Activities of Claudia SCHMIDT related to 2017/2137(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2016, Section I – European Parliament PDF (724 KB) DOC (110 KB)
Amendments (42)
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Calls on the Secretary-General to inform the Members about progress made with regards to the iPACS Project (whose aim is to strengthen and modernize the security of people, buildings and assets of the Parliament); notes that this project was adopted by Bureau decision on 9th of March 2015; underlines the importance of ascertaining whether a project of such prime importance to the Parliament – and that has cost such a large sum of money – is on track;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Calls on the Secretary-General to institute measures to deal with significantly increasing hotel prices in Strasbourg, prices that have increased dramatically from one year to the next with an especially marked peak during the Plenary; recommends facilitating transport between Strasbourg and the German side of the border, where prices are significantly lower (possibly by means of a shuttle bus service between Kehl and the Parliament building);
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Welcomes the initiatives of the Secretary-General regarding the review of the Crisis and Business Continuity Strategy in order to build up the resilience of the Parliament to better face any potential major incident (of any nature; IT, security, premises) impacting Parliament’s activities, reflected in a Bureau Decision of 3rd of May 2016;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes that, following the referendum held on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom the Bureau discussed the consequences in its meeting of 4 July 2016; notes that the position of the President is that, as long as the United Kingdom remains a full member of the Union, British Members and Parliament’s staff enjoy exactly the same rights and obligations as all other Members and staff of the house; notes that this arrangement needs to be flexible and remain in line with any possible outcomes of the Brexit negotiations; notes that the situation of British Members and Parliament staff might change during the yet to be defined transition period;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. considers it appropriate to keep the small increase in budget line 422 ‘Expenditure related to parliamentary assistance’ in particular taking into account the higher workload through Brexit, growing number of trilogues, increasing number of temporary and special committees, reaching ahistorical threshold of 25 standing and temporary committees, and the coincidence of the end of legislature with the complex package of legislative MFF proposals;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Observes that trainees employed by Members have a private-law contract with the Member, which does not entitle them to have a similarthe same status in Parliament as that of other categories of Parliament staff; regretnotes that there is no facility or legal framework within the Directorate-General for Finance (DG FINS) to arrange a scheme for direct advance payments to such trainees prior to missions; underlines that Members may find an agreement on advance payments with the trainee and the paying agent on a case-by-case basis; notes that many Members do not use the services of a paying agent to remunerate the trainees they engagemploy, asks the Parliament to evaluate as soon as possible whether such a direct payment scheme could be implemented;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Recalls that the 2014 and 2015 discharges had noted that the Parliament website remained relatively un-user- friendly and, in this light, urgently calls on DG COMM to improve its website and to institute a more efficient search engine; stresses that progress still needs to be made with regard to the attractiveness and appeal of the website and that an effort is still required in order to diversify the available social media platforms; calls for a new strategy to be implemented, one that reflects the full capacity of social media in its various manifestations;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Recalls that the key performance indicator of DG COMM is the total outreach or exposure attained across the entire range of Parliament’s communication platforms and channels; notes with satisfaction that, with regards to the Parliament’s presence in the media and average coverage per month, there was a 12% increase compared to 2015, and 7% increase compared to the election year 2014; acknowledges in addition significant results formprovement of the Parliament’s use of social media, as well as actions related to raising awareness among young people; points out, however, that the Parliament’s communication activities should continue to improve, in particular by increasing outreach on social media; underlines that, particularly in light of the European elections in 2019, a comprehensive social media strategy needs to be developed and implemented; stresses that this strategy needs to reflect the amount of work the Parliament accomplishes while taking into account the multi-facetted interests, worries and ideas for the future of Europe citizens express;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Recalls that the key performance indicator of DG COMM is the total outreach or exposure