2023/2130(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Proposal for a decision 1
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas trust in Parliament’s integrity and the rule of law is paramount for the functioning of European democracy; whereas citizens’ rights are fully respected;

Amendment 10 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Notes that, at the meeting between the committee responsible and the internal auditor held on 4 December 2023, the internal auditor presented his annual report and ~~described the assurance audits he carried out and consulting services he provided and~~ reported on the outcome of the current state of play, which in 2022 covered a transversal follow-up of open actions from internal audit reports, an audit of staff missions, a review of Parliament’s risk management framework, an audit of the procurement process in DG INLO, an audit of the purchase and use of security equipment and services in DG SAFE, an audit of the financing of European political parties and European political foundations – second assignment, and a periodic review of the ADENAUER 2 building project – Phase 3 (completion of East Wing);

Amendment 100 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58 b (new)

58b. Following Bureau Notice n° 18/2023 on the Internal rules on whistleblowing and the obligations placed upon APAs and staff members to report any violations, it is imperative that all services within the Parliament also be obligated to report any information they have of fraud, violations of financial rules, or any conduct that breaches the Parliament's ethical code. This obligation applies to all such information, regardless of its confidentiality, and should be reported to the relevant service within the Parliament;

Amendment 101 #

Matteo ADINOLFI, Joachim KUHS, Dominique BILDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61

61. ~~Acknowledges that Parliament’s ‘B~~Regrets the European Parliament’s inconsistent and costly building Sstrategy beyond 2019’ provides a coherent framework for decisions and contributes to consolidating Parliament’s real estate portfolio while adapting facilities to the evolution of meeting patterns, going local and closer to citizens through the gradual roll-out of Europa Experience Centres, enhancing security for Parliament’s buildings, and achieving the interconnection of its central buildings; notes that the majority of the policies and actions referred to in the current Building Strategy are either completed or well under waysince 2019, such as the excessively high cost of purchasing the Scholl building – which cost EUR 74.9 million but was originally estimated at between EUR 42 million and EUR 65 million – and the mess surrounding the abandoned plan to buy the Osmose building in Strasbourg, which is in the end being rented at prices five times lower than market rates;

Amendment 102 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61

61. ~~Acknowledges~~Question thate Parliament’s ‘Building Strategy beyond 2019’ ~~provides a coherent framework for decisions and~~that contributes to consolidating Parliament’s real estate portfolio while ~~adapting facilities to the evolution of meeting patterns, going local and closer to citizens through the gradual roll-out of Europa Experience Centres,~~it is worth noting that the European Commission building policy wants to halve the number of buildings it manages in Brussels by 2030, regret the gradual roll-out of Europa Experience Centres of which a cost-benefit analysis is requested; takes note of the enhancing security for Parliament’s buildings, and achieving the interconnection of its central buildings; notes that the majority of the policies and actions referred to in the current Building Strategy are either completed or well under way, pointing out that have been a major cost to the taxpayer;

Amendment 103 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61 a (new)

61a. Reminds that 3 European Parliament Seats together with Liaison offices, Europa Experiences, Houses of Europe, Parkings and warehouses cost almost 30 million EUR in rent only;

Amendment 104 #

63. Welcomes DG INLO’s commitment to putting in place environmentally sustainable solutions; notes that, in 2022, Parliament generated over 19 % of its own energy from renewable sources; ~~notes that, at the end of 2022, Parliament terminated the lease~~welcomes the conduction of a study on on-site electricity production in Strasbourg in 2022 and the subsequent and ongoing implementation of 1 400 m2 of photovoltaic panels ofn the ~~Schuman building due to the fact that it was not energy efficient and was no longer needed~~PFLIMLIN, DE MADARIAGA, and CHURCHILL buildings. Stresses that Parliament could share this energy with the city of Strasbourg when Parliament’s premises are mostly empty; calls on the Bureau to also consider renting the roofs’ surfaces to external users for the installation of solar panels and thereby use it as an additional source of income for Parliament;

Amendment 105 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63 a (new)

63a. Notes that, at the end of 2022, Parliament terminated the lease of the Schuman building due to the fact that it was not energy efficient and was no longer needed; is concerned by the poor energy-performance of the TREVES II building, of which the energy performance certificate indicates an annual primary energy consumption equivalent to class E, and notes that the last renovation of the building dates back to 2000; calls on Bureau to approve the necessary renovations to improve the energy performance of the building in line with applicable energy efficiency regulations before the building is put to the use by the Parliament in 2025;

Amendment 106 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64 a (new)

64a. Condemns the acquisition of the Osmose Building in Strasbourg under a 99-year leasehold and at an estimated cost of EUR 1.919 million per annum (700 000 in rent alone), which at the end of the 99 years would total almost 190 million (EUR 189.981 million) in rent, cleaning services and security alone; to this should be added the cost of fitting-out the building and of everything needed to make it functional (utility bills and furniture); stresses the urgent need to rethink Parliament’s buildings policy in order to avoid wasting resources;

Amendment 107 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66

66. Welcomes Parliament’s efforts to encourage staff to use sustainable means of transport for commuting by putting traditional and electric bicycles at their disposal free of charge and by reimbursing part of the cost of public transport tickets in exchange for limiting access to the car park; welcomes the new scheme offering a 90% price reduction for the Brussels seasonal public transport tickets which has led to an 26.57%increase of staff using a seasonal ticket co-funded by the Parliament;

Amendment 108 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66

66. Welcomes Parliament’s efforts to encourage staff to use sustainable means of transport for commuting by putting an increased number of traditional and electric bicycles at their disposal free of charge and by reimbursing part of the cost of public transport tickets in exchange for limiting access to the car park;

Amendment 109 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66 a (new)

66a. Welcomes the possibility for staff to use rent standard and electric bikes during the part-time sessions in Strasbourg; welcomes the expansion of the bicycle fleet; regrets that in practice the bikes are fully booked out days in advance; calls on Parliament to examine the possibility for offering more rental bikes in Strasbourg and extending the timeframes for their pick-up to meet the demand by Members and staff and contribute to enhancing sustainable mobility;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Notes that the 2022 follow-up process resulted in the closure of 38 of the 92 open actions and for which the agreed due dates for implementation had expired; stresses the fact that some of the 54 remaining actions were recommended several years ago but remain unimplemented; expects the different directorates-general to ensure that the remaining actions are closed without any further delay and that the agreed actions are implemented in accordance with the due dates set in the internal auditor’s annual report; calls on the Secretary- General to report to the discharge authority twice per year on the status of the remaining actions;

Amendment 110 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66 b (new)

66b. Welcomes that the percentage of zero-emission or plug-in hybrid cars in the people transport service fleet has increased from 81% in 2021 to 97% in 2022;

Amendment 111 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66 c (new)

66c. Points out that on average 25% of the seats available in on the vehicle fleet commuting between Brussels and Strasbourg for plenary sessions seats were unoccupied in 2022. Reiterates its call on Parliament’s administration to widen the user group and allow Parliament’s staff to travel to and from Strasbourg with the service fleet without the presence of a Member, while making sure that Members’ seats are secured;

Amendment 112 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66 d (new)

66d. Regrets that the charter trains offered by Parliament for the commute between Brussels and Strasbourg are in practice booked out many days in advance; calls on Parliament to examine the need for an additional train;

Amendment 113 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67 a (new)

67a. Recalls the Bureau decision of 23 October 2019 to approve the creation of an IDEA Lab with the aim of testing new, innovative solutions in the context of offices and facility management; points out that the IDEA Lab is supposed to be at the disposal of Members and thus, points out that Members have not been properly and proactively informed about the innovations to be tested nor their costs; notes the high annual maintenance cost of IT solutions that are not being implemented in Parliament; calls on the Bureau working group on buildings and Parliament’s administration to ensure greater transparency regarding the functioning and budget for the IDEA Lab and to regularly present to the Committee on Budgetary Control the list of innovative solutions, their cost and the feedback produced, as well as the potential saving if implemented;

Amendment 114 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70

70. Takes note of the measures implemented in order to lower Parliament’s energy consumption, such as reducing maximum heating temperatures in office areas and increasing minimum cooling temperatures, switching off the heating and cooling systems during the weekend and public holidays, reducing the lighting of building facades and decreasing indoor lighting levels; acknowledges that the measures are to be reassessed as the energy crisis evolves; and to take into account the feedback of the staff on how those measures impact its satisfaction and wellbeing;

Amendment 115 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70

Amendment 116 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70

70. Takes note of the measures implemented in order to lower Parliament’s energy consumption, such as reducing maximum heating temperatures in office areas and increasing minimum cooling temperatures, switching off the heating and cooling systems during the weekend and public holidays, reducing the lighting of building facades and decreasing indoor lighting levels; acknowledges that the measures are to be reassessed as the energy crisis evolves while taking into account environmental implications;

Amendment 117 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 71

71. Acknowledges that the different measures put in place by the administration following the relevant Bureau decisions of May and October 2022 resulted in a significant energy consumption reduction amounting to savings of EUR 10.5 million from May 2022 until October 2023; notes disparities between buildings with thermostats set at 26 °C, as in some parts of the Spinelli building, and those with 16 °C zones elsewhere (e.g. Zweig building), both in Brussels and Strasbourg; regrets that this problem is mainly due to a lack of centralised adjustment, forcing staff to bring extra heaters into the office; notes that this poses a number of risks in terms of electrical safety in particular, which are thus risks that affect the European Parliament;

Amendment 118 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72

72. Acknowledges that throughout 2022 DG INLO continued the implementation of Parliament’s Building Strategy Beyond 2019; notes the contribution of the purchase of the Trèves II building with regard to the implementation of this strategy and to the consolidation of Parliament’s real estate, in particular with the intention of allowing the interconnectivity of Parliament’s central buildings in Brussels; requests a timetable for the interconnection between the Trèves I and Trèves II to the main central buildings in Brussels;

Amendment 119 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72 a (new)

