Activities of Arndt KOHN related to 2017/2143(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 VIII – European Ombudsman PDF (362 KB) DOC (54 KB)
Amendments (12)
Amendment 2 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2016; / Postpones its decision on granting the European Ombudsman discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2016;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that of the total appropriations, 95,40% were committed (92,32% in 2015) and 85,89% paid (86,19% in 2015), with a utilisation rate of 95,40% (92,32% in 2015); notwelcomes the increase in the utilisation rate;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Acknowledges the pivotal role of the Ombudsman in promoting good governance and ensuring the participation of civil society in the EU; notes that the Ombudsman closed 5 strategic inquiries and opened 4 new ones in 2016 on issues related, among others, to transparency and conflict of interests; encourages the Ombudsman to pursue its strategic work with the aim of promoting the good governance of Union institutions;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. NotesWelcomes the fact that the organisation chart of the Ombudsman has been clarified and is available in its website;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the fact that critical remarks the Ombudsman addressed to the different institutions in 2015 had a quite low rate of satisfactory follow-up (41%); recommends that, after identifying the reasons for that low rate, the Ombudsman analyse possible solutions to overcome the institutions’ resistance to acting on those remarksNotes the results achieved in the complaints handling in 2016 and welcomes the fact that the Union institutions complied with the Ombudsman’s decisions at a rate of 84% (83% in 2015); notes that this has been the second highest rate of compliance with its decisions and/or recommendations so far; takes note that the rate of follow-up to critical remarks was of 63% in 2016 (41% in 2015); takes note and welcomes the Ombudsman’s report ‘Putting it Right’, which provides an analysis of how institutions complied with the Ombudsman’s recommendation and a breakdown per institution;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the importance of making Union citizens aware of the possibility to turn to the Ombudsman in case of maladministration; reiterates its call for clowelcomes the Ombudsman’s efforts to step up her communication activities and increaser cooperation betweenamong ombudsmen to increase public awareness about her work; acknowledges that the Ombudsman anhas addressed the Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control irepeatedly and encourages further cooperation on its strategic work concerning its inquiries and initiatives;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the gender balance at management level and within the administrators; encourages the Ombudsman to maintain this trend and to do the necessary to improve the still considerable geographic imbalance;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Notes the persisting geographical imbalance; notes that two of three managers from the Ombudsman’s Member State occupied managerial positions in the Office for many years before the election of the present Ombudsman and are officials, whereas the third joined as a head of Cabinet at the beginning of the present’s Ombudsman’s office; acknowledges that it is therefore difficult to change the situation in the short-term, but encourages the Ombudsman to strive for geographical balance in management positions in the long-term;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Observes the Ombudsman’s plan to comply with the interinstitutional agreement to reduce staff by 5% over the period of five years; asks to be informed how this reduction can be reconciled with the recruitmenttakes note from the follow-up report to the discharge 2015 that the initial 2016 estimates to create five new posts were amended and the final version resulted in the net decrease of onew staff in 2016 member of staff;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Acknowledges that the Ombudsman is experiencing a significant increase in complaints and takes note of the intent to request a moderate budget increase to hire extra multi-lingual staff which the Ombudsman has expressed in its address to the European Parliament on its Annual Report 2016; is concerned that, as a result of the staff reduction, the remaining resources available in each service don’t allow for absorption of the increasing workload; calls on the budgetary authorities to be mindful of the long-term impact of staff cuts, in particular regarding the institution's ability to improve gender and geographical imbalances as well as the need for building on capacity of experienced officials to take over management posts, when planning the future allocation of financial resources for personnel;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. RegretAcknowledges that there is still one ongoing complaint made to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) concerning the Ombudsman in 2016; asks for details of the complaints to be provided to thenotes that the Ombudsman’s Office is, in close cooperation with the EDPS, reviewing the Office’s procedure for handling personal data of third parties in complaints and inquiries; asks the Ombudsman's Office to keep Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control informed about the outcome of the review;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes the lack of data from 2016 in different sections of the Ombudsman’s annual activity report for 2016; urges the Ombudsman toTakes note of the follow up to the 2015 discharge which was provided to the follow up to the 2015 discharge,Committee on Budgetary Control in compliance with Article 166 of the Financial Regulation.;