition of agencies with the aim of the Commission to reach a gender balance of 50 % at all levels of its management by the end of 2024 and to pursue gender mainstreaming in all fields;

Amendment 2 #

Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Ilan DE BASSO, Carina OHLSSON, Agnes JONGERIUS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the valuable role played by Union agencies in helping Union institutions to design and implement policies, especially by carrying out specific technical, scientific and managerial tasks; appreciates the high quality expertise and work performed by CEDEFOP, Eurofound, EU-OSHA, ETF and ELA, the agencies working in the area of employment, social affairs and inclusion; reiterates in this regard the need of ensuring adequate human and financial resources allowing them to continue implementing their work programmes with a very high activity completion rate; stresses the importance and added value of each agency in their field of expertise and their autonomy;

Amendment 3 #

Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Max ORVILLE, Sylvie BRUNET

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Stresses the valuable role played by Union agencies in helping Union institutions to design and implement policies, especially byfor carrying out specific technical, scientific and ~~managerial~~operational or regulatory tasks; appreciates the high quality work performed by the agencies working in the area of employment, social affairs and inclusion;

Amendment 4 #

Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Ilan DE BASSO, Carina OHLSSON, Agnes JONGERIUS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Notes with concern that the final budgets of some agencies have been frozen in nominal terms for 6 years and due to accumulated inflation the real purchasing power of the budget decreases; notes that the continuation of this trend puts at risk the agencies' abilities to perform their functions in an effective and timely manner ;

Amendment 5 #

Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Ilan DE BASSO, Carina OHLSSON, Agnes JONGERIUS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Recalls that the yearly exchange of views in the EMPL committee regarding the annual work programmes and the multiannual strategies of the agencies is instrumental in ensuring that the programmes and strategies are aligned to the actual political priorities, especially in the context of the implementation of the principles enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights and the achievements of the Porto targets;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Recalls that the agencies are the most qualified at assessing the use of resources and play a crucial role in supporting the right sustainable projects in line with the European Green Deal; calls on the Commission to ensure funding supporting the EU agencies in securing the social dialogue; notes that EU agencies have a crucial role in securing social dialogue with the EU institutions;

Amendment 7 #

Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI, Sylvie BRUNET

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Recalls that gender balance must be ensured within the Union agencies in accordance with the basic regulations establishing them; asks, therefore, that the Union agencies collect and present data on gender balance for all categories of management staff (from the lowest to the highest level) to gather the basic data on the basis of which the Union agencies are encouraged to address gender imbalance in management and to pursue gender mainstreaming in all fields;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the deepened cooperation between the agencies within the framework of the European Union Agencies Network (EUAN) w~~ith a focus on sharing services, knowledge and expertise;~~ hich is an important inter-agency cooperation platform to enhance agencies’ visibility, identify and promote possible efficiency gains, add value and ensure efficient communication between the agencies and relevant stakeholders with a focus on sharing services, knowledge and expertise; appreciates and encourages the close collaboration among the agencies under the remit of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs in order to ensure synergies, complementarity and sharing resources;

Amendment 9 #

Marc BOTENGA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the deepened cooperation between the agencies within the framework of the European Union Agencies Network (EUAN) with a focus on sharing services, knowledge and expertise; calls on the EUAN to develop a general policy to not replace permanent staff by more expensive external consultants, in order to guarantee quality working conditions, and to prevent knowledge and experience from being lost;

source: 739.659

2023/01/19 LIBE 44 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Caterina CHINNICI

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)