attained across the entire range of Parliament’s communication platforms and channels; notes with satisfaction that, with regards to the Parliament’s presence in the media and average coverage per month, there was a 12% increase compared to 2015, and 7% increase compared to the election year 2014; acknowledges in addition significantadequate results for the Parliament’s use of social media, as well as actions related to raising awareness among young people; points out, however, that the Parliament’s communication activities should continue to improve, in particular by increasing outreach on social media;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Notes with satisfactionTakes note of the major technical and editorial improvements ofchanges made to the Parliament’s public website, in particularly with regard to search engine optimiszation of the website; congratulates DG COMM on this progress but adds that the rate of progress remains excessively slow; notes that the Responsive Web Design project and the live streaming and video- on- demand platform renewal project, - which aim to redesign the website to make it adaptive to all kinds of devices, - were launched in 2016 and successfully implemented to parts of the website; calls for a continuation of these projects and their implementation onacross all sections of the Parliament’s website; notes that much still needs to be done in order to bring an effective website and communication tool into being; underlines that the renewal needs to be accomplished in a timely manner, as visibility of and accessibility to the Parliament should be in place well before, but at the very latest, for the up- coming European elections in 2019;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Notes with satisfaction the majorthe technical and editorial improvements of Parliament’s public website, in particular search engine optimisation of the website; notes that the Responsive Web Design project and the live streaming and video- on-demand platform renewal project, which aim to redesign the website to make it adaptive to all kinds of devices, were launched in 2016 and successfully implemented to parts of the website; calls for a continuation of these projects and their implementation on all sections of the Parliament’s website;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Draws attention to the latest Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the Parliament, where a specific question on the image of the Parliament was posed; is pleased that, according to the survey the percentage of citizens who have a positive view of the Parliament is on the rise from 25% (2016) to 33% (2017); notes with satisfaction that the increase of Parliament’s positive image directly corresponds to a decline in the ‘negative opinion’ by 7 percentage points from 28% (2016) to 21% (2017); points out that, despite clear signs of improvement, much still needs to be done;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the fact that promoting equal opportunities remains a key componn important element of Parliament’s human resource management policy; notes that the action plan for the promotion of gender equality and diversity, approved by the Bureau in 2015, continued to be implemented during 2016 together with its specific objectives and all other related measures;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the fact that promoting equal opportunities remains a keyn important component of Parliament’s human resource management policy; notes that the action plan for the promotion of gender equality and diversity, approved by the Bureau in 2015, continued to be implemented during 2016 together with its specific objectives and all other related measures;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Welcomes the fact that the percentage of femalegender equality among heads of unit, appointed by the Secretary-General, almost doubled in ten years,increased from 21 % in 2006 to 36 % in 2016 and that the posts that women have obtained tend to show a satisfactory improvement in the quality of the posts attributed to women;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Welcomes the fact that the percentage of femalgender balance of the heads of unit, appointed by the Secretary-General, almost doublimproved in ten years, from 21 % / 79 % in 2006 to 36 % / 64 % in 2016;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Regrets that the number of women holding postslevel of gender balance at the level of director- general fell from 33,3 % / 66,7 % in 2015 to 16,7% in 2016; notes the number of women/ 83,3 % in 2016; acknowledges that the level of gender balance at director level remained steady from 2015 to 2016 at 29,2 % and 29, 8%/ 70,8 % and 29, 8 % / 70,2 respectively;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Regrets that the number of women holding postsgender balance at the level of director- general fell from 33,3 % / 66,7 % in 2015 to 16,7% / 83,3 % in 2016; notes the number of womenat the gender balance at director level remained steady from 2015 to 2016 at 29,2 % and 29, 8/ 70,8 % and 29, 8% / 70,2 % respectively;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Is concerned thatConsiders whether the relatively low number of harassment complaints brought forward in 2016 both to the Advisory Committee on Harassment for staff and by APAs could imply the lack of appropriate channels; welcomes in this regard the proposal of the