Activities of Ángela VALLINA related to 2015/2231(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2014 PDF (305 KB) DOC (113 KB)
Amendments (14)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas according to the Eurobarometer survey of May 2015, 40% of citizens trust the European Union and 46% do not; whereas the institutions’ ability to monitor one another is essential to improving the level of satisfaction among European citizens;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the institutions have been complying with 80 % of the Ombudsman’s proposals; whereas there still remain 20% of proposals that have been submitted and need to be complied with;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Na (new)
Recital Na (new)
Na. whereas the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions, which received 2 714 petitions in 2014 alone, is an important cog in the institutional workings of the European Union, bringing Parliament closer to citizens; whereas a close relationship between the Ombudsman and the Committee on Petitions would improve the currently inadequate level of democratic oversight of the activity of the European institutions;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that, over the years, 20-30 % of complaints have concerned transparency and that the most common transparency issues raised are the institutions’ refusal to grant access to documents and/or information; considers that openness and access to documents are an essential part of the system of institutional checks and balances, as required by Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5a (new)
Paragraph 5a (new)
5a. Warns that the ‘revolving door’ is a common phenomenon in the European Union; points out that, according to its annual report, the Ombudsman investigated complaints from five NGOs and looked into 54 of the Commission’s files; deplores the fact that this sequence of events, and similar cases in many Member States such as Spain, undermines public confidence in the institutions;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s inquires in connection with the ongoing TTIP negotiations; notes that the Council has since published the Directives the EU is using to negotiate the TTIP and that the Commission has announced plans to increase transparency in lobbying and broaden access to TTIP documents; recalls that the Committee on Petitions receives many anonymous complaints from groups and citizens concerning the lack of transparency in the negotiations; applauds the success of the popular European Citizens’ Initiative Stop TTIP , which has received 3 284 289 signatures, showing the profound public concern on this issue at European level;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s increased and necessary focus on transparency in lobbying activities and her work towards a mandatory Transparency Register, so that citizens may know who is trying to influence EU decision makers; takes the view, therefore, that the register should also state the human and financial resources lobbies dedicate in doing so; welcomes her inquiry into the composition and transparency of expert groups at the Commission, in particular those advising on the Common Agricultural Policy where the EU spends more than a third of its budget; supports her approach and encourages her to continue monitoring transparency in the composition of these groups in order to guarantee a balanced representation in all such groups in all policy areas; calls on the Ombudsman to fight for gender balance within these groups;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the Transparency Register, in which more than 7000 institutions have voluntarily registered; welcomes the Ombudsman’'s support for Vice President Timmermans’ plan to work towards a mandatory register and welcomes the Commission’s decision obliging all members of the Commission and senior staff to publish all contacts and meetings with stakeholders and lobbyists; stresses that the register should include as much information as possible on the human, material financial resources available to lobbies with a view to complying the provisions of the treaties on openness and good governance in the institutions;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10a (new)
Paragraph 10a (new)
10a. Call on the Member States to be more diligent in their mandatory collaboration with the Ombudsman; warns that the highest numbers of complaints received in 2014 came from Spain (309), Germany (219) and Poland (208); notes with concern that the highest numbers of investigations opened were in Belgium (50), Germany (45), and Italy (38);
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Urges the Ombudsman to continue promoting greaterfull transparency in clinical trials, especially in the quality assessment of results by the European Medicines Agency; recalls that this assessment should be based on the added value of innovative drugs and the real cost of research in order to facilitate Member States’ pricing and financing models;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that Horizon 2020 is the third most important package of budget investments after the CAP and Structural Funds, with a budget of nearly 80 000 million euros, and that it is key to the economic and social development of the future; calls on the Ombudsman to take an interest by guaranteeing transparency in the whole process of analysis and awarding of projects under Horizon 2020, including by assessing whether projects respect human rights and are wholly civilian in their scope, with special attention to third countries covered under the European Neighbourhood Policy participating in the programme;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on Frontex to ensure respect for the welfare of returnees during return flights and the way it implements its Code of Conduct forput an end to return flights and the entire policy of Joint Return Operations; welcomes the Ombudsman’s call on Frontex to establish a complaints mechanism for potential fundamental rights infringements with the most stringent legal guarantees possible; invites her to further investigate this matter in the current situation of increasing numbers of refugees at theallegations against Frontex of human rights violations during operations to control the external borders of the EUnion;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Commends the Ombudsman on her investigations into the citizens’ right to participate in the EU decision-making process, in particular into the functioning of the European Citizens’ Initiative; notes that in 2014 she invited ECI organisers, Civil Society Organisations and other interested parties to provide feedback on the ECI with a view to its improvement; notes with concern that at the joint meeting with the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) of 26 February 2015 on the ECI, representatives of petitioning organisations criticised the lack of harmonization and the administrative barriers to collecting and recording signatures, a serious breach of participatory rights of the citizens of the Union;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21a (new)
Paragraph 21a (new)
21a. Calls for the annual budget of the Office of the Ombudsman to be increased; notes with concern that the investigations conducted by the Ombudsman lasted on average 11 months, reflecting a lack of human resources unlikely to be alleviated with the meagre increase in its annual funding – EUR 9 857 002 euros in 2014 – for a staff of 67 people;