8 Amendments of Saskia BRICMONT related to 2019/2083(DEC)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the important role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (‘the Agency’), commonly referred to as Frontex, in promoting, coordinating and developing European integrated border management in full respect of fundamental rights;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. WelcomStresses the fact that the Agency managed to substantially increase its staff from 526 to 630 (an increase of 20 %) in 2018; regretnotes, however, that the number stayed well below (17 % less than) theit did not achieve the number of 760 staff authorised in the establishment plan for 2018; expresses its concern over the high staff turnover and the continuous difficulties of the Agency to find suitable candidates; acknowledges that the low salary correction coefficient contributes to the problemdeeply deplores that, despite repeated calls of Parliament and a significant overall staff increase for the Agency, the fundamental rights officer still lacks adequate human resources and is therefore welcomes the intention to consider social measures to address this problem; notes in this regard that the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Eclearly hampered in her or his efforts to properly conduct the tasks with which she or he is entrusted; urges the Agency to provide its fundamental rights officer with adequate resources and staff, in particular for further developing and imployement of Other Servants of the European Union offer the necessary flexibility for labour market conditions prevailing in the Union to be taken into account when recruiting officials in order to address the specific needs of the instituting the Agency’s strategy to monitor and ensure the protection of fundamental rights; reminds the Agency of the importance of adhering to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Unions; notes that the Court has identified a horizontal trend across agencies in the use of external staff hired in IT consultancy roles; calls for this dependency on external recruitment in this important area to be addressed; calls on the Agency to publish vacancy notices on the European Personnel Selection Office website to increase their visibility;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Nnotes the continuously high level of carry-overs to 2019 (EUR 83 million EUR or 29 %) and cancelled budget carry- overs (EUR 11 million or 12 %), which were linked to the challenges in meeting the establishment plan, the delay in the launch of the building of the new premises and the multi-annual nature of ICT projects and the overestimation of the scale and cost of activities by cooperating countries; expects the Agency and the cooperating states to improve their budget estimates with a view to decrease the carry-overs in 2019; welcomes the fact that the Agency has adopted new rules on whistleblowing, launched a new simplified financing scheme, introduced an ex-post control system covering all types of expenditure and modified its system of ex-ante checks; regrets, however, that the Agency has still not addressed the problem reported by the Court since 2014 with regard to insufficient proof of actual costs for equipment-related expenditure claimed by cooperating Member States; notes the ssince 2014 the Court has consistently reported that expenditure claimed by cooperating countries is not always supported by invoices or other evidence, but is nevertheless reimbursed; noteps taken byhat the Agency has still noto addressed this issue but; urges the Agency to adequately respond to the commentobservations of the Court on the legality and regularity of transactions given that equipment-related expenditure amounted to EUR 60 million or 35 % of the Agency’s operational expenditure in 2018;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on the Agency to make more realistic estimates of its service needs in tender documents and apply rigorous financial management to contracts; reminds the Agency that, while framework contracts do not constitute an obligation to purchase up to the maximum contract value, the considerable difference between the maximum value of the contract in one procurement procedure in 2018 (EUR 8 million) and the winning offer (EUR 5,8 million) could create a significant risk to sound financial management;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls onUrges the Agency to take corrective action with regard to all outstandingthe observations of the Court, including the adoption and implementation of a sensitive posts policy in line with its own internal control standards;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reiterates the persisting significant gender imbalance in the Agency’s management board; urges that this imbalance is remedied as soon as possible; calls therefore on the Agency to proactively remind Member States of the importance of gender balance and on Member States to takensure gender balance into consideration when nominating their members to the Agency’s management board;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Reiterates its call on the Agency to be moreensure full transparent aboutcy in its activities; welcomes the creation of a section devoted to public access to documents on its website; urges the Agency to create a register of documents, which it is legally obliged to have under Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011 ; _________________ 1Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (HL L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers that the Agency should proactively provide information regarding its operational activities in order to protect it from unfounded accusations; invites the Agency to come to the LIBE committee to fulfil its specific reporting duties towards Members of the European Parliament by providing regular detailed briefings, where necessary in a non-public setting ; calls on the Agency to make the report on the practical application of Regulation (EU) No 656/20142 for the year 2018 available, as it is legally obliged to do, and to provide more tangible information in the future to allow for a proper assessment of the Agency’s activities at sea. _________________ 2 Regulation (EU) No 656/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 establishing rules for the surveillance of the external sea borders in the context of operational cooperation coordinated by the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (HL L 189, 27.6.2014, p. 93).