72a. Is concerned that the tribune in the visitors’ area of the hemicycle in the SPAAK building is not accessible to people with reduced mobility; recalls that every European citizen should have equal access when visiting the EU institutions; recalls that the Union has been at the forefront of promoting inclusivity and equality for all its citizens; calls for an analysis of the needs of visitors with disabilities and for the appropriate measures to be implemented;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Notes that the 2022 follow-up process resulted in the closure of 38 of the 92 open actions and for which the agreed due dates for implementation had expired; is concerned by the fact that as of 31 December 2022, 29 open actions were overdue for more than 12 months; expects the different directorates-general to ensure that the remaining actions are closed without any further delay and that the agreed actions are implemented in accordance with the due dates set in the internal auditor’s annual report;

Amendment 120 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72 a (new)

72a. Continues to express concerns about structural problems in the Trèves I building; underlines the urgent need for the building to be upgraded to the latest energy and environmental norms; underlines the need for urgent measures to fix the unstable heating system, the lack of air conditioning and toilets for persons with reduced mobility, the poor sound proofing, as well as the sewage problem, as requested in the last discharge resolutions;

Amendment 121 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73

73. Takes note of the Bureau minutes of the additional meeting of 6 July 2022 where the Bureau took note and endorsed the results of the International Architectural Design Competition for the Renewal of the SPAAK building; notes that 5 laureates were endorsed by the Bureau; notes that no other decision was taken during 2022 on this topic and there were thus no financial consequences; recalls the need for a swift approval of final plans at committee level to begin renovation works given the deteriorating condition of the building; stresses that the current building has a very low energy efficiency rating and lacks much needed flexibility to be fit for purpose; highlights that the European Parliament should be a forerunner with its own building portfolio in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability to safeguard citizen’s support for the objectives of the Green Deal; notes that the renovation would lead to significant cost savings of several million EUR per year and in addition help to comply with the requirements of the future European Energy Efficiency Directive and Building Performance Directive;

Amendment 122 #

Gilles BOYER, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73

Amendment 123 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73

73. Takes note of the Bureau minutes of the additional meeting of 6 July 2022 where the Bureau took note and endorsed the results of the International Architectural Design Competition for the Renewal of the SPAAK building; regrets that further work to reinforce the European Parliament’s buildings has to be carried out in the near future, endlessly wasting money in return for questionable effectiveness; notes that 5 laureates were endorsed by the Bureau; notes that no other decision was taken during 2022 on this topic and there were thus no financial consequences;

Amendment 124 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73

Amendment 125 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 a (new)

73a. Notes that Parliament’s self- service canteen on the -1 floor of the Spinelli building is frequently overcrowded at peak hours, resulting in long queues and waiting times; calls on the Bureau to reflect on imposing access restrictions to the canteens in Parliament’s main buildings for external visitors and visitor groups; is concerned about the unsatisfactory price/quality ratio and particularly the lack of affordable vegetarian options; asks the administration to propose solutions to remedy that situation;

Amendment 126 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 a (new)

73a. Notes that in 2022, after the COVID-related capacity restrictions were lifted, the offer of seats in the service fleet going on Mondays from Brussels to Strasbourg was 250 places and that per part-session week in 2022, on average 162 seats or 65% of seats available in the fleet were occupied; reiterates its call on Parliament’s administration to widen the use of seats while making sure that Members’ seats are secured to avoid wastage of resources;

Amendment 127 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 b (new)

73b. Is concerned that the Osmose building in Strasbourg will not be able to accommodate meeting rooms, as was the initial reason for renting it and that this will not be solved even if part of the administration is moved to that building; is concerned about the hidden costs of the Osmose project, i.e. leasing, cleaning and security that would amount to EUR 189 981 000 for the stipulated leasing period of 99 years, in addition to EUR 10.3 million for furnishing, security and IT equipment and the still undetermined cost for connecting the Osmose building to Parliament premises; believes that the Legal Service shall confirm whether Parliament can take on a leasing from the French authorities on a building they don’t own;

Amendment 128 #

Arnaud DANJEAN, François-Xavier BELLAMY, Anne SANDER, Nadine MORANO, Brice HORTEFEUX, Geoffroy DIDIER, Nathalie COLIN-OESTERLÉ, Laurence SAILLIET

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75 a (new)

75a. Regrets that, despite the Union’s commitments and values since it was first set up1a, English has become the predominant working language and practically the only language used informally – notably to the detriment of French and German – in particular since Brexit and the departure of many native speakers of English from the European institutions; _________________ 1a Regulation No 1 of 6 October 1958 determines the languages to be used by the European Union.

Amendment 129 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 79

79. Recalls that the official languages to be used by the Union institutions, bodies and agencies are established in Regulation No 13; acknowledges that DG TRAD ensures that Parliament’s procedural content is available in all 24 official and working languages of the Union~~, thereby enabl~~; regrets that, in practice, just one of the Union’s working languages is used more widely ing Parliament ~~to fulfil its commitment to the policy of multilingualism~~’s work, and increasingly so in recent years; calls for multilingualism to be respected by ensuring, where necessary, an adequate number of translation and interpreting staff; _________________ 3 Regulation No 1 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community (OJ P 017, 6.10.1957, p. 385)

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Acknowledges that, in accordance with Article 118(9) of the Financial Regulation, the reports and findings of the internal auditor, as well as the report of the Union institution concerned, shall be accessible to the public after the internal auditor has validated the action taken for their implementation; ~~welcomes the fact that~~notes that in practice the reports and findings are only published once all recommendations have been implemented; regrets that this results in a de facto delay of publication for several years; also regrets that Members may only read them in~~ternal auditor reports~~ the secure reading room for as long as recommended measures have not been implemented; calls on the Bureau to allow Members to have immediate and full access to the internal audit reports; further calls on the Bureau to make each internal audit report available to the public one year after its finalisation, once the internal auditor has validated the actions taken to implement, calls on the internal auditor to regularly report to the Committee on Budgetary Control on the annual audit activities carried out;

Amendment 130 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81

81. Recalls that the Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences (DG LINC) is responsible for providing linguistic, technical and logistical support for meetings and conferences; notes that by 31 December 2022, there were 554 staff members, of which 443 were officials, 29 temporary agents and 82 contract agents; highlights that the quality of the interpretation provided has a direct impact on the message conveyed to the citizens of the Union;

Amendment 131 #

Gilles BOYER, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82

82. Notes that DG LINC’s final appropriations amounted to EUR 79 569 347 in 2022 representing 3.7 % of Parliament’s budget; highlights that, of that amount, a total of EUR 79 282 501 was committed; ~~welcomes the high use of appropriations~~reminds that in 2022 the Conference on the Future of Europe did not lead to expected results, which proves that the Bureau's Decision of April 2021 to commit EUR 10 644 359 to COFE was erroneous and not economically wise;

Amendment 132 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83

83. Highlights that demand for DG LINC services started increasing considerably as from the beginning of 2022 while COVID-19 restrictions were still in place; acknowledges that this put pressure on resources as more interpreters, technical support and complex planning operations were needed due to social distancing and other restrictions; takes note that the effects of inflation had an impact on the remuneration of external conference interpreter agents; ~~notes that the increased cost of interpretation was partially mitigated by remote interpretation of Strasbourg plenary sessions from Brussels;~~

Amendment 133 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83

83. Highlights that demand for DG LINC services started increasing considerably as from the beginning of 2022 while COVID-19 restrictions were still in place; acknowledges that this put pressure on resources as more interpreters, technical support and complex planning operations were needed due to social distancing and other restrictions; takes note that the effects of inflation had an impact on the remuneration of external conference interpreter agents; notes that the increased cost of interpretation was partially mitigated by remote interpretation of Strasbourg plenary sessions from Brussels; with the aim of improving working conditions, primarily better sound quality and a limitation on the number and duration of interpreting hours of remote speakers;

Amendment 134 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84

84. ~~Takes n~~Notes that ~~interpreter representatives contested the working conditions applicable to interpreting for remote participant~~Parliament’s interpreters held a strike from June to October 2022 with the aim of improving the working conditions applicable to interpreting for remote participants, due to the impact on the health and well-being of interpreters that resulted from remote interpretation for long periods of time, in particular the reported hearing problems; highlights that the resulting industrial action in the summer and autumn of 2022 led to interpreting stoppages in specific situations, affecting remote speakers that had insufficient sound quality to avoid health risk for the interpreters; regrets the use of external interpreting services during this strike as this decision jeopardised Parliament’s quality standard for interpretation, damaged its image and obstructed workers' right to strike; remarks that interim Interpreter Working Arrangements for meetings with remote participation entered into force on 17 October 2022 as a result of social dialogue between trade unions, interpreters’ representatives and Parliament’s administration; notes that they allowed for restoration of interpretation for remote speakers while maintaining the reduced weekly working hours for interpreters, thus resulting in a reduction of the service provision by interpreter; notes that social dialogue aiming to establish a permanent framework and full restoration of interpretation services was ongoing at the end of 2022 and was concluded in 2023;

Amendment 135 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84

84. Takes note that interpreter representatives contested the working conditions applicable to interpreting for remote participants due to the impact on the health and well-being of interpreters that resulted from remote interpretation for long periods of time, in particular the reported hearing problems; recalls the duty of care owed by the European institutions to their workers; ; highlights that the resulting industrial action in the summer and autumn of 2022 led to interpreting stoppages, affecting remote speakers; remarks that interim Interpreter Working Arrangements for meetings with remote participation entered into force on 17 October 2022; notes that they allowed for restoration of interpretation for remote speakers while maintaining the reduced weekly working hours for interpreters, thus resulting in a reduction of the service provision; notes that social dialogue aiming to establish a permanent framework and full restoration of interpretation services was ongoing at the end of 2022 and was concluded in 2023;

Amendment 136 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84 a (new)

84a. Stresses that, under Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, Members have the right to speak in the official language of their choice, which reflects European cultural and linguistic diversity and also makes the Union institutions more accessible and transparent to all Union citizens; welcomes the exceptional work done by interpreters in 2022, ensuring, as far as possible, that public debates are interpreted in all official EU languages;

Amendment 137 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 85

85. Welcomes the fact that, in 2022, DG LINC was able to consolidate its provision of interpretation services while adapting to the challenging regulatory environment; notes with satisfaction that DG LINC serviced a total of 5 278 parliamentary meetings with interpretation and delivered an average of 5 266 interpretation hours per working week, up from 4 172 meetings and 4 039 weekly hours of interpretation in 2021; notes with regret that this is still below the 2017 and 2018 pre- COVID averages;