Secretary- General to introduce a network of confidential counsellors who can be contacted by APAs, trainees working for Members, group staff and all other staff and trainees; acknowledges that these counsellors would be selected for their expertise and inter- personal skills, and would undergo targeted training; encourages revision of the composition of the advisory committees dealing with harassment complaints, ensuring equal representation of Members, APAs and staff, and gender balance; hopes that an external auditor can be appointed swiftlyinvites the Bureau to examine the possibility of appointing an external auditor in order to further improve the internal processes;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Is cWoncderned thats whether the relatively low number of harassment complaints brought forward in 2016 both to the Advisory Committee on Harassment for staff and by APAs could imply the lack of appropriate channels; welcomes in this regard the proposal of the Secretary- General to introduce a network of confidential counsellors who can be contacted by APAs, trainees working for Members, group staff and all other staff and trainees; acknowledges that these counsellors would be selected for their expertise and inter- personal skills, and would undergo targeted training; encourages revision of the composition of the advisory committees dealing with harassment complaints, ensuring equal representation of Members, APAs and staff, and gender balance; hopes that an external auditor can be appointed swiftlyinvites the Bureau to examine the possibility of appointing an external auditor in order to further improve the internal processes;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37a. Takes not of the proposal for a “Medium-Term Building Strategy 2015- 2019”, which was presented to the Bureau in September 2015; further acknowledges the updated proposal, which will be presented to the Bureau at the beginning of 2018, and will describe Parliament’s needs from 2019 to 2025 and beyond; underlines the need for a sound strategy regarding the future of the Paul-Henri Spaak building; stresses that the future of the Antonio Spinelli building needs to factor into the long-term strategy of the Parliament’s Brussels building strategy;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Notes that the updated proposal for the Parliament’s medium-term building strategy, taking into account recent developments on the Luxembourg and Strasbourg premises, should be focused on the Brussels premises and in particular on the future of the Paul-Henri Spaak building; notes in addition that crucialin addition that Brexit-related factors defining the future of the building policy, such as potential consequences of Brexit on multilingualism, on the number of posts for officials in the establishment plan and on the number of Members of the European Parliament are still unknown; acknowledges that reliable planning can be done only after the Brexit process has come to its conclusion; invites the Bureau to develop risk mitigating strategies, taking into account the need to counteract any possible disruptions that may be caused by future developments in the Brexit negotiations;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Notes that the updated proposal for the Parliament’s medium-term building strategy, taking into account recent developments on the Luxembourg and Strasbourg premises, should be focused on the Brussels premises and in particular on the future of the Paul-Henri Spaak building; invites in addition the Bureau to evaluate the age of the infrastructure and the benches in the SDM building in Strasbourg; notes in addition that crucial Brexit-related factors defining the future of the building policy, such as potential consequences of Brexit on multilingualism, on the number of posts for officials in the establishment plan and on the number of Members of the European Parliament are still unknown; acknowledges that reliable planning can be done only after the Brexit process has come to its conclusion;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Recalls that the Bureau adopted a proposal for bringingthe Members’ transport service in-house at its meeting of 11 April 2016; notes with satisfaction that the procedure for bringing the drivers’ service in-house allowed forresulted in a qualitative and quantitative increase of the services provided to Members, as well as for an effective and efficient response to unforeseeable emergency situations or sudden increases in demand;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Recalls that the Bureau adopted a proposal for bringing the Members’ transport service in-house at its meeting of 11 April 2016; notes that the procedure for bringing the drivers’ service in-house allowed for a qualitative and quantitative increase of the services provided to Members, as well as for an effective and efficient response to unforeseeable emergency situations or sudden increases in demand; is, however, concerned by the diverging remuneration grades among drivers and asks the Bureau whether it plans to consider a harmonization to counteract possible unfair remuneration schemes;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Notes that the revision of prices in Parliament’s self-service canteen was required in order to move away from subsidised services and towards a concession type of contract, where the catering provider bears the full economic