-1. Reiterates the important role of the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) agencies, and the important support they ensure to the Union institutions and bodies and Member States in the sectors of fundamental rights, security and justice, by carrying out operational, analytical, managerial and monitoring tasks; reiterates therefore the need to ensure adequate financial and human resources to JHA agencies;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Notes that the EDPS requested to the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul two provisions of the ~~revis~~amended Europol Regulation, as they seriously undermine legal certainty for individuals’ personal data and threaten the independence of the EDPS; recommends the Committee on Budgetary Control to postpone granting the discharge in respect of the implementation of Europol’s budget commends the action taken by Member States, operational cooperation partners and Europol, as no request was made to apply Article 74a and all contributions from before the ~~financial year 2021 until the Court of Justice of the European Union delivers its judgement~~entry into force of the amended Europol Regulation have meanwhile been assigned with a Data Subject Category;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes that the Court found that the payments underlying the accounts were legal and regular for all agencies except for eu-LISA, for which a qualified opinion was issued because of six payments that were considered not compliant to the provisions of framework contracts, amounting in total to EUR 18.11 million in 2021, representing 6,2 % of the total payment appropriations available in 2021; notes from eu-LISA's reply that compliance in this area is affected by several factors linked to budgetary planning, the sourcing model, managing contractual evolutions, delays in the adoption of relevant legislation, as well as understaffing, restricting the possibility of eu-LISA to limit the scope, duration and value of contracts; calls on the Commission to better coordinate the allocation of resources to eu-LISA with the adoption of relevant legislative acts;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes that the Court found that the payments underlying the accounts were legal and regular for all agencies except for eu-LISA, for which a qualified opinion was issued because of six payments that were considered not compliant to the provisions of framework contracts, amounting in total to EUR 18.11 million in 2021, representing 6,2 % of the total payment appropriations available in 2021; welcomes that eu-LISA complied with its duty to record the payment actually affected by potential error/irregularity in the internal control system of eu-LISA through a non- compliance report and an exception report;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Expresses deep concern that public procurement weaknesses are increasing and remain the largest source of irregular payments and that the Court reported shortcomings in relation to contracts signed by Frontex, eu-LISA, CEPOL and EASO; expresses further concern over the shortage of procurement staff reported by eu-LISA, as well as by the lack of approrpriate grading for posts managing procurement procedures, such as the case of CEPOL where the highest graded procurement officer was recruited at the AST-5 grade; reiterates to the Commission the importance of appropriately graded positions when allocating tasks of great responsibility;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Expresses deep concern that public procurement weaknesses are increasing and~~Notes that weaknesses in public procurement procedures remain the ~~largest~~main source of irregular payments and that the Court reported contracts affected by various sorts of public procurement shortcomings, in ~~relation to contracts signed by Frontex, eu-LISA, CEPOL and EASO~~cluding for payments made in the 2021 financial year, stemming from irregular procurement procedures reported in previous years for 22 agencies including CEPOL, eu-LISA, Eurojust, EASO and Frontex;

Amendment 15 #

Jean-Paul GARRAUD

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Notes that staff of the European Asylum Support Office have lodged a complaint with OLAF and the Commission, calling for a probe into its director-general, whom they accuse of nepotism, misleading reports and mishandling harassment claims; therefore recommends that the Committee on Budgetary Control postpone granting the discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Asylum Support Office’s budget for the financial year 2021 until such time as the case has been legally resolved;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Notes with concern the Court’s findings on weaknesses in management and control systems in relation to Frontex, Europol, CEPOL and EPPO; calls on these agencies and on the EPPO to step up their efforts towards effectively addressing these weaknesses and to report to the discharge authority about the progress achieved;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Notes with concern the Court’s findings on weaknesses in management and control systems in relation to Frontex, Europol, CEPOL and EPPO; notes that in particular for Frontex this is a returning issue that the Agency does not remedy;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Notes ~~with concern~~ the Court’s findings on weaknesses in management and control systems in relation to 16 agencies including Frontex, Europol, CEPOL and EPPO;