Amendment 138 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 85 a (new)

85a. Reiterates its long-standing request to the Secretary-General to analyse the feasibility of international sign language interpretation for all plenary debates and to implement without delay this request; believes moreover that plenary sessions retransmission in the sign languages used in each Member State would increase participation of persons with disabilities in the EU democratic process;

Amendment 139 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 85 a (new)

85a. Appreciates the need for interpreters for the Head of Delegation to participate in official missions to third countries;

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Acknowledges that, in accordance with Article 118(9) of the Financial Regulation, the reports and findings of the internal auditor, as well as the report of the Union institution concerned, shall be accessible to the public after the internal auditor has validated the action taken for their implementation; reminds that in practice the reports and findings are only accessible once all recommendations have been implemented, which means a de facto delay of several years in accessing them, and that Members, on a need-to- know basis, may only have access under the Bureau's rules for access to confidential documents; calls on the Bureau to make sure that Members have immediate and full access to the internal audit report at least in view of the discharge procedure in a more expedited way; further calls on the Bureau to make each internal audit report available to the public one year after its finalisation, once the internal auditor has validated the actions taken to implement the previous year’s recommendation; recalls further that a validation of recommendations does not require the full implementation of the all recommendations; welcomes the fact that the internal auditor reports to the Committee on Budgetary Control on the annual audit activities carried out;

Amendment 140 #

89a. Notes that in the year 2022, the amount of 261.891 EUR was recovered by the European Parliament from individual MEPs on revenue budget line 3300 "Repayment of amounts wrongly paid"; notes that large part of this amount is not related to parliamentary assistance allowance; notes that in general, amounts recovered on revenue budget line 3300 (from individual MEPS but also from political groups/parties/foundations, third parties, staff, other individuals, etc.) for the largest part represent technical recoveries such as the regularisation of amounts spent related to contracts evolved or terminated and for a large majority they do not concern APAs; observes that these amounts also include cases which relate to the voluntary reimbursements by a limited number of MEPs and the specific case of corrections, which were due either to administrative errors in the EP calculations or retroactive change of the rules in some Member States and off- set; notes that changes in terms of contracts and potential related recoveries after validated adaptations of the terms of contract are also falling under this category;

Amendment 141 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90

90. Notes with satisfaction that DG FINS was able to take advantage of the efficiency of its processes and the commitment of its staff to ensure continuity of the services for which it is responsible and the achievement of the objectives set in the concerns expressed by Members about undue delays in the processing of reimbursements witsh an~~nual work programme; notes the concerns expressed by Members about undue delays in the processing of reimbursement~~ average time for reimbursement of travel and subsistence allowances of up to 40 days; welcomes that Parliament is continuously modernising its processes in order to offer Members better services by applying automation, simplification and digitisation; calls for further speeding up of the workflows to provide more expedited procedures;

Amendment 142 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90

90. Notes with satisfaction that DG FINS was able to take advantage of the efficiency of its processes and the commitment of its staff to ensure continuity of the services for which it is responsible and the achievement of the objectives set in its annual work programme; notes the concerns expressed by Members about undue and often significant delays in the processing of reimbursements; welcomes that Parliament is continuously modernising its processes in order to offer Members better services by applying automation, simplification and digitisation; calls DG FINS for further speeding up of the workflows to provide more expedited procedures; notably by equipping its agents with the necessary tools and softwares to manage workloads efficiently, thereby reducing processing time;

Amendment 143 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90 a (new)

90a. Deplores that five cases of suspected fraud by of members claiming travel reimbursements for specific means of transport while in fact using cheaper ones have been detected in 2022, with the amounts defrauded amounting to up to EUR 801 000; calls on the secretary General to inform the Budget control committee when these cases are resolved and what actions were taken against the fraudsters;

Amendment 144 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 91 a (new)

91a. Recalls that long-Covid requires long-term care and is still subject to intensive research activities; notes that there are long-term patients among EU Parliament members, staff and APAs, who require continuous assistance; regrets that the current JSIS rules do not foresee adequate reimbursements leaving those concerned with a huge financial burden; stresses that similar unfavourable conditions apply to many persons with auto-immune diseases, which are not appropriately recognised; calls on DG FINS and PMO to modify the reimbursement rules to better reflect their needs;

Amendment 145 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 94 a (new)

94a. Is concerned that in 2022, five cases of suspected fraud were found where allegedly Members claimed specific means of transport while in fact using a cheaper one; notes that two recovery orders totalling EUR 39 807 are expected to be issued and that the other cases are currently under further investigation, these covering several budgetary years, and could amount to EUR 801 000;

Amendment 146 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95

95. Notes the announcement at the Bureau meeting of 7 March 2022 regarding the setting up of an ad-hoc Bureau Working Group on the General Expenditure Allowance (GEA), which is tasked with evaluating the implementation of the Bureau decision of 2 July 2018 establishing a list of expenses which may be defrayed from the GEA on the basis of the experience gained during the 9th parliamentary term; observes that the Bureau, at its meeting of 17 October 2022, adopted a set of amendments to the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members (IMMS), clarifying the rules applicable to the entitlement and use of the GEA and measures aimed at increasing transparency and providing more legal certainty regarding the entitlement to the allowance; highlights that the ad-hoc Working Group was asked to take duly into account aspects of transparency, accountability and sound financial management of funds made available to Members, bearing in mind the principle of freedom and independence of the parliamentary mandate and the objective of not creating unnecessary administrative burdens for Members, their offices and Parliament’s services;

Amendment 147 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95 a (new)

95a. Stresses the fact that the members of the Bureau have not only ignored the demand of majority of the plenary for a reform of the GEA to make the expenditure more transparent and accountable but have amended the respective rules at their meeting of 17 October 2022 in a way that contradicts these demands; calls on the Bureau to revise its decision of 17 October 2022 and bring it in line with what the majority of the Members of the house have demanded on numerous occasions;

Amendment 148 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95 b (new)

95b. Points out that in 2022 there were only 32 voluntary declarations on the use of the GEA submitted by 26 Members, of which 29 contained an auditor's report; welcomes efforts by the Secretariat to encourage MEP’s to make increased use of these options;

Amendment 149 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96

96. ~~Highlight~~Notes that Members are free to document their use of the funds under the GEA, in detail or by type of cost~~, on their own or with the support of an external auditor, and~~; calls on members to have this information published in whole or in part on their online page on Parliament’s website in accordance with Rule 11, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament; welcomes that a simplified list of types of costs is integrated into the IMMS and that an amendment clarifying the possibility for Members to use the GEA in the case of exhaustion of other allowances has also been adopted;

Amendment 15 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

Amendment 150 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96

96. Highlights that Members ~~are free to~~must document their use of the funds under the GEA, in detail or by type of cost, on their own or with the support of an external auditor, and to have this information published in whole ~~or in part~~ on their online page on Parliament’s website in accordance with Rule 11, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament; welcomes that a simplified list of types of costs is integrated into the IMMS and that an amendment clarifying the possibility for Members to use the GEA in the case of exhaustion of other allowances has also been adopted;

Amendment 151 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 a (new)

96a. Repeats its call for a reform of the GEA that would oblige Members to keep all receipts pertaining to the GEA, annually publish an overview of expenditure by category as well as an independent auditor’s opinion on the EP’s website, return the unspent share of the GEA at the end of the mandate and that would establish annual 5% sample checks of Members’ GEA expenditure by Parliament’s services; Calls for Members to be required to externally audit the GEA;

Amendment 152 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 d (new)

96d. Notes that in 2022, 108 members paid back some of their staff allowances and Parliament is still trying to recover staff allowances from 31 additional MEPs; stresses the need to duly follow-up and impose sanctions in case recovery is not successful;

Amendment 153 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 a (new)

96a. Notes that in 2022 OLAF investigated 32 cases involving Parliament on issues related to, in particular, Members’ financial and social entitlements, the use of appropriations under budget item 400 and the discharge of professional obligations by staff; highlights that OLAF issued 14 reports, some of which had more than one recommendation, of which 5 included financial recommendations, 5 included disciplinary recommendations, 1 included an administrative recommendations, and 7 did not include any recommendations; takes note that in 2022 the European Public Prosecutor’s office (EPPO) investigated 4 cases involving Parliament on issues related to Members’ financial and social entitlements, and the financing of political structures; notes that none of the investigations conducted by EPPO in 2022 was concluded on the same year;

Amendment 154 #

Andrey NOVAKOV, Angelika WINZIG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 b (new)

96b. Notes that, in 2022, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) investigated 32 cases and the European Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) investigated 4 cases involving Parliament on issues related to Members’ financial and social entitlements, the financing of political structures, and the discharge of professional obligations by staff (including APAs); notes that, out of 32 OLAF investigations, 5 led to a report with financial recommendations, 5 led to a final report with disciplinary recommendations, 1 led to a final report with an administrative recommendation, and 7 led to a final report which did not include any recommendations; notes that none of the EPPO investigations were concluded in 2022; asks the administration whether the recommendations made by OLAF have been fully implemented and the amounts at risk have been recovered, as well as to provide a summary, without any sensitive data, of the typology of cases investigated in order to be able to draw conclusions and make improvements;

Amendment 155 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 b (new)

96b. Notes that in 2022 there were no cases in which OLAF requested access to offices or email accounts of Members; notes that a procedure to strengthen the mandate of OLAF in the European Parliament could be completed in accordance with the principle of immunities as laid down in Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union;

Amendment 156 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 c (new)

96c. Is concerned by the fact that OLAF has currently no access to Member’s offices, computers and email accounts, even when investigating cases linked to Members based on a substantiated suspicion; stresses that it is of utmost importance to have an adequate procedure for granting access to OLAF in place in cases of substantiated suspicions against individual Members; reiterates its call on the Bureau to set up such a procedure without delay;

Amendment 157 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 e (new)

96e. Regrets that despite at least 25 breaches of the Code of Conduct by Members recorded in the past twelve years, Parliament’s Presidents have not a single time imposed a financial sanction on a Member; calls on the President to consider imposing financial sanctions when it has been proven that Members have breached the Code of Conduct to ensure the sanctions actually have a deterrent effect;

