Activities of Matthijs van MILTENBURG related to 2017/2158(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the financial year 2016
Amendments (6)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Reiterates the need to ensure the independence of Agency’s staff and external experts; in this context welcomes the ongoing efforts to ensure proper prevention and management of conflicts of interest, taking into account remarks by the Parliament; notes that the Agency provided relevant training to its staff, maintains a Conflict of Interest Register and continues the review of its “Policy on impartiality and independence: prevention and mitigation of Conflict of Interest” in order to further improve the internal process for the completion, review and update of Declarations of Interest for the Agency’s staff members; welcomes the fact that more than 80% of EASA staff were trained on anti-fraud matters by the end of 2016, and encourages the Agency to aim for training 100% of EASA staff; also notes that the Agency produced a Code of Conduct including a policy on Conflict of Interest and a declaration of interest for the external experts supporting the work of the Agency;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes the results of the third benchmarking exercise on the Agency’s posts, which showed that 12,5 % of the jobs were dedicated to administrative support and coordination, 81,0 % to operational tasks and 6,4 % to neutral (finance/control and linguistics) tasks; is pleased that a breakdown of staff by category and sector, as well as by source of funding for their activities (fees and charges versus Union subsidies), has been included in the 2016 Annual Report, which shows that that 60,4 % of posts, including 50,1 % of operational posts, are funded from fees and charges and 33,8 % of posts are funded from the Union subsidy; notes that for the second consecutive year the Agency has achieved full occupancy of all posts according to the establishment plan; notes a discrepancy in this establishment plan between the different AD and AST posts authorised under the EU budget and the posts actually filled, and calls upon the Agency to address this imbalance;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reiterates that the revision of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council1 envisages broadening the scope of competence of the Agency and that, accordingly, the role played by new technologies, such as remotely piloted aircraft systems, must be taken fully into consideration when new competences are assigned; stresses the importance of allocating adequate funding to the Agency to ensure the successful uptake of these new responsibilities, as well as adequate staffing in order to fulfil additional tasks; notes, however, that the Agency should amend its Financial and Fees and charges regulations to better formalise the treatment of an accumulated surplus, in order to potentially reduce the Union subsidy; _________________ 1 Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC, Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC (OJ L 79, 19.3.2008, p. 1).
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Welcomes the political agreement on the revision of the common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency1a, as agreed in November 2017 by the Parliament, the Council and Commission; urges the Commission and Member States to provide necessary resources for the new and reinforced competences concerning, among others, risks to civil aviation arising from conflict zones, environmental related topics and the certification and registration of unmanned aircraft; _________________ 1aRegulation COM(2015) 613: Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Safety Agency, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Welcomes the active role of the Agency in the call for proposals under the Horizont 2020 programme; urges the Agency to remain active in the field of research and development;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Supports the establishment of a working group to look into the potential risks and impact of Brexit; recommends the Agency to work closely together with the other European Institutions regarding this matter; proposes that the Agency presents the outcomes of this working group to the European Parliament in due time;