Activities of Mikuláš PEKSA related to 2019/2057(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2018, Section II – European Council and Council
Amendments (10)
Amendment 1 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Grants the Secretary-General of the Council discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Council and of the Council for the financial year 2018 / Postpones its decision on granting the Secretary-General of the Council discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Council and of the Council for the financial year 2018;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Observes that the President of the European Council must abide by an 18 months notification period for post-office activities related to Union legislation and does not require prior approval; asks for the Code of Conduct for the President of the European Council to be brought in line with that of the Commission and the Parliament, in order to insure formal approval for activities related to Union legislation until three years after having left the Council;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that related to the proposal for a new Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory Transparency Register, accessible in a machine-readable format, for interest representatives covering the Parliament, the Council and the Commission two negotiating rounds took place in 2018 under the Bulgarian Presidency and one in 2019 under the Romanian Presidency; recalls the Ombudsman’s decision of 18 June 2019 that the General Secretariat of the Council should keep a full record of any meetings held between interest representatives and the President of the European Council or members of his cabinet and that this should be made public; calls on the Council to follow-up negotiations to reach a successful outcome which will finally include the Council in the registry;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Recognises the added value that free and open source software can bring to the Council; underlines in particular its role in increasing transparency and avoiding vendor lock-in effects; recognises also its potential for security improvements as it permits the identification and fixing of weaknesses; strongly recommends any software developed for the Council to be made publicly available under free and open-source software licence;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes the intense media coverage and the particularly high level of media interest in the Brexit negotiations; welcomes the continuous development of the Council’s website and the intense work to increase its audience on all channels (increases of 9 % visits on the website, 13 % fans on Facebook, 26 % followers on Twitter and 92 % followers on Instagram); notes the high amount of background briefings and press conferences; notes the newsroom platform which allows the press and media to view, download and embed the Council’s video and photo output in high-resolution quality; encourages further the use of non-proprietary social- network platforms, having special regards to users data protection;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Recalls the conclusions of the Ombudsman’ Special Report in strategic inquiry OI/2/2017/TE on the transparency of the Council legislative process, in February 2018, which found that 'the Council’s current practices constitute maladministration'; recalls the joint non- paper by Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Sweden and the Netherlands, from October 2019, on increasing the transparency and accountability of the EU, which specifically asks the Council to 'increase openness in trilogue negotiations by systematic publication of legislative milestone documents'; asks the Council to seriously considers these recommendations in the interest of transparency and report back to Parliament;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Asks the Council to strengthen its efforts to make the legislative process more traceable and reader friendly, to centre transparency around milestones in the legislative process and to normalise the publication of Member States inputs in a machine-readable format (statements, proposals for amendments) into legislative debates; acknowledges the Council’s efforts to improve transparency with ongoing changes to its website and the activities of its internal transparency team; encouragescalls on the Ccouncil to introduce further measures in order to reach a successful transparency policy allowing the public to follow the Union legislative process with greater ease;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18 c. Is deeply concerned by the current practice of Council presidencies sponsorships from private companies; recalls the Ombudsman's recommendation to issue guidance on the sponsorship of Council Presidencies, on 6 January 2020, so as to mitigate the reputational risks to the Union; notes that the Council argues that the issue of sponsorship is the sole responsibility of the government of the Member State holding the Presidency; is of the same opinion as the Ombudsman that the public does not distinguish between the Council Presidency and the Member State holding Presidency; asks the Council to take these recommendations into serious consideration and report back to Parliament;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 d (new)
Paragraph 18 d (new)
18 d. Is deeply concerned by the conflict of interests allegations against a number of Member State representatives involved in the high-level policy and budget decision-making process; asks the Council to ensure that Member State representatives who are subject to benefit directly from Union subsidies through the businesses they own are not participating in the related policy or budgetary discussions and votes; further asks the Council to join Parliament in its call to the Commission to propose new audit procedures to speed up the investigation of urgent and grave cases of conflict of interests and ensure that Parliament be properly informed of the audit conclusions;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Notes that during the course of almost twenty years Parliament has developed the practice of granting discharge to all Union institutions and bodies; notes that all Union institutions and bodies accept to participate in Parliament’s discharge procedure, with the only exception being the Council; regrets that the Council refused to answer the questions submitted by the Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee on 12 November 2019;