Amendment 158 #

Mikuláš PEKSA, Markéta GREGOROVÁ, Patrick BREYER, Marcel KOLAJA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 96 a (new)

96a. Acknowledges the work of local assistants as an essential part of member’s activities in their constituencies and as first contact point for citizens; stresses that the hiring and contract- signing process for local assistants has been increasingly challenging for some years now due to a myriad of administrational requests resulting in double checks and unclear requirements; stresses that DG FINS should recognise that local assistants are subject to national legislation and therefore requests country-specific desks to deal with the hiring process; further recalls that voluntary and political activities of local assistants, within the rules set by the European Parliament, are often regular occupations, which should not warrant unnecessary checks;

Amendment 159 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 99 a (new)

99a. Recalls the added-value of free and open source software in improving security since they make it possible for Parliament to identify and fix weaknesses, keep control over the data by hosting in its servers and designing solutions according to its own specifications, while being able to avoid vendor lock-in effects;

Amendment 16 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Notes that as a consequence of a post that remained vacant throughout the year, envisaged for an information systems auditor, one planned audit in the field of IT (on cybersecurity staff awareness) could not be carried out in 2022; notes the difficulty in finding specific audit staff profiles, including in the field of IT, to perform audits as planned according to their requirements; calls the Internal Audit Service to address the issue in order to ensure the completion of the remaining audit in time for the next discharge cycle;

Amendment 160 #

Mikuláš PEKSA, Markéta GREGOROVÁ, Patrick BREYER, Marcel KOLAJA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 99 b (new)

99b. Recalls its preference for free and open source software solutions as against proprietary ones when considering new internal applications; asks for situations to be reported to the ICT governing bodies when open source solutions are not chosen;

Amendment 161 #

Matteo ADINOLFI, Dominique BILDE, Joachim KUHS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 102

102. Notes that following the increased use of portable devices in 2022, DG ITEC issued a global study to plan improvements to the Wi-Fi network in Parliament buildings; notes that, in 2022, the SPAAK building in Brussels was reinforced with the deployment of 351 additional antennas; acknowledges the efforts made to improve the Wi-Fi network in Parliament buildings; calls for further enhancement of the mobile network in Parliament buildings in Strasbourg, in order to improve mobile phone reception and at least guarantee basic activities, also calls for parliamentary devices to give access to the now essential virtual meeting applications;

Amendment 162 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 104 a (new)

104a. Welcomes the fact that the Digital Signature Portal (DiSP) allows Members to digitally sign documents, which improves efficiency, traceability and transparency to the procedures, notes that, regardless of the possibility to send signed plenary AMs to the plenary services by email or via the EP Transfer portal, signing plenary amendments is still an outdated and burdensome procedure; calls on the Bureau to take the necessary steps for introducing the possibility for Members to sign plenary amendments digitally in the future;

Amendment 163 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 107

107. ~~Recalls that~~Welcomes the internalisation of general security services in Luxembourg which entered into force on 1 January 2022; confirms the difficulty of attracting and recruiting specialised staff from all Member States in the security field with the conditions offered under function group I; recalls the particular situation in Luxembourg, where the salary offered in this function group is lower than the national minimum inter-professional wage, forcing Parliament to resort to social compensation;

Amendment 164 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 110 a (new)

110a. Welcomes the Parliament's recent introduction of the possibility for Members on maternity leave or in expectation of childbirth to indicate absence from votes; deplores nonetheless the fact that there is no system in place to ensure that Members who are temporarily absent for a justified reason, such as maternity leave, parental leave, long-term sick leave or carer’s leave, can continue to carry out their core duties if they so wish and are able to, first and foremost to vote; deems this problematic as it can negatively impact citizens’ representation in Parliament; underlines that younger, particularly female, Members and their voters are disproportionately affected when no such arrangements are provided for; emphasizes that a vote for a female Member of Parliament should not lead to a lack of representation; calls on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs to provide for the possibility of continuation of remote participation by revising Parliament’s Rules of Procedure;

Amendment 165 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 110 b (new)

110b. Notes that the suspension of Strasbourg part-sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to total savings of EUR 26 260 608 according to Parliament’s Secretariat, while also significantly reducing Parliament’s carbon footprint; highlights that the Court estimates that “the end of moving from Strasbourg to Brussels could generate annual savings of EUR 114 million plus a one-off saving of EUR 616 million if the Strasbourg buildings are successfully divested, or a one-off cost of EUR 40 million if they are not"1a; considers that given the current climate crisis, retaining the Strasbourg seat is irresponsible, calls on the Council to take Parliament’s position into account and act on it as a matter of urgency; _________________ 1a https://www.eca.europa.eu/other%20publi cations/pl1407_letter/pl1407_letter_en.pdf

Amendment 166 #

Andrey NOVAKOV, Monika HOHLMEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 110 c (new)

110c. Takes note of the study requested by the CONT Committee on the integration of human rights and environmental due diligence in the European Parliament's own public procurement rules and practices2a; believes that by incorporating responsible business standards in its procurement and purchasing policies, Parliament can lead by example, safeguard public interest and ensure the accountability of public spending; in line with the study's recommendations calls on the Parliament's services to take further steps to implement dedicated supply chain due diligence processes aligned to the recently agreed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD); _________________ 2a https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank /de/document/IPOL_STU(2024)758335

Amendment 167 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 111

111. Welcomes Parliament’s zero tolerance policy on harassment and the awareness-raising campaigns carried out; stresses that the Code of Appropriate Behaviour for Members of the European Parliament seeks to ensure that Members behave towards everyone working in Parliament with dignity, courtesy and respect and without prejudice or discrimination; recalls that in 2022, 56 MEPs participated in the training session; notes that, since November 2018, when the first sessions were offered, a total of 324 current MEPs had participated in the training session, plus 56 former Members whose mandate has ended; notes that in 2022, 106 members of staff and APAs had participated in anti-harassment training courses; notes with concern that cases of harassment are still occurring regardless of the activities being carried out to eliminate harassment in the work place; acknowledges that to help build a better working environment in the European Parliament and avoid any abuse of power, on 10 July 2023, the Bureau further approved a training concept on ‘How to create a good and well-functioning team’, recommending that such training should be mandatory for Members as of the beginning of the next parliamentary term; the content of the modules would cover among others the recruitment of assistants, successful team management administrative and financial aspects of parliamentary assistance as well as harassment prevention;

Amendment 168 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 111

111. Welcomes Parliament’s zero tolerance policy on harassment and the awareness-raising campaigns carried out; stresses that the Code of Appropriate Behaviour for Members of the European Parliament seeks to ensure that Members behave towards everyone working in Parliament with dignity, courtesy and respect and without prejudice or discrimination; recalls that in 2022, 56 MEPs participated in the training session; ~~notes~~is concerned that, since November 2018, when the first sessions were offered, a total of ~~324~~only 324 (46%) current MEPs had participated in the training session, plus 56 former Members whose mandate has ended; notes that in 2022, 106 members of staff and APAs had participated in anti- harassment training courses; notes with concern that cases of harassment are still occurring regardless of the activities being carried out to eliminate harassment in the work place; notes that the reformed anti- harassment training course for members titled “How to create a good and well- functioning team” and for managers titled “Fostering a positive workplace at the EP: managing staff ethically and preventing harassment situations” will be offered from spring 2024 and welcomes the Bureau’s efforts to make the anti- harassment training session mandatory for all members as well as Heads of Unit, Directors and Directors-General;

Amendment 169 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 111

111. Welcomes Parliament’s zero tolerance policy on harassment and the awareness-raising campaigns carried out; stresses that the Code of Appropriate Behaviour for Members of the European Parliament seeks to ensure that Members behave towards everyone working in Parliament with dignity, courtesy and respect and without prejudice or discrimination; recalls that in 2022, 56 MEPs participated in the training session; notes that, since November 2018, when the first sessions were offered, a total of 324 current MEPs had participated in the training session, plus 56 former Members whose mandate has ended; notes that in 2022, 106 members of staff and APAs had participated in anti-harassment training courses; notes with concern that cases of harassment are still occurring regardless of the activities being carried out to eliminate harassment in the work place; recalls that Parliament has requested on several occasions the implementation of mandatory anti-harassment training courses for all Members, as well as staff, including persons in managerial roles in the different Directorates-General and political groups;

Amendment 17 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Recalls that ~~pursuant to Rule 25 of and Annex V to the Rules of Procedure and Articles 6 and 262 of the Financial Regulation,~~ once the Plenary calls for different rules or measures to be implemented by Parliament, the rules or measures proposed arshall be discussed and voted on by the Bureau; recalls, in light of Rule 25 of the Rules of Procedure, that the Bureau is responsible for taking decisions on financial, organisational and administrative matters concerning Members; recalls that the Bureau is composed of the President of the European Parliament, the 14 Vice-Presidents and the five Quaestors (non-voting members) democratically elected by Parliament; notes, that the members of the Bureau deliberate on Parliament’s draft estimates; recalls that the discharge is an exercise of democratic scrutiny and that the concrete demands adopted by Plenary in discharge resolutions shall be reflected in the discussions of the Bureau;

Amendment 170 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 111

Amendment 171 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 113

113. Highlights that the Advisory Committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members has a mandate to examine allegations of psychological or sexual harassment against Members from all categories of staff, including APAs, trainees, seconded national experts and political group staff; notes that with the aim of further reinforcing Parliament’s anti-harassment policies, on 20 November 2023, the Bureau adopted a number of additional amendments to the rules on the functioning of the advisory committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members; remains concerned by the lack of independent experts on harassment issues in this committee and in the advisory committee on harassment and its prevention at the workplace; reiterates thus its calls on the Bureau to review the composition of both committees in order to include the pertinent independent expertise;

Amendment 172 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 114 a (new)

114a. Considers that harassment of the parliamentary assistant by other parliamentary assistants or Parliament officials should also be taken into account;

Amendment 173 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 114 a (new)

114a. Calls on its Secretary-General to publish which companies that Parliament purchases services from have an internal staff representation and which do not; calls on its Secretary-General to make it condition for further contra recalls its efforts to care for the well-being of staff of service providers with staff in Parliament’s premises over the last years; calls on its Secretary-General to designate a person who service provider employees can address that have been victim of harassment and did not find help within their own company; expects that companies have a staff representation and to have permission to publish the contracts;

Amendment 174 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 114 b (new)

114b. Recalls its efforts to care for the well-being of staff of service providers with staff in Parliament’s premises over the last years; calls on its Secretary- General to designate a person who service provider employees can address that have been victim of harassment and did not find help within their own company;

Amendment 175 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 115

115. Recalls that staff members of the Union institutions have an obligation to report any information pointing to corruption, fraud and other serious irregularities that they discover in the line of duty; notes that Parliament recorded one case of whistleblowing in 2022; welcomes the ongoing work in 2022 to update the Internal Rules Implementing Article 22(c) of the Staff Regulations of 4 December 2015 with more comprehensive and detailed internal rules; ~~notes~~welcome that a Bureau decision regarding the internal rules on whistleblowing was adopted on 20 November 2023 and will apply from 1 December 2023; including provisions for the protection of whistleblowers, transmission of evidence to OLAF and, if appropriate, EPPO as well as deadlines for the handling of complaints; regrets, however, that these rules are still not aligned to Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council; (This amendment is based on a recommendation from Transparency International.)

