Activities of Mikuláš PEKSA related to 2020/2142(DEC)
Shadow reports (2)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, Section II – European Council and Council
SECOND REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, Section II – European Council and Council
Amendments (22)
Amendment 2 #
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 2019 / 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 2019;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Observes that the Council’s budget is mostly administrative with a large amounpart of it being used for expenditure concerning persons, buildings, furniture, equipment and miscellaneous running costs; calls on the Council, as it has repeatedly done in previous discharge resolutions, to separate the budget of the European Council and the Council into one budget for each institution for reasons of transparency and to improve accountability and expenditure efficiency for both institutions;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Congratulates the Council on the successful commitment and payment rate of 100 % for the budget line ‘Delegations’ travel expenses’; notes also the 100 % commitment rate for ‘Computer systems’ and ‘Information’; notepoints, however thato these have abudget lines' carry-over rate to 2020 of 35,4 % and 32,9 %, respectively;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. NotWelcomes in the context of modernisation the creation of a flatter management structure, by removing layers of hierarchy, with the aim of improving communication, making decision-making easier and empowering staff by allowing greater ownership of files; notes the introduction of a well-tested HR IT tool (SYSPER) and other IT tools used for managing the mission lifecycle;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Acknowledges that an internal control framework is in place to provide reasonable assurance of achievement of the objectives; noteswelcomes the fact that in relation to the year 2019 no mention of misuse of funds nor irregularities has been made in the control by the internal auditor, the Court of Auditors or in the opinions of the audit committee; notes also that all departments applied risk management by keeping risk registers with identified risks, assessment thereof and selected risk treatment; notes that no critical risk levels were reported in 2019 and that no significant risks materialised; welcomes that 93 % of the issued recommendations during the years 2016 - 2018 have been or are in the process of being implemented;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Regrets not having achiereceived more information about any improvements to the Council’s ethical culture and standards such as a dedicated website link presenting specific training on public ethics, a code of conduct that is applicable to all staff setting out the expectations regarding integrity and ethical values, internal guidance on frequently-asked questions on ethical matters or procedures on whistleblowing that will ensure that information flows when normal channels are ineffers’ protectiveon;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Shares the Court's concern about the absence of a common Union ethical framework governing the work of Member States’ representatives in the Council; emphasises the importance for the Council, including the Member States’ representatives working in the Council, to join a future interinstitutional agreement setting up the Independent Ethics Body (IEB) in view of the Court's and the European Ombudsman’s repeated requests to enhance the ethics and transparency of the Council; recalls the Council’s obligation to deal with high- level conflicts of interest, revolving doors and lobbying transparency rules;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls againStrongly reiterates its call on the Council to bring the code of conduct for the President of the European Council in line with those of Parliament and the Commission in order to have rules in place to approve activities related to Union legislation after the President of the European Council leaves the Council;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. Reiterates its deep concern over the conflict of interests of a number of Member State representatives involved in policy and budget decision-making processes; repeats Parliament’s strong call on the Council to ensure that Member State representatives who are subject to benefit directly from Union subsidies through the businesses they own do not participate in the related policy or budgetary discussions and votes; requests the Council to provide Parliament with information on the necessary measures put in place to avoid any conflict of interests;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Welcomes the efforts done by the Council to reduce its environmental footprint across its buildings, which are registered under the European eco- management and audit scheme (EMAS) since 2016; welcomes the publishing of a detailed environmental statement in October 2020 based on 2019 data;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Encourages the Council to use open-source technology in order to prevent vendor lock-in, retain control over its own technical systems, provide stronger safeguards for the privacy and data protection of the users, as well as increase security and transparency for the public;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24 b. Encourages the Council to follow the EDPS recommendations to renegotiate the Inter-Institutional Licensing Agreement and implementation contract, signed between the EU institutions and Microsoft in 2018, with the objective of achieving digital sovereignty, avoiding vendor lock-in and lack of control and ensuring the protection of personal data;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. WelcomNotes