and commercial risk; welcomes the fact that trainees in the Parliament continue to be entitled to a discount of EUR 0,50 on the main dishes in all self-service restaurants in Brussels and Luxembourg and EUR 0,80 in Strasburg; asks DG INLO to monitor future price increases to ensure the services remain appropriately and fairly priced;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Notes that the overall average number of hours per week staff interpreters spent delivering interpretation services in their booth increased from 11:54 in 2014 to 13:25 in 2016Acknowledges that, in relation to the new output benchmarks for interpreters, an average of 11 hours per week was set as the lowest delivery and 17 hours as the highest average delivery; notes that the overall average number of hours per week staff interpreters spent delivering interpretation services in their booth increased from 11:54 in 2014 to 13:25 in 2016; notes that 2014 was an electoral year with less need for interpretation, which makes it a non- representative year; underlines that the increase from 2014 to 2016 is also non- representative and is due to the Parliament returning to its regular rhythm of committee, group, Strasburg and turquoise weeks; recalls that, when the staff regulations were revised in 2013, the weekly working time for all staff of the European institutions increased from 37,5 to 40-42 hours which resulted in an increase in the weekly working time in the interpretation service as well; encouragesunderlines that any future cooperation between the trade unions and the Secretary-General should focus on fair working conditions, while ensuring the smooth running of parliamentary work at the same time; points out that on-going negotiations between DG INTE and the interpreters’ representative are underway and urges all parties to come to an agreement that will correspond to the requirements of the European Parliament;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Notes that the overall average number of hours per week staff interpreters spent delivering interpretation services in their booth increased from 11:54 in 2014 to 13:25 in 2016; recalls that, when the staff regulations were revised in 2013, the weekly working time for all staff of the European institutions increased from 37,5 to 40-42 hours which resulted in an increase in the weekly working time in the interpretation service as well; encouragesinvites to consider future cooperation between the trade unions and the Secretary-General;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Recalls that the Bureau endorsed at its meeting of 26 October 2015 a new approach with the goal of enhancing client orientation and reducing the administrative burden for Members by introducing two new instruments, “the Portal” and the “e- Portal”; welcomes the implementation of “the Portal”, a single front desk integrating all services related to financial and social entitlement formalities, which became fully operational in July 2016; notes that the electronic on-line version of the front desk, “the e-Portal”, has been accessible since January 2015 with concise information regarding the rules in force and the status of Members’ rights; underlines that any administrative simplification should not only be achieved by shifting part of the work from the administrative staff to Members and their offices;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47
Paragraph 47
47. Notes that the current contract with the Parliament’s travel service expires at the end of 2018 and that an open call for tender is under preparation with a view to selecting a new travel agency to assist the Parliament in the handling and organisation of work-related travel; requests that the new contract contain strengthened conditions, in particular with regard to ticket pricing and the availability at all times of the travel service’s call centre, including at weekends; underlines the importance of a simple and user-friendly complaint mechanism to quickly highlight shortfalls, which allows for a speedy improvement of any problems; emphasises that greater attention needs to be paid to the specific requirements of Members and a need for tailor-made services;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 11 a (new)
Subheading 11 a (new)
Voluntary Pension Fund
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 c (new)
Paragraph 47 c (new)
47c. Notes that the Voluntary Pension Fund was established in 1990 by the Bureau’s Rules governing the additional (voluntary) pension scheme and Members were able to join it until the end of the sixth parliamentary term (13 July 2009); notes that the fund was set up to provide Members with a pension scheme due to the pre-existing lack thereof; notes that the voluntary pension fund has increased its estimated actuarial deficit from EUR 276,8 million at the end of 2015 to EUR 326,2 million at the end of 2016; takes note that Parliament is the guarantor for the payment of pension rights when and if this fund is unable to meet its obligations; observes that on 8 December 2017, the Union and the UK negotiators have reached an agreement in principle on the financial settlement relating to the Brexit, which includes that the UK will participate in the Union’s annual budgets 2019 and 2020 as if it had remained in it and will contribute its share of the financing of the Union’s liabilities incurred before 31 December 2020; notes that the voluntary pension scheme for Members is included as a liability on the Union balance sheet;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 11 b (new)