Amendment 176 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 115 a (new)

115a. Calls for extending the mandate of the ‘advisory committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members’ to complaints from whistleblowers and altering the composition of the Committee in a way that ensures that a sufficient number of independent experts on whistleblowing will also sit on the panel; Calls on mandatory whistleblowing training for MEPs and for any superior, both within the administration and political groups, that would receive potential whistleblowing reports;

Amendment 177 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 116

116. Notes that the actuarial deficit of the Voluntary Pension Fund (VPF) on 31 December 2021 amounted to EUR 379 million (compared to EUR 371.4 million on 31 December 2020); welcomes the amendments made by Parliament’s Bureau to Article 76 of the IMMS in relation to the Additional (Voluntary) Pension Scheme, which entered into force on 1 July 2023, aiming to reduce future pension obligations from EUR 362.7 million to an estimated EUR 139 million, and the actuarial deficit of the fund from EUR 310 million to an estimated EUR 86 million; calls for voluntary pension fund to be phased out by 2027;

Amendment 178 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117

117. Welcomes the decisions taken by the Bureau; recalls that the problem will still need to be addressed in the future; notes that legal assessment of the latest judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and their consequences for future Bureau decisions were also made available to the Members of the Bureau in order to allow them to take an informed decision; notes that there are ongoing appeals in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the matter will need to be addressed again after the judgments are handed down; recalls that the Parliament does not have a legal obligation to guarantee particular levels of payouts of the fund, nor would have to assume and take over its obligations in case of its insolvency as no contract between the fund and Parliament exists3a; recalls that the Fund has always constituted a purely supplementary pension for those Members making use of it3b; also notes that the Fund's beneficiaries contributed to the fund only through the General Expenditure Allowance and that the Fund's investment portfolio included, and possibly still includes, shares in the fossil fuel industry3c, calls in light of these characteristics of the Fund for the Secretary-General to guarantee that no taxpayer money is used for any future bail-out; _________________ 3a https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?a bstract_id=3739504 3b https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/ etudes/STUD/2021/659763/IPOL_STU(20 21)659763_EN.pdf 3c https://euobserver.com/green- economy/156605

Amendment 179 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117

117. Welcomes the decisions taken by the Bureau; recalls that the problem will still need to be addressed in the future as the measures adopted are expected to extend the lifespan of the VPF only by two or three years and asks the Administration and the Bureau to guarantee that no taxpayer money is used for any future bail-out; notes that legal assessment of the latest judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and their consequences for future Bureau decisions were also made available to the Members of the Bureau in order to allow them to take an informed decision; notes that there are ongoing appeals in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the matter will need to be addressed again after the judgments are handed down;

Amendment 18 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)

24a. Reiterates its concern that the decisions of the Bureau often fail to respect the will expressed by the Plenary in discharge resolutions and that a substantial number of concrete demands adopted by Plenary in discharge resolutions are not always well reflected in the discussions during meetings of the Bureau; reiterates the importance of the discharge procedure as set in the Financial Regulation and the Rules of Procedure and demands that resolutions affecting the functioning of Parliament be thoroughly taken into consideration and followed up in a legitimate, transparent manner; reiterates its call on the Secretary-General to make a concrete set of proposals to further improve the transparency of the Bureau’s decision- making and continues to recommend that the Committee on Budgetary Control should be systematically informed whenever a proposal arising from a discharge resolution is going to be discussed by the Bureau;

Amendment 180 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117

117. Welcomes the decisions taken by the Bureau; recalls that the problem will still need to be addressed in the future as the fund is expected to exhaust its assets by 2027 at the latest; notes that legal assessment of the latest judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and their consequences for future Bureau decisions were also made available to the Members of the Bureau in order to allow them to take an informed decision; notes that there are ongoing appeals in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the matter will need to be addressed again after the judgments are handed down; asks the administration and the Bureau to guarantee that no taxpayer money is used for any future bail-out;

Amendment 181 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117

117. Welcomes the latest decisions taken by the Bureau; recalls that the problem will still need to be addressed in the future; notes that legal assessment of the latest judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and their consequences for future Bureau decisions were also made available to the Members of the Bureau in order to allow them to take an informed decision; notes that there are ongoing appeals in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the matter will need to be addressed again after the judgments are handed down;

Amendment 182 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117 a (new)

117a. Acknowledges that Parliament is not involved in the management of the Fund’s investment portfolio but expresses its concern regarding press reports about the investments made by the Fund in controversial sectors and the potential reputational risk for the institution;

Amendment 183 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117 a (new)

117a. Acknowledges that Parliament is not involved in the management of the VPF’s investment portfolio but expresses its concern regarding press reports on the investments made by the Fund in controversial sectors and the potential reputational risk for the institution;

Amendment 184 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 17 a (new)

Strasbourg

Amendment 185 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 117 a (new)

117a. Recalls that according to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Protocol No 6 annexed to the Treaties, Parliament shall have its seat in Strasbourg, where the 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions, including the budget session, shall be held; recalls the support by the vast majority of Parliament for a single seat to ensure efficient spending of Union taxpayers’ money and to assume its institutional responsibility to reduce its carbon footprint; notes that permanent changes would require a Treaty change;

Amendment 186 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 125

125. Notes that, in 2022, the Authority gave European political parties and European political foundations the right to be heard as well as the opportunity for corrective measures in 9 cases; further notes that these were cases relating to reporting requirements, rules concerning revenue and joint activities; highlights that the Authority’s early scrutiny indicates that the immediately relevant corrective measures were implemented by the European political parties and foundations concerned in all these cases; takes note that the Authority will continue to monitor that corrective measures with a long-lasting effect will ensure sustained compliance in the areas concerned; welcomes the fact that no sanctions ~~wer~~had to be adopted in 2022;

Amendment 187 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 128 a (new)

128a. Notes with concern the donations to the ALDE Party from private firms in the IT and pharmaceutical sectors1a; warns against potential conflicts of interest that could arise, especially when Renew Europe MEPs are rapporteurs on files relating to these sectors; expresses its deep concern that this could arouse suspicions of foreign interference; _________________ 1a https://www.appf.europa.eu/cmsdata/2792 74/European%20Political%20Parties%20 Contributions%20and%20Donations%20 2022.pdf

Amendment 19 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25

25. ~~Highlights~~Is aware of the fact that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and until the gradual lifting of sanitary restrictions at the beginning of 2022, the Bureau’s deliberations were focused primarily on decisions aiming to protect the integrity of Members and staff while ensuring business continuity and implementing practical solidarity measures vis-à-vis the three host Member States of Parliament;

Amendment 2 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas there is always scope for improvement in terms of quality, efficiency and effectiveness, as well as transparency in the management of public finances; whereas thorough scrutiny is ~~necessary~~imperative to ensure that political leadership and Parliament’s administration are held accountable to Union citizens;

Amendment 20 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)

25a. Notes the procedural changes to the Parliament’s discharge; welcomes the introduction of additional hearings with Directors General; is concerned about a potential narrowing down of authorised written questions; notes the changes in the structure of the discharge report; is concerned that the new structure might mitigate certain horizontal issues and a follow-up to the implementation of certain decisions that in practice take longer than one year;

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the prompt actions taken by Parliament on the ~~events in December 2022~~alleged corruption scandal also known as the Qatargate; welcomes the contribution of DG PRES to the 14-point action plan proposed by the President and its efforts in implementing the new rules on integrity and transparency; further welcomes the efforts by Parliament’s political authorities to enhance transparency, integrity and accountability at Parliament but highlights that the actions and measures proposed by the 14-point have later been implemented rather hesitantly and that initially the implementation of the plan has been delegated to a secretive working group in the Constitutional Affairs Committee; stresses the importance of discussing measures related to transparency and accountability in public; calls on the administration to track the budgetary and financial impact of these measures; (This amendment is based on a recommendation from Transparency International.)