Amendment 19 #

Jean-Paul GARRAUD

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Notes with concern the Court’s findings on weaknesses in management and control systems in relation to ~~Frontex, Europol, CEPOL and~~ EPPO;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Recognises that agencies provide common centres of expertise and networking and are indispensable for the implementation of EU policies; reminds that Union agencies use significant resources and their number has increased over the years; notes that all agencies should effectively perform their mandates;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Notes that weaknesses in budgetary management can result in high carry-overs or late payments; is concerned that the Court found such shortcomings at Frontex, eu-LISA, EPPO and FRA; notes however that in certain cases the level of high carry-overs is also a result of factors that are outside of the Agencies' control such as the nature of their activities expanding on multi-annual periods, or the necessity to recur to external contractors over periods that extend beyond the financial year, due to understaffing;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Notes that weaknesses in budgetary management can result in high carry-overs or late payments; is concerned that the Court found such shortcomings at Frontex, eu-LISA, EPPO and FRA; acknowledges that such situation could indicate a structural issue, weak budgetary planning, or possibly a contravention of the budgetary principle of annuality; recalls the importance of ensuring appropriate budget planning and its implementation cycles;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Notes that weaknesses in various aspects of budgetary management can result in high carry-overs or late payments, which can, in some cases, be justified by the multi-annual nature of operations or circumstances outside the Agency’s control, such as delays of the Member States in introducing their claims for grants; is concerned that the Court found such shortcomings at Frontex, eu-LISA, EPPO, and FRA;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. ~~Applaud~~Welcomes that the Court has decided to examine potential ‘revolving door’ situations in its audit and asks that this topic~~, as well as the associated risk of conflict of interests, is also included in future annual report~~ be followed up in future annual reports; recognizes that Agencies mostly comply with their legal obligations; sShares the opinion by the Court that Agencies are particularly prone to the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations~~; expresses deep concern~~ due to their governance model, which includes boards; acknowledges that the EU legal ~~framework applicable to managing ‘revolving door’ risks lacks clear requirements on compliance and monitoring, and that it do not apply to members of the agencies’ board~~basis is, however, currently weak; notes that the Agencies have little control over the members of Management boards as member states appoint them; Recognizes the difficulty for Agencies and their Management Boards to implement effective measures in the absence of clear legal provisions on how to prevent and manage the issues of conflict of interest and revolving doors;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Applauds that the Court has decided to examine potential ‘revolving door’ situations in its audit and asks that this topic, as well as the associated risk of conflict of interests, is also included in future annual reports; shares the opinion by the Court that Agencies are particularly prone to the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations; expresses deep concern that the EU legal framework applicable to managing ‘revolving door’ risks lacks clear requirements on compliance and monitoring, and that it do not apply to members of the agencies’ boards; urges agencies to ensure that internal rules managing ‘revolving door’ and potential conflict of interests risks are put in place and fully and correctly implemented;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Applauds that the Court has decided to examine potential ‘revolving door’ situations in its audit and asks that this topic, as well as the associated risk of conflict of interests, is also included in future annual reports; shares the opinion by the Court that Agencies are particularly prone to the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations; expresses deep concern that the EU legal framework applicable to managing ‘revolving door’ risks lacks clear requirements on compliance and monitoring, and that it do not apply to members of the agencies’ boards; applauds the FRAs policy and recommendations in this matter;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Applauds ~~that~~ the Court ~~has~~for the deci~~ded~~sion to examine potential ‘revolving door’ situations in its audit and asks that this topic, as well as the associated risk of conflict of interests, ~~is also~~are included in its future annual reports; shares the opinion by the Court that Agencies are particularly prone to the risk of ‘revolving door’ situations; expresses deep concern that the EU legal framework applicable to managing ‘revolving door’ risks lacks clear requirements on compliance and monitoring, and that it does not apply to members of the agencies’ management boards;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Calls on the Commission to propose changes to prevent any risk of ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest; welcomes that most agencies publish the declarations of interest of their senior management and members of their respective management boards; recalls that such declarations should have a clear format allowing for the listing of any interests that may come in conflict with the nature of the position occupied; calls on the remaining agencies to follow this model and publish yearly declarations of interest of the above-mentioned representatives without further delay;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Considers that the EU legal framework for managing ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interests risks should define a common legal basis defining a minimum level of requirements to prevent such situations, as well as the manner in which monitoring compliance of current and former staff with the ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest requirements should take place; calls on the Commission to propose changes to prevent any risk of ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. CWelcomes that Europol and FRA have implemented their own internal rules for board members; calls on the Commission to propose reasonable changes to prevent any risk of ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest; in members of agencies’ boards to which current rules do not apply;

Amendment 3 #

Jean-Paul GARRAUD

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Calls on the Commission as a matter of urgency to propose changes to prevent any risk of ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Reiterates its concern that the Court has identified a recurrent shortcoming applying to several agencies in the use of external staff and interim workers; calls for the dependency on external recruitment by agencies to be addressed and for applicable labour law to be respected; notes the judgement of the Court of Justice of 11 November 2021 in Case C-948/19 which considered as part of the scope of the application of Directive 2008/104/EC temporary agency workers to Union agencies; calls on the agencies to rely as much as possible on permanent staff and on the Commission to ensure appropriate human resources allocations for this purpose;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Reiterates its concern that the Court has identified a recurrent shortcoming applying to several agencies in the use of external staff and interim workers; calls for the dependency on external recruitment by agencies to be addressed and for applicable labour law to be respected; calls on the Agencies invloved to comply with their mandates and the repeated calls from the European Parlaiment to end the huge dependency on interim contracts and temporary workers;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. CWelcomes that for the 139 observations that had not been addressed at the end of 2020, corrective action had been completed in 67 cases and was ongoing in 39 cases in 2021; calls on the agencies to ensure follow-up on current and previous year’s audit observations by the Court;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 12

12. Re~~quest~~minds that cooperation among JHA agencies ismust be fully transparent and accountability ensured; ~~calls on~~requests all JHA agencies to take measures to ensure full compliance with financial regulations, EU transparency rules as well as with fundamental rights and data protection and sound budgetary management standards;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 12

12. Requests that cooperation among JHA agencies is fully transparent and accountability ensured; calls on all JHA agencies to take measures to ensure full compliance with EU transparency rules as well as with fundamental rights and data protection standards; considers that the disclosure of meetings and interactions between JHA Agencies and third parties is required to ensure enhanced transparency by JHA Agencies; urges JHA Agencies to step up efforts in this direction;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 13

~~13. Calls on all JHA agencies to take into account sustainability in their overall business processes;~~deleted