the fact that the draft guidance for best practise for the presidency on the issue of sponsorship were sent on 29 June 2020 by the General Secretariat of the Council to the delegations, following to the Council’s approval of the recommendation of the European Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) on guidance for Member States related to sponsorship and the regular reminders of the Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control; reiterates that any actual or perceived conflict of interests jeopardises the reputation of the Council and the Union as a whole;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Encourages the Council to advise the presidencies properly in establishing clear and transparent rules on sponsorship; urges the Council to make progress with respect to the guidelines without delay and reflect on the currently non-binding character of the guidance, paying strong attention to the possible conflict of interests in cases when corporate sector has explicit interests in the decisions passed by the Council; urges the Council to make progress with respect to the guidelines without delay and reflect on the currently non-binding character of the guidance; reiterates again its deep concerns about the corporate sponsorship of Member States hosting the Union presidency; is highly concerned by the possible reputational damage and the risk of loss of that this practice might cause the Union, its institutions and especially the Council in the eyes of the Union citizens;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Recalls that Parliament in its resolution of 17 January 2019 on the Ombudsman’s strategic inquiry OI/2/2017 on the transparency of legislative discussions in the preparatory bodies of the Council of the EU overwhelmingly supported the Ombudsman’s proposals on legislative transparency and encouragesdemands that the Council to continue its efforts tofurther improves legislative transparency, particularly by recording and publishing member state positions and making available more trilogue documents; urges the Council to step up its transparency efforts by, inter alia, publishing Council working documents in a machine-readable format;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Draws attention to a complaint- based inquiry in which the Ombudsman asked the General Secretariat of the Council to keep a full record of any meetings held between lobbyists and the President of the European Council or members of his cabinet; echoestrongly supports the Ombudsman’s statement that members of the President’s cabinet should only meet with, or attend events organised by, interest representatives that are registered in the transparency register;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Is pleased that the three institutions (Parliament, Council and Commission) reiterated their common ambition to reach an agreement on a tri-institutional transparency register to boost the transparency of interactions with interest representatives; congratulates the Council on the positive steps and further achievements under the German Presidency, expressed in the fifth inter- institutional negotiation meeting of 6 October 2020, and encourages all actors involved to agree on the reforms, so that the registry will become mandatory by including the Council; urges the Council to expand the scope of the agreement in making it mandatory for lobbyists to register in order to meet with the ambassador of the current or forthcoming presidency as well as their deputies in the Committee of the Permanent Representatives (Coreper), the Council’s secretary-general and directors-general;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Notes however that seven complaints were lodged with the Ombudsman and that one strategic inquiry took place, all concerning transparency; observnotes that out of the seven complaints, the Ombudsman considered in two cases that there was no maladministration and in two further complaintsconsidered that there had been cases of maladministration; notes that one case was closed, two were considered not to entail maladministration while the remaining two complaints are still pending; notes that in the inquiry, which concerned the transparency of the bodies involved in preparing Eurogroup meetings, the Ombudsman found that the Council had taken steps to further improve its transparency policy and decided to close this strategic inquiry;
Amendment 41 #
34 a. Notes that the Council makes use of the following proprietary social media channels: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; encourages the Council to establish a presence on free and open- source social media networks, such as Mastodon, to achieve further transparency and broader outreach;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Stresses that the current situation, where Parliament can only check the reports of the Court and of the European Ombudsman as well as the information on the Council’s web page but does not receive written or oral answers from the Council during the annual discharge procedure, makes it impossible for Parliament to take an informed decision on granting discharge, which has a lasting negative effect for both institutions and discredits the procedure for political scrutiny of budget management;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Underlines the need to re-start negotiations with the Council with a view to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement to overcome finally this situation of deadlock;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. AdvRecognises that the positive trend of this process has been interrupted by the COVID-19-epidemic; recalls, however, that in autumn 2020 all attempts from Parliament’s side to meet for a first preliminary exchange with the Council failed;