Amendment 22 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the prompt actions taken by Parliament on the events in December 2022; welcomes the contribution of DG PRES to the 14-point action plan proposed by the President and its efforts in implementing the new rules on integrity and transparency; regrets that the 14-point action plan does not include a transparency requirement in particular regarding decisions adopted by the Bureau itself; echoes the "Closing Note on the Strategic Initiative on improving the European Parliament’s Ethics and Transparency Framework" by European Ombudsman and therefore calls to make available the minutes of the Bureau meetings of significant public interest; further welcomes the efforts by Parliament’s political authorities to enhance transparency, integrity and accountability at Parliament; calls on the administration to track the budgetary and financial impact of these measures;

Amendment 23 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the prompt actions taken by Parliament on the events in December 2022, known as Qatargate, involving several political leaders and a number of NGOs financed by the Union; welcomes the contribution of DG PRES to the 14- point action plan proposed by the President and its efforts in implementing the new rules on integrity and transparency; further welcomes the efforts by Parliament’s political authorities to enhance transparency, integrity and accountability at Parliament; calls on the administration to track the budgetary and financial impact of these measures;

Amendment 24 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29

29. Welcomes the prompt actions taken by Parliament on the events related with suspected corruption cases concerning Members and employees in December 2022; welcomes the contribution of DG PRES to the 14-point action plan proposed by the President and its efforts in implementing the new rules on integrity and transparency; further welcomes the efforts by Parliament’s political authorities to enhance transparency, integrity and accountability at Parliament; calls on the administration to track the budgetary and financial impact of these measures;

Amendment 25 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)

29a. Regrets that not all the requests of Parliament’ resolution of 15 December 2022 on suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions were not put in place: reminds the importance of setting up of an inquiry committee able to investigate cases of corruption and improper actions as well as a special committee to identify potential flaws in the Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity and corruption and able to make proposals for reforms;

Amendment 26 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)

29a. Stresses that transparency, accountability, and integrity are essential ethics principles within the Union institutions and particularly Parliament as the house of European democracy; notes that Parliament reconfirms trust in the Union’s decision-making process by improving transparency, ethics and good conduct in the most representative European institution through its actions;

Amendment 27 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. Recalls that, in July 2021, Parliament, the Commission and the Council adopted an Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) on a mandatory transparency register; notes that while introducing some principles to enhance a common culture of transparency, the IIA leaves the three signatories to implement the conditionality and subsequent complementary measures as they see fit; points out that Parliament has improved conditionality while Council’s participation remains limited;

Amendment 28 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30

30. ~~Recalls that, in July 2021, Parliament, the Commiss~~Notes that 2022 marked the first year of the full implementation ~~and~~of the ~~Council adopted an~~mandatory transparency register under the revised Interinstitutional Aagreement (IIA) ~~on a mandatory transparency register~~, adopted in July 20212aby the Parliament, the Commission and the Council; notes that while introducing some principles to enhance a common culture of transparency, the IIA leaves the three signatories to implement the conditionality and subsequent complementary measures as they see fit; _________________ 2a Interinstitutional Agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on a mandatory transparency register, OJ L 207, 11.6.2021, p. 1.

Amendment 29 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. Notes that 2022 was the first year of the full implementation of the mandatory transparency register under the revised IIA adopted in 20212 and that the register is a key tool for promoting transparent and ethical interest representation at Union level ~~because~~as long as registration is respected as a precondition for interest representatives to be able to carry out certain activities with the Union institutions, including Parliament; calls for the provision of all necessary resources to ensure that the internal rules related to the Transparency Register are effectively enforced, including, where appropriate, the imposition of adequate sanctions; _________________ 2 Interinstitutional Agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the EuropeanUnion and the European Commission on a mandatory transparency register, OJ L 207, 11.6.2021, p. 1.

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Notes that 21 transfers were approved by Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (‘C transfers’), in accordance with Articles 31 and 49 of the Financial Regulation, in the financial year 2022, amounting to EUR 88 449 115 or 4,09 % of final appropriations; notes that the President authorised 11 transfers (‘P transfers’) amounting to EUR 34 246 879 or 1,6 % of the 2022 budget; enquires between which budget lines these P transfers occurred; calls on the presidency to inform the Budgetary Control Committee proactively of the amounts and budget lines concerned;

Amendment 30 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31

31. ~~Notes that 2022 was the first year of the full implementation of the mandatory transparency register under the revised IIA adopted in 20212 and that the register is a key tool for promot~~Recalls the significance of this register2 as a pivotal instrument in fostering transparent and ethical interest representation at Union level ~~because~~, establishing mandatory registration ias a pre~~condition~~requisite for interest representatives to be able to ~~carry out certain~~engage in specific activities with the Union institutions, including Parliament; _________________ 2 Interinstitutional Agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the EuropeanUnion and the European Commission on a mandatory transparency register, OJ L 207, 11.6.2021, p. 1.

Amendment 31 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Welcomes the increased use of the transparency register as an information and reference tool for interest representation activities at Union level; ~~notes the continuous improvement in the quality of information on the public database resulting from eligibility and data quality checks of new applicants; welcomes the regular communic~~welcomes the regular communication, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register; notes that the quality of entries in the Transparency Register has improved over recent years and commends the role of the Joint Secretariat in that improvement, despite limited resources; regrets, however, that the overall quality entries remains unsatisfactory with the Secretariat’s targeted quality checks of 4 238 entries over the course of 2022 finding thati on, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register; ly 44% provided satisfactory data quality, a number similar to 2021 (+ 4%); stresses the need to allocate additional resources for the Secretariat to allow for scrutiny of the Transparency Register to ensure data quality; Calls for an expansion of its scope to include representatives of non- EU countries; (This amendment is based on a recommendation from Transparency International.)

Amendment 32 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Welcomes the increased use of the transparency register as an information and reference tool for interest representation activities at Union level, shown by the rise in applications for registration and increased number of visits to the website year-on-year; notes the continuous improvement in the quality of information on the public database resulting from eligibility and data quality checks of new applicants, increased targeted quality monitoring and as a result of investigations based on complaints or own initiative investigations by the Secretariat; welcomes the regular communication, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register;

Amendment 33 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Welcomes the increased use of the transparency register as an information and reference tool for interest representation activities at Union level; notes the continuous improvement in the quality of information on the public database resulting from eligibility and data quality checks of new applicants; welcomes the regular communication, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register; recommends that IT solutions are used to integrate the Transparency Register in all Parliament’s activities involving external entities to allow to record and track their participation through the relevant databases;

Amendment 34 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32

32. Welcomes the increased use of the transparency register as an information and reference tool for interest representation activities at Union level; notes the continuous improvement in the quality of information on the public database resulting from eligibility ~~and~~; recalls the necessity to keep strengthening data quality checks of new applicants; welcomes the regular communication, helpdesk and awareness-raising activities undertaken by the Secretariat among stakeholders both within the institutions and outside, as well as the development of IT solutions to improve the transparency register;

Amendment 35 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)

32a. Recalls that Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure obliges members to publish their meetings with interest representatives; notes with great concern that in the period until 26 January 2023, 261 current Members had not published a single meeting with an interest representative on Parliament’s website; recalls that information and reminder notices on the obligation to publish meetings should be sent to all Members at regular intervals; (This amendment is based on a recommendation from Transparency International.)

Amendment 36 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Calls, as a consequence of the events at the end of 2022, for the establishment of robust standards on transparency and access to EU institutions for entities listed in the transparency register~~, including NGOs~~; recalls that NGOs were allegedly used as vectors of foreign interference in European Parliament~~arism; reiterates, in this context, the need for comprehensiv~~'s decision-making processes; regrets that the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) organised a two-day conference fin~~ancial pre-screening of entities before~~ June 2022 together with those organisations, despite the fact they awere lnot registered in the tTransparency rRegister;

Amendment 37 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Calls, as a consequence of the events of alleged corruption within the European Parliament that occurred at the end of 2022, for the establishment of robust standards on transparency and access to institutions for all entities listed in the transparency register~~, including NGOs; recalls that NGOs were allegedly used as vectors of foreign interference in European Parliamentarism~~; reiterates, in this context, the need for comprehensive financial pre-screening of all entities, disclosing all funding sources, before they are listed in the transparency register;

Amendment 38 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Calls, as a consequence of the events at the end of 2022, for the establishment of robust standards on transparency and access to institutions for entities listed in the transparency register, including NGOs; recalls that NGOs were allegedly misused as vectors of foreign interference in European Parliamentarism; reiterates, in this context, the need for comprehensive financial pre-screening of all entities before they are listed in the transparency register;

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33

33. Calls, as a consequence of the events at the end of 2022, for the establishment of robust standards on transparency and access to institutions for entities listed in the transparency register~~, including NGOs~~; recalls that NGOs were ~~allegedly~~ misused as vectors of foreign interference in European Parliament~~arism~~'s decision-making processes; reiterates, in this context, the need for comprehensive financial pre-screening of entities before they are listed in the transparency register;

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Condemns the European Parliament having its second seat in Strasbourg, which accounts for 10 % of Parliament’s budget; stresses that, in addition to the economic cost, this also represents an environmental cost, since journeying from Brussels to Strasbourg generates around 19 tonnes of CO2 emissions; calls for the Treaties to be revised at the earliest opportunity so as to end the wastefulness of having a second seat in Strasbourg;

Amendment 40 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Stresses the need for a thorough pre-check as part of registration in the transparency register to disclose all funding sources; notes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chainCalls the European Commission to ensure that all Union funds are effectively traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chain; as requested in the INI report “Transparency and accountability for NGO funded from EU Budget” adopted on the 17th of January 20243a ; calls for a revision of the guidelines for registration in the transparency register to disclose all incoming and outgoing funds, including the transfer of funds from one ~~NGO and~~ stakeholder to another; underlines that NGOs receiving money from third parties, whose registration in the transparency register is not required, need to disclose the source of their funding by specifying the same information as all regular registrants;_________________ 3a P9_TA(2024)0036

Amendment 41 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Stresses the need for a thorough pre-check as part of registration in the transparency register to disclose all funding sources; notes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chain; calls for a revision of the guidelines for registration in the transparency register to disclose all incoming and outgoing funds, including the transfer of funds from one NGO and stakeholder to another; underlines that NGONotes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary; underlines that all registrants receiving money from third parties, whose registration in the transparency register is not required, need to disclose the source of their funding ~~by specifying the same information as all regular registrants~~;

Amendment 42 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Stresses the need for a thorough pre-check as part of registration in the transparency register to disclose all funding sources; notes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chain; calls for a revision of the guidelines for registration in the transparency register to disclose all incoming and outgoing funds, including the transfer of funds from one NGO and stakeholder to another; underlines that NGONotes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary; underlines that all registrants receiving money from third parties, whose registration in the transparency register is not required, need to disclose the source of their funding ~~by specifying the same information as all regular registrants~~;

Amendment 43 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

Amendment 44 #

Matteo ADINOLFI, Joachim KUHS, Dominique BILDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34

34. Stresses the need for a thorough pre-check as part of registration in the transparency register to disclose all funding sources; notes that funding from Union funds must be traceable from the direct recipient to the final beneficiary when funds are passed on in a chain; calls for a revision of the guidelines for registration in the transparency register to disclose all incoming and outgoing funds, including the transfer of funds from one NGO and stakeholder to another; underlines that NGOs receiving money from third parties, whose registration in the transparency register is not required, need to disclose the source of their funding by specifying the same information as all regular registrants; regrets that most members of the committee responsible refused to require NGOs to comply with anti-money laundering rules;

