17 Amendments of Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ related to 2020/2145(DEC)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Regrets that in 2020 the bureau of the Committee in 2020 adopted a decision allowing for the reimbursement of expenses for remote participation in cases where a member was prevented from travelling to Brussels as a result of COVID-19 related issues.; asks the Committee to present a report on the financial impact of this decision including the reasons for the reimbursement;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the fact that during 2019, the IT security officer remained active in raising user cybersecurity awareness for staff, including a briefing for the IT steering committee and sectoral briefings at the level of individual departments; notes that the Committee together with the Committee of Regions (‘CoR’) actively contributed to the ‘2019 European cybersecurity month’ campaignin 2019, two additional projects were launched concerning cybersecurity; encourages the Committee to continue its close cooperation with other committees, especially the Committee of Regions, to further develop synergies;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Is aware of the new service level agreement launched in 2019 between Parliament and the Committee which allows the Committee to benefit from the services of Parliament’s interpreters (for which payment will be made) every time the Committee uses Parliament’s premises for its meetings and occasionally also in the Committee’s premises; acknowledges that the agreement contributes to the optimisation of the use of the interpreters of Parliament; welcomes the existing cooperation agreements between Parliament, the Committee and the Committee of the Regions with a view to identifying other areas in which back- office functions could be shared; invites the Committee to identify further potential synergies and savings;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Acknowledges that the agreement´s purpose is to allow for more flexibility to the advantage of all three involved parties, being the Committee, CoR and Parliament; notes that reallocation of unspent funds to other policy areas is part of this flexibility;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30 a. States with concern that the Committee’s total annual budget increased from EUR 108 000 000 in 2006 to more than EUR 138 000 000 in 2019 while the overall number of opinions and reports produced by the Committee decreased significantly (from 193 in 2006 to 127 in 2019), implying that each opinion in 2019 comes at a significantly higher cost for taxpayer’s money which is alarming; notes with concern that out of the 127 opinions and reports, only 55 were own-initiative opinions;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 b (new)
Paragraph 30 b (new)
30 b. Notes that the annual activity report for 2019 only gives a very general overview of the Committee’s activities without deeper qualitative and quantitative evaluation of its work; calls on the Committee to introduce other key performance indicators in its annual activity report, such as the rate of implementation in Union legislation of the recommendations in its opinions, to enable an impact assessment of the Committee’s work;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 c (new)
Paragraph 30 c (new)
30 c. Regrets that for 2019, the Committee’s most consulted opinion (on Blockchain and distributed ledger technology) did not reach more than 2 500 page views, while the other top five opinions reached just between 1 000 and 2 000 views; encourages the Committee to increase its efforts to achieve a higher attention of its opinions;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 d (new)
Paragraph 30 d (new)
30 d. Asks the Committee to rationalise its internal bodies and refocus the remits of its structures, as stated in the follow-up to the 2018 discharge, including providing clarifications of savings in connection with this process; notes the efforts of the bureau to set up a six-member ad hoc group to provide a comprehensive review on how to streamline the Committee's working structures and bodies, including the question of the remits of the sections and the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI); asks the bureau to extend the streamlining to all other existing bodies and to report back to Parliament on the findings;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 e (new)
Paragraph 30 e (new)
30 e. Acknowledges the existing cooperation agreements between Parliament, the Committee and the Committee of the Regions with a view to identifying areas in which back office functions could be shared; calls, in addition, on the Committee to identify possible synergies related to such back office functions and services;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Is aware that the Committee continues to implement its action plan 2017-2020 for equal opportunities and diversity; notes that gender balance among the Committee's managerial staff already reached parity in 2018 and remains relatively stable; welcomes the ‘united in diversity’ conference on communication in a multicultural environment with the aim of fostering respectful relations at work while taking diversity into account; observes the slight improvement in the geographical balance compared to 2018 with 19 % of the Committee’s managers currently being from Member States who joined the Union after 2004 (compared to 16 % in 2017 and 18,5 % in 2018); notes with concern the overrepresentation of certain nationalities in the Committee’s staff; urges the Committee to develop specific measures to address this imbalance; asks the Committee to ensure geographical balance as addressed in Rule 4 of the rules of procedure for members of the bureau;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41 