Subheading 11 b (new)
General Expenditure Allowance
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 d (new)
Paragraph 47 d (new)
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 b (new)
Paragraph 47 b (new)
47b. Welcomes the implementation of Wi-Fi access for the Parliament’s visitors, which is another step towards a digitally more inclusive Parliament; points out, however, that ICT security should remain paramount and that the Parliament’s internal network should be shielded from potential malicious external attacks; stresses the need for dramatic improvement in the nature of the service provided, particularly in Strasbourg, and looks forward to the necessary measures being taken in the near future;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 a (new)
Paragraph 47 a (new)
47a. Invites the Bureau, in cooperation with DG ITEC, to come up with risk mitigating measures to ensure a smooth running of parliamentary work in the case of system damages or blackouts; underlines the importance of a priority list of services, according to which order services must be restored as quickly as possible so a skeleton service is still functioning in the case of a cyber attack; invites the Bureau to develop a contingency plan for long-time system blackouts; recommends that data centres diversify the sites on which their servers are located to improve security and continuity of the IT systems of the Parliament;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Acknowledges the new optimised system for organising security tasks which the Secretary-General presented to the Bureau in January 2018; acknowledges moreover that this new system takes into account the specificity of security agents’ role and function, and is based on reconciling their professional and family life balance, promoting equality of treatment between all agents and providing a work pattern which protects security agents’ health and respects their biorhythm; hopes that an open dialogue can be maintained in order to remain attentive to the needs of this vulnerablerequirements of this group of staff working in a very tense security context;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Acknowledges the new optimised system for organising security tasks which the Secretary-General presented to the Bureau in January 2018; acknowledges moreover that this new system takes into account the specificity of security agents’ role and function, and is based on reconciling their professional and family life balance, promoting equality of treatment between all agents and providing a work pattern which protects security agents’ health and respects their biorhythm; hopes that an open dialogue can be maintained in order to remain attentive to the needs of this vulnerable group of staff working in a very tense security context;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
55. Notes with satisfaction that the Bureau endorsed a road-map, proposed by the Secretary- General, to move towards an electric car fleet; acknowledges that by the end of 2017, half of all cars and minibuses for the Parliament’s car fleet should be electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles, as well as that from 2018, any car newly acquired for the Parliament’s car fleet should be a plug-in hybrid or electric; notes that in 2020, all cars in the Parliament’s car fleet should be electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles, while in 2021 this should also apply to all of the Parliament’s minibuses; acknowledges moreoverstrongly underlines that a cost- benefit analysis should be conducted before every major renewal of the car fleet and that the Budgetary Control Committee should be familiarized with the cost-benefit analysis that proceeded the implementation of the road-map towards an electric car fleet;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
55. Notes with satisfaction that the Bureau endorsed a road-map, proposed by the Secretary-General, to move towards an electric car fleet; acknowledges that by the end of 2017, half of all cars and minibuses for the Parliament’s car fleet should be electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles, as well as that from 2018, any car newly acquired for the Parliament’s car fleet should be a plug-in hybrid or electric; notes that in 2020, all cars in the Parliament’s car fleet should be electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles, while in 2021 this should also apply to all of the Parliament’s minibuses; acknowledges moreoverpoints out that a cost-benefit analysis is however essential and should be conducted before every major renewal of the car fleet;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55 a (new)
Paragraph 55 a (new)
55a. Calls on the Bureau to not limit itself to electric cars as a more environmentally-friendly solution since there are concerns regarding the production (including sufficient availability of the necessary resources) and the disposal at the end of a batteries life-cycle; regrets that Members were not informed on an analysis regarding alternative fuels such as bio fuels, synthetic fuels or hydrogen fuel cells; underlines that a diversification of an environmentally friendly car-fleet would lessen dependence on one supplier and could counteract possible future supply shortages;