Amendment 45 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)

34a. Recalls that the so-called Qatargate scandal has exposed civil society organisations as enablers of corruption and foreign interference in European Parliamentarism; regrets that NGOs and civil society organisations remain exempt from most anti-money laundering transparency and reporting requirements; underlines that the European Court of Auditors Special report No 35/2018 warns that NGOs are prone to be used for money laundering purposes; calls therefore for establishing a definition of NGO at EU, and to bring NGOs under the scope of the EU anti- money laundering framework, in order to be able to be listed in the transparency register;

Amendment 46 #

Mikuláš PEKSA, Marcel KOLAJA, Patrick BREYER, Markéta GREGOROVÁ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)

34a. Considers roll call votes (RCV) to be a key instrument for transparency and accountability towards the Union’s citizens; calls for introducing automatic RCV to any final vote except for secret ballots, and for increasing the number of RCV that are possible for a political group to ask for per part-session in Rule 190-2, or exempting legislative files from that limitation;

Amendment 47 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35

35. Notes ~~with satisfaction the successful~~the organisation of mid-term elections in 2022 of the President, Vice- Presidents and the Quaestors in a remote format, as decided by the Conference of Presidents; ~~acknowledges the importance of the plenary remote voting system in the successful running of such a sensitive and complex secret vote;~~

Amendment 48 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)

35a. Recalls the changes in Parliament’s Rules of Procedure on 20 December 2020 allowing for remote voting and the fact that voting remotely in committee is currently not allowed unless the President establishes the existence of extraordinary circumstances; reiterates its request to the Bureau, adopted at Plenary level on several occasions, to enable Members to exercise their right to vote remotely while benefiting from maternity or paternity leave, during a long term illness or in cases of force majeure, thus capitalising on the great administrative effort and financial investment that Parliament has made in technical solutions to allow remote voting;

Amendment 49 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 b (new)

35b. Notes that the average number of MEPs signing the attendance register on Friday of the plenary weeks in Strasbourg during 2022 was 71; points out that many Members work in their offices and hold meetings in Brussels on Fridays of plenary weeks and requests that the attendance register be enabled to record their presence in both places of work;

Amendment 5 #

8. Notes that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the exceptionally high level of inflation, which by the end of the year 2022 still stood at 10,4 % for the Union on an annual basis, had a profound influence on the 2022 financial year; acknowledges that ~~all Directorates-General and the Secretary- General~~the Parliament’s administration haves put considerable effort into the implementation of ~~Parliament’s~~the budget with a view to meeting urgent needs arising from the crisis situation; welcomes the donations of technical equipment by Parliament to support Ukraine in difficult times of war;

Amendment 50 #

Arnaud DANJEAN, François-Xavier BELLAMY, Anne SANDER, Nadine MORANO, Brice HORTEFEUX, Geoffroy DIDIER, Nathalie COLIN-OESTERLÉ, Laurence SAILLIET

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)

36a. Recalls that OLAF has the mandate to investigate suspicions of serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU institutions, including possible breaches of the Code of Conduct of Parliament’s Members; notes that Parliament has systematically rejected OLAF’s requests to conduct inspections of MEPs’ offices and access their electronic servers and devices, which is a legal prerogative only used when it is strictly needed and proportionate for the investigation and fully respecting confidentiality; calls Parliament’s administration to not put any obstacles in the way of implementation of Parliament’s Decision of 18 November 1999 governing relations with OLAF during internal investigations;

Amendment 51 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)

36a. Welcomes the resumption of in- presence plenary sessions in Strasbourg; recalls that the EU Treaties stipulate that Parliament shall have its seat in Strasbourg, where the 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions, including the budget session, shall be held; underlines that the suspension of sessions in Strasbourg, the introduction of electronic voting and remote participation are linked to the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic; recalls that any change to the Treaties requires the unanimity of the Member States;

Amendment 52 #

Matteo ADINOLFI, Dominique BILDE, Joachim KUHS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37

37. Recalls that the Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM) is a multi-site Directorate-General, with staff located in Brussels, Strasbourg and the Liaison Offices in each of the 27 Member States, as well as in London, Washington D.C. (until 1 November 2022 when the two EPLOs were transferred to the new Directorate-General for Parliamentary Democracy Partnerships), and the Jean Monnet House in Bazoches (France), it calls for a solid evaluation of the results achieved by these centres, recalling the major financial effort from the EU budget to purchase and upgrade the property in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne;

Amendment 53 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38

38. Notes that DG COMM’s key tasks are to collaborate with the media, to inform, explain and enhance the visibility of Parliament’s work, to increase awareness of Parliament among citizens, stakeholders and opinion leaders through the European Parliament Liaison Offices (EPLOs) located in the Member States, to foster interaction with citizens through enhanced visitor projects, events and information campaigns and its presence on social media, and to provide expertise to Members and political groups on topics such as media intelligence and public opinion monitoring; and to combat disinformation by all means, particularly in the lead-up to elections;

Amendment 54 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)

38a. Notes the complexity of activities of the DG COMM; notes the need to increase the visibility of the work of the European Parliament and to increase citizens’ trust in institution of the Parliament, which would require an increase in the budget for DG COMM;

Amendment 55 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39

39. Notes that DG COMM’s final appropriations amounted to EUR 121 235 650 in 2022, representing 5,6 % of Parliament’s budget; highlights that, of that amount, a total of EUR 121 146 177 was committed; welcomes the high use of appropriations; regrets that these funds are used for communications driven by politics rather than democracy and for invitations to journalists, the effectiveness of which has yet to be proven;

Amendment 56 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)

39a. Finds excessive the participation of DG COMM and of other European Institutions in tender1a of " Inter- institutional Framework Contract for the Provision of Services Linked to Media Strategy, Planning and Buying, Including Associated Services " amounting to 132,820,000.00 EUR; _________________ 1a https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft- display.html?cftId=12411

Amendment 57 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes that, on 10 March 2022, the President issued a revised decision on ‘Security measures to limit the spread of COVID-19’ which meant physical presence for several activities was restored, including re-admitting visitor groups; ~~not~~welcomes the decision to increase the paid financial contributions for travel, accommodation, meals and minor local expenses by 10 % for the sponsored visitor groups in 2022; ~~notes the decision by the Bureau~~calls on the Bureau to reverse its decision to reduce the annual quota of sponsored visitors per member from 110 to 100 and from 55 to 50 for election years; highlights that the decision to carry over the unused quota from 2020 to 2022, 2023 and 2024 remained unchanged; insists to the Bureau that APAs be eliminated from the list of permitted heads of groups, leaving only a member of the sponsored group or a professional, such as paying agents or travel agencies, to take up the role, in order to prevent APAs from being compelled to take on the financial responsibility, which can amount to substantial sums of money;

Amendment 58 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes that, on 10 March 2022, the President issued a revised decision on ‘Security measures to limit the spread of COVID-19’ which meant physical presence for several activities was restored, including re-admitting visitor groups; notes the decision to increase the paid financial contributions for travel, accommodation, meals and minor local expenses by 10 % for the sponsored visitor groups in 2022; notes the decision by the Bureau to reduce the annual quota of sponsored visitors per member from 110 to 100 and from 55 to 50 for election years; highlights that the decision to carry over the unused quota from 2020 to 2022, 2023 and 2024 remained unchanged; reiterates that the financial responsibility of the sponsored visitors’ groups shall be taken up only for a member of the group or a professional, such as paying agents or travel agencies, and repeats its request to the Bureau to eliminate APAs from the list of permitted heads of groups;

Amendment 59 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41

41. Notes that, on 10 March 2022, the President issued a revised decision on ‘Security measures to limit the spread of COVID-19’ which meant physical presence for several activities was restored, including re-admitting visitor groups; ~~not~~welcomes the decision to increase the paid financial contributions for travel, accommodation, meals and minor local expenses by 10 % for the sponsored visitor groups in 2022 leading to improved cost coverage; notes the decision by the Bureau to consequently reduce the annual quota of sponsored visitors per member from 110 to 100 and from 55 to 50 for election years; underlines that while this demonstrates a prudent financial management and expenditure controls, it simultaneously diminishes access to the Parliament for European citizens; highlights that the decision to carry over the unused quota from 2020 to 2022, 2023 and 2024 remained unchanged;

Amendment 6 #

Arnaud DANJEAN, François-Xavier BELLAMY, Anne SANDER, Nadine MORANO, Brice HORTEFEUX, Geoffroy DIDIER, Nathalie COLIN-OESTERLÉ, Laurence SAILLIET

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Notes that the Multiannual Financial Framework Heading 7 ‘European public administration’ accounts for EUR 11.6 billion or 5,9% of the Union budget in 2022, of which Parliament accounts for EUR 2.2 billion or 18,9 %; welcomes the fact that the Court found that the level of error in spending on ‘European public administration’ was not material; calls on the Parliament to check and identify which type of transactions had a high share of errors, although below the materiality threshold and explore the changes in procedure needed to avoid and detect similar errors in the future;

Amendment 60 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44

44. Notes ~~with satisfaction~~ that Members were given the opportunity to take part in plenary debates from the EPLOs in their Member States of election~~, this being~~ as a result of the exceptional measures put in place during the pandemic, this having been facilitated by the actions of DG COMM; welcomes the increased efforts made by DG COMM to make use of new technologies to facilitate the work of Members during the COVID- 19 pandemic; acknowledges that the remote access for national media to the communication activities of Parliament has opened up ways to interact with Union citizens;

Amendment 61 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45

45. Takes note that, in 2022, DG COMM finished most of its preparatory work ahead of the 2024 European elections; notes that, in 2022, Parliament’s Bureau approved the communication strategy for the 2024 elections; notes that a pan-European call for proposals was launched in mid-2022 and resulted in the award of 19 grants, financing capacity building actions and/or citizen-engagement activities in support of the European elections; notes in this context a tender2a of 2,650,000.00 EUR launched by the DG COMM aiming to project, publish and disseminate the European Parliament Composition during the 2024 Election Night; _________________ 2a https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft- display.html?cftId=13133