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on all JHA agencies to take into account sustainability in their overall business processes in order to improve the agencies’ environmental performance, and to report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress;

Amendment 39 #

Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

~~14. Calls on all JHA agencies to ensure a gender balanced distribution on all levels of staff and report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress;~~deleted

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Recalls that for the 2021 financial year, the Court issued unqualified (“clean”) audit opinions on the accounts of all 44 agencies; Stresses that the Court issued ~~three~~ ‘emphasis on the matter’ paragraphs ion ~~relation to Frontex; is concerned about weaknesses in recruitment at Frontex related to the evaluation process; reiterates its deep concern about the findings of the OLAF report~~four agencies, including on Frontex accounts; notes that in this regard no impact has been identified on the operating revenue of the statement of financial performance of the agency for 2021; notes that the Court reported weaknesses related to various aspects of recruitment procedures, including evaluation processes and vacancy notices for nine agencies, including three JHA agencies; reaffirms that the granting of discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the JHA Agencies is conditional on the Agencies’ accountability and transparency, fundamental rights compliance, and commitment to comply with Union law; recommends the Committee on Budgetary Control to postpone granting the discharge to Frontex in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2021 until Frontex fully complies with such requirements and there are no further instances of fundamental rights violationcompliance with the relevant legal and regulatory framework requirements and use in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, i.e., the principles of ‘economy’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

14. CRegrets the lack of gender balance and diversity in the Management boards and within the staff of JHA Agencies; calls on all JHA agencies to ensure a gender balanced distribution on all levels of staff and report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress; further calls on all JHA Agencies to develop internal policies and practices to ensure inclusiveness and diversity, and prevent any type of discrimination; asks the Court to systematically inform about it in its future reports;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

14. Calls on all JHA agencies to ~~ensure a gender~~take into consideration gender and geographically balanced distribution on all levels of staff and report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress; notes that agencies have no influence on the nomination of management board members;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 14

14. Calls on all JHA agencies to ensure a gender balanced distribution on all levels of staff; further calls on all JHA agencies to take into consideration geographical balance when conducting their recruitment procedures and report to the discharge authority on implemented measures and progress achieved;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 15

15. Urges all JHA agencies to implement a clear anti-harassment policy; to prevent and firmly condemn any such behaviour within the organisation;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 15

15. Urges all JHA agencies to implement a clear anti-harassment and anti-racism policy;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Stresses that the Court issued three ‘emphasis on the matter’ paragraphs in relation to Frontex; is concerned about weaknesses in recruitment at Frontex related to the evaluation process; reiterates its deep concern about the findings of the OLAF report; reaffirms that the granting of discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the JHA Agencies is conditional on the Agencies’ accountability and transparency, fundamental rights compliance, and commitment to comply with Union law; recommends the Committee on Budgetary Control to postpone granting the discharge to Frontex in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2021 until Frontex fully complies with such requirements and there are no further instances of fundamental rights violations; highlights that Frontex is currently undergoing a transition process, following the resignation of its former Executive Director, in light of an OLAF investigation into the mismanagement of Frontex; welcomes in this sense the various actions taken by the ad-interim management to improve its activities and standards; reaffirms that the granting of discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the JHA Agencies is conditional on the Agencies’ accountability and transparency, fundamental rights compliance, and commitment to comply with Union law; calls on Frontex to continue its commitment towards fully implementing these necessary reforms, also after the appointment of a non- interim Executive Director, and to report to the discharge authority about the progress achieved;

Amendment 6 #

Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Stresses that the Court issued three ‘emphasis on the matter’ paragraphs in relation to Frontex for reliability of the accounts regarding the carry-over to 2021, for reliability of the accounts concerning the incorrect calculation of contributions from non-EU Schengen area countries, and for reliability of the accounts and for the legality and regularity of payments concerning certification of the accounts; is concerned about weaknesses in recruitment at Frontex related to the evaluation process; reiterates its deep concern about the findings of the OLAF report; and reaffirms that ~~the granting of discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the~~ JHA Aagencies ~~is conditional on the Agencies’ accountability and transparency, fundamental rights compliance, and commitment to comply with Union law~~must comply with fundamental rights as a pre-requisite for the discharge to be granted; recommends the Committee on Budgetary Control to postpone granting the discharge to Frontex in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2021 until Frontex fully complies with such requirements and there are no further instances of fundamental rights violations;

Amendment 8 #

Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Notes that the EDPS requested to the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul two provisions of the revised Europol Regulation, as they seriously undermine legal certainty for individuals’ personal data and threaten the independence of the EDPS; recommends the Committee on Budgetary Control to postpone granting the discharge in respect of the implementation of Europol’s budget for the financial year 2021 until the Court of Justice of the European Union delivers its judgement;deleted

Amendment 9 #