a. Welcomes that long-term trainees receive a monthly maintenance grant, mobility and travel allowance; recommends the Committee to pay an adequate reimbursement to short-term trainees as well;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. AskUrges the Committee to inform the discharge authority on the procedures and processes the Committee has rolled out or intends to roll out as to how cases of harassment or similar issues concerning staff will be avoided in the future in order to ensure that comparable regrettable developments which have caused negative publicity and damaged the reputation of the Committee will not be repeated;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. Acknowledges that the Committee is well aware of the political impact of the refusal of the 2018 discharge and is striving to further strengthen its capacityefforts to tackle harassment situations; notes that a detailed action plan will be endorsed at the latest by the end of 2020the directorate of human resources and finances and the internal auditor prepared a revision of the ethics and integrity framework; agrees that the Committee continues to raise staff and management awareness through better targeted internal communication; asks the Committee to provide the Parliament with a complete overview of all actions undertaken;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Underlines that on the basis of the observations made by Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, the report by OLAF and the reflections of the Committee’s advisory committee on the conduct of members, the Committee set up a joint internal working group on the ethical framework with a mandate to review all potential gaps in the current framework with a view to recommending improvements; notes that the advisory committee also has the opportunity to liaise with the joint internal working group in order to ensure coherence of the overall ethical framework within the Committee and to explore possible synergies; notes that the advisory committee on the conduct of members became the ethical committee and that a provision on the appointment of reserve members has been added, as well as the possibility for one of its member to recuse himself or herself, or to be removed if found guilty of breaching the code of conduct; welcomes the fact that the Committee has now explicit investigative powers in order to carry out its mission, and may also seek advice from external experts;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Calls on the Committee to report on the implementation ofWelcomes the fact that the Committee’s revised code of conduct and rules of procedure following the 2018 OLAF investigation was approved in the Committee plenary by a vast majority in January 2021; notes that the bureau has decided on a partial and light revision of the rules of procedure and a more comprehensive revision of the code of conduct, with a particular view to strengthening sanctions; notes that the revision of the code of conduct should be ready by DecemberCommittee has also updated its ethics and integrity framework through the adoption of an action plan for a stronger ethical framework, which entered into force on 7 January 20201;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. notWelcomes that the proposal for rerevised code of conduct includes elements such as prevention and prohibition of harassment practices and improved provisions ofn the codeclaration of financial interests and ofn conduct should include flict of interest; encourages the Committee to consider including other elements such as stronger sanctions, support mechanisms for victims, automatically informing the Council and the Commission of the names of Committee members who have been found to be responsible for breaching the code of conduct and an annual review of the functioning of the code of conduct; notes that the decision on harassment and the decision on administrative investigations are currently being revised in order to further improve the mechanisms allowing staff to make formal harassment complaints; notes in relation to the informal procedure and the possibility for staff members to share their concerns on any perceived situation of harassment that the number of confidential counsellors has been increased and that the entire network of confidential counsellors receives continuous support through regular supervision and training; notes that the confidential counsellors are part of an inter-institutional network, which allows for the exchange of best practices;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53
Paragraph 53
53. Values the Committee’s commitment to tacklinge harassment in the working environment and to fostering a culture of zero tolerance with regard to harassment by working on the revision of thethe revised ethics and integrity framework and the revision of the Committee’s decisions on harassment, whistleblowing and administrative enquiries; welcomes that a related, detailed action plan is supposed to be endorsed by the end of 2020 and covers a number of measures such as the revision of the code of conduct for members, the possible creation of an independent internal ombudsman function, a brochure focusing on respect and dignity at work, the establishment of a dedicated compulsory learning path before entrusting staff management responsibilities, whether on Committee’s managers or on members, and regular awareness-raising activities,; appreciates that an internal audit on ethics and integrity will take the form of a mapping exercise followed by an analysis aimed at establishing a comprehensive overview of rules, standards and measures in relation to ethics and integrity; notes that the audit will also tackle issues such as gifts and entertainment, outside activities and assignments, conflicts of interest and post-Union employment;