Amendment 62 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46

46. Notes that Europa Experiences ~~are positive actions that~~seek to promote the work of the Union and that explain Union policies to citizens; notes with satisfaction the increased number of visits to Europa Experiences over the last two years; notes that thousands of visitors per month enjoy Europa Experiences every year; takes note that despite the ongoing inflation crisis in 2022, two new Europa Experience facilities (Paris and Rome) were opened, which allowed the Liaison Offices to benefit from different outreach opportunities and to expand their networks; notes that at the end of 2022, over 80% of the Europa Experience roll-out objectives had been met;

Amendment 63 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)

46a. Finds unnecessary a provision of expertise and acquisition services for building up the House of European History Collection amounting to 4,000,000.00 EUR under the tender COMM/DG/AWD/2022/2803a; _________________ 3a https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft- display.html?cftId=9804

Amendment 64 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47

47. WRecalls the ongoing struggle in which the European Union is involved to safeguard European values and uphold the integrity of our democratic processes; welcomes the actions undertaken ~~on the~~by the Parliament in the pursuit of these objectives, fighting against disinformation and information manipulation; calls on the DG COMM to keep developing and implementing effective strategies to counter disinformation and information manipulation, especially within an electoral context ; highlights that one of the most powerful ~~tool~~weapons against disinformation is positive, fact~~ual~~-based communication ~~about~~regarding the Parliament’s ~~work~~activities;

Amendment 65 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47

47. Welcomes the actions taken on the fight against disinformation and information manipulation and calls to reinforce these actions in light of the upcoming European elections; highlights that one of the most powerful tools against disinformation is positive, factual communication about Parliament’s work;

Amendment 66 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47

47. Welcomes the actions taken on the fight against disinformation and information manipulation and calls to reinforce these actions in light of the upcoming elections; highlights that one of the most powerful tools against disinformation is positive, factual communication about Parliament’s work;

Amendment 67 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48 a (new)

48a. Points to the need to reduce MEPs’ salaries of EUR 10 075.18 pre-tax and EUR 7 853.89 after tax, which is far higher than the average salary paid to EU citizens; this reduction in salaries could serve as an indicator that the European political class was reconnecting with the difficulties confronting European citizens in these times of low growth and high inflation;

Amendment 68 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 a (new)

50a. Calls for a deep reflection on the new ways of working that can reconcile the needs of Parliament’s administration (including team cohesion, internal communication and on-boarding of newcomers) with the expectations and satisfaction of its staff, which would positively impact their performance as well as the attractiveness of Parliament as an employer; highlights in this context the importance of a genuine social dialogue with the staff representatives on crucial points like a flexible work environment, health and welfare and training and career opportunities;

Amendment 69 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 a (new)

50a. Reiterates that the recruitment of contractual agents is an acceptable measure when justified, but insists that core tasks should be performed by permanent staff;

Amendment 7 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Notes that the Court’s annual report on the implementation of the budget concerning the financial year 2022 presents specific findings on Parliament; notes the Court’s recommendation that Parliament’s administration strengthens its guidance on the implementation of budget appropriations by the ~~European~~ political groups and that it keeps working to improve the internal rules and ensure compliance with procurement rules and procedures;

Amendment 70 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51

51. Highlights that ensuring a fair geographical balance is an important part of creating a truly European public service, remarks that over the years, Parliament has taken a number of measures in that respect; notes that there is still room for improvement; notes that the Bureau has created the legal framework for the organisation of nationality-specific competitions and decided to organise the first of such competitions; highlights that competitions should always be based on ~~merit~~professional training of the person, regardless of age, gender, faith;

Amendment 71 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52

52. Recalls that, on 13 January 2020, the Bureau approved new and more ambitious targets for gender balance at the senior and middle management levels of Parliament’s administration to be achieved by 2024, meaning that women should ~~occupy~~hold 50% of head of units posts, 50% of director posts and 40% of director-general posts; ~~note~~recalls that ~~in 2022, women occupie~~a gender action plan for the years 2021-2022 aimed at facilitating the implementation of these targets, as well as comprehensively mainstreaming gender into all activities of Parliament, was subsequently developed and approved by the Bureau on 6 July 2020; notes that in 2022, women held 28.6 % of director- general posts, welcomes the fact that 50.8 % of director posts, and 43.5 % of head of unit posts were held by women;

Amendment 72 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52

52. Recalls that, on 13 January 2020, the Bureau approved new and more ambitious targets for gender balance at the senior and middle management levels of Parliament’s administration to be achieved by 2024, meaning that women should occupy 50% of head of units posts, 50% of director posts and 40% of director-general posts; ~~not~~welcomes that in 2022~~, women occupied 28.6 % of director-general posts, 50.8 % of director posts, and 43.5 % of head of unit posts~~ 43.5% of heads of unit and 50,8% of directors are women, while the percentage of women occupying director-general positions has increased from 15.4% to 28.6% since 2021;

Amendment 73 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53

53. Acknowledges that several Directorates-General have expressed their concerns about attracting talent and specialised profiles that are essential to carry out Parliament’s core business; notes that only services that are essential may be considered for a potential internalisation exercise; highlights that some services are carried out by external service providers due to their specific nature which does not meet the conditions for internalisation; is therefore of the opinion that the services not meeting these conditions should not be considered for internalisation by the governing bodies and thus, is of the opinion that Parliament's governing bodies should consider the internalisation of essential services such as catering and cleaning, as Parliament has previously done with security and IT services, as well as with the CPE2 crèche in Luxembourg; calls on the Secretary-General to carry out a feasibility study on the internalisation of catering and cleaning services in order to have a reasonable cost-benefit analysis and to report back to the Committee on Budgetary Control on the outcome;

Amendment 74 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53

53. Acknowledges that several Directorates-General have expressed their concerns about attracting talent and specialised profiles that are essential to carry out Parliament’s core business; notes that only services that are essential may be considered for a potential internalisation exercise; highlights that some services are carried out by external service providers due to their specific nature which does not meet the conditions for internalisation; is therefore of the opinion that is of the opinion that the internalisation of essential services such as catering and cleaning should be considered by the governing bodies and that a feasibility study on internalisation of those and other services ~~not meeting these conditions~~where necessary should ~~not~~ be con~~sidered for internalisation by the governing bodi~~ducted by the EP services;

Amendment 75 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54 a (new)

54a. Notes with satisfaction that, as requested in the 2021 discharge resolution, At its meeting of 10 July 2023, the Bureau requested to introduce the possibility for a negotiated termination of contract between a Member and their APA, for cases where it is necessary to terminate the contract of an APA for reasons other than a loss of trust;

Amendment 76 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55

55. Acknowledges that the work of APAs is an integral part of the work of Members ~~and therefore of~~; recognizes that the APAs constitute a substantial proportion of the total working personnel making them an essential component of a well-functioning Parliament; notes that following the adoption of the APA statute in 2009, their status over the years has been gradually recognised; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls for due adherence to the rules in place; notes, that since then, APAs participate in official missions to Parliamehighlights that APAs rights should be on equal footing with the staff of the European Parliament; Calls on the competent authorities of the Parliament to recognize the status of the APA Committee, on par with the Staff Committee, in terms of affording both equal prerogatives as union bodies of the European Parliament; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls on the Bureau of the European Parliament and the administration of the Parliament to regularly and formally consult the APA Committee on revisions and reforms that directly impact the rights of APAs; recalls that pursuant to Article 35 of the Implementing Measures for Title VII of the Conditions of Employment of other Servant’s ~~three places of work~~of the European Union, the APA Committee shall act as contact point for the competent authorities of Parliament;

Amendment 77 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55

55. Acknowledges that the work of APAs is an integral part of the work of Members and therefore of Parliament; notes that following the adoption of the APA statute in 2009, their status over the years has been recognised; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls for due adherence to the rules in place; notes, that since then, APAs participate in official missions to Parliament’s three places of work; notes that on 11 December 2023 the Bureau adopted amendments to the ‘Implementing Measures for Title VII of the Conditions of Employment of other Servants of the European Union’, governing the employment of accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs); notes that according to this decision the rules applicable to missions undertaken by officials and other servants of Parliament will apply to APAs mutatis mutandis;

Amendment 78 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55

55. Acknowledges that the work of APAs is an integral part of the work of Members and therefore of Parliament; notes that following the adoption of the APA statute in 2009, their status over the years has been recognised; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls for due adherence to the rules in place; notes, that since then, APAs participate in official missions to Parliament’s three places of work; express concern regarding the accredited parliamentary assistants’ traveling to Strasbourg during the European Parliament plenary sessions; notes that in the event of chartered Eurostar trains being full, the accredited parliamentary assistants are offered considerably worse and more unreliable travel options than the other members of Parliament staff;

Amendment 79 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55

55. Acknowledges that the work of APAs is an integral part of the work of Members and therefore of Parliament; notes that following the adoption of the APA statute in 2009, their status over the years has been recognised; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls for due adherence to the rules in place; notes, that since then, APAs participate in official missions to Parliament’s three places of work; reiterates its long-standing request to allow APAs, under certain conditions yet to be determined, to accompany Members on official Parliament delegations and missions outside of the three places of work, as reiterated by Plenary in several discharge resolutions; urges the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents to respond positively to this demand;

Amendment 8 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. The political groups receive assistance and advice from Parliament when they request; notes that in 2022 the financial departments of the political groups intensified their signatures with national delegations in order to ensure the sound management of the appropriations in line 400;

Amendment 80 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55

Amendment 81 #

Gilles BOYER, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ilana CICUREL, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55

55. Acknowledges that the work of APAs is an integral part of the work of Members and therefore of Parliament; notes that following the adoption of the APA statute in 2009, their status over the years has been recognised; notes the efforts made by Parliament to create a framework for providing support to APAs; calls for due adherence to the rules in place; notes, that since then, APAs participate in official missions to Parliament’s three places of work; calls on the Parliament administration to explore the feasibility to introduce a notice period within APA's contracts in the event of a MEP's unexpected departure, whether voluntary or involuntary.

Amendment 82 #