Activities of Mikuláš PEKSA related to 2020/2149(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, Section X – European External Action Service
Amendments (20)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Acknowledges the operational difficulties encountered by the EEAS in the financial management of the EU network of Delegations due to various crisis situations; recognises that those difficult situations can lead to significant budgetary impact, namely in the management of certain administrative expenditure and costs such as security and evacuation costs, and further logistical costs linked to the COVID 19 pandemic; asks the EEAS to swiftly inform the Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control of the budgetary impacts and expenses incurred because of the pandemic;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Acknowledges that the number of budget lines used to finance the operations related to Commission staff in the delegations (34 different lines originating in various Headings of the Commission budget, plus the EDF Funds) increases the complexity of budget management; invites the EEAS to consider better structuring its budget reporting to loosen the complexity;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the EEAS to better illustrateimprove the definition of its results-based management framework in the next annual activity report, based on a set of adequate key performance indicators (KPIs) for its different administrative areas, including the related number of human resources, in order to better assess the achievements of EEAS policy objectives;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Believes that digitalisation of procurement and budget management is key; recalls that ‘Document management’ one of the weakest components identified in the previous internal control survey, deserves regular attention from all EEAS stakeholders for the benefit of institutional memory and the traceability of management operations; therefore, calls on the EEAS to improve its digital systems and document management, introducing advanced management and archiving tools, as well as paperless document management processes where possible;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Welcomes that the EEAS uses free and open-source software whenever possible; encourages the EEAS to prioritise open-source technologies in order to prevent vendor lock-in, retain control over its own technical systems, provide stronger safeguards for user’s privacy and data protection and increase security and transparency for the public;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24 b. Encourages the EEAS to follow the EDPS recommendations to renegotiate the Inter-Institutional Licensing Agreement and implementation contract, signed between the Union institutions and Microsoft in 2018, with the objective to achieve digital sovereignty, avoid vendor lock-in and lack of control, as well as to ensure the protection of personal data;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Notes the rate of anomalies detected in ex ante verifications of commitments and payments (respectively, 308 errors out of 1193 and 394 out of 2119); is concerned that in both cases errors are of an administrative nature i.e. incorrect amounts for commitments or missing supporting documents for payments presented for ex-ante financial verification; calls on the EEAS to investigate and resolve cases of administrative errors and report back to the Parliament on its achievements;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30 a. Is concerned by the findings from renown researchers that the EU Disinformation Review (EU vs Disinfo), operated by the EEAS, would allegedly not respect the International Fact- Checking Network’s code of principles because its methodology is not transparent, it would violate the right to freedom of expression and of the press by labelling publishers and media outlets that report on third party opinions as “disinforming outlets”, as well as it would fail to provide objective impartiality, as it does not provide the right to be heard; asks the EEAS to provide more information to the Parliament on the compliance of its review methodology with Union law and international standards;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 b (new)
Paragraph 30 b (new)
30 b. Notes that the EEAS makes use of the following proprietary social media channels: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, for which the number of followers increased significantly in 2019; encourages the EEAS to establish a presence on free and open-source social media networks, such as Mastodon, to achieve further transparency and broader outreach;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Calls on the EEAS to provide further information in the EEAS annual activity report on the Inspections programme in order to get an overview of the performance and the functioning of the EU Delegations; considers also that it will be useful to better illustrate the articulation of inspections of Delegations with the EEAS assurance framework and to show how the use of the outcomes and recommendations of inspections contributed to greater coherence, homogeneity and efficiency in the Delegations’ working methods; highlights the importance of analysing the effectiveness and correctness of financial management in the respective Delegations;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Welcomes the fact that the EEAS is continuously adapting its anti-fraud strategy in conjunction with all the RELEX directorates general and with a dedicated format with OLAF; believstresses that all necessary efforts have tomust be made to share and exchange information on their operational challenges to better identify risky areas in their activities and programmes;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37 a. Encourages the EEAS to urgently devote efforts to organise systematic trainings and awareness sessions in the field of proper conduct (ethics, anti-fraud, anti-corruption, anti-harassment, confidentiality levels) to its staff; believes such session should be part of compulsory on-boarding trainings for newly recruited staff;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)
Paragraph 38 a (new)
38 a. Strongly recommends for the EEAS to join the EU Transparency Register, on the basis of a service level agreement, in order to improve transparency by disclosing all meetings with all lobby organisations that try to influence the law-making and policy implementation process of the Union institutions; does not agree with the EEAS’ opinion that an obligation to record meetings with lobbyists in third countries, would make it difficult for Heads of Union Delegations to engage with Union's economic interests in third countries; believes that citizens should be allowed to know which organisations Union Ambassadors are meeting;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Underlines that post-public employment and ‘revolving door’ conflict of interests situations is a recurring issue in the EU institutions; calls for the EEAS for the effective and consistent application of the Staff Regulations, in particular Article 16 thereof, in order to prevent conflicts of interests, in particular – but not only – concerning senior officials; is concerned about the EEAS' seeming lack of commitment in this regard as became evident through its handling of recent revolving door cases; calls on the EEAS to systematically review potentially problematic transitions to the private sector or to third countries organisations and to continue to monitor the occupation of the former senior official until the end of the mandatory cooling-off period;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. IDeeply regrets that the EEAS has not published any of its decisions on occupational activities of former senior officials for six years, including 2019, in breach of its obligations under Article 16 of the Staff Regulation; welcomes that it has started to publish them in 2020, including the retrospective publishing of decisions from previous years; insists in this regard that the EEAS from now on publishes annually its decisions on occupational activities of former senior officials on an annual basis and that it monitors on a constant basis whether they adhere to the conditions imposed on them and, if appropriate, take decisive action to enforce compliance with these conditions;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41 a. Underlines that Article 16 enables Union institutions to turn down a former official's request to take a specific job if restrictions are not sufficient to protect the legitimate interests of the institutions; fears that it is often not possible to enforce conditions imposed upon post-public employment activities; encourages Union institutions and agencies, therefore, to consider the full range of tools made available under Article 16 of the Staff Regulation;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Encourages the EEAS to continue in this direction of pooling of means with Member States in the management of buildings and to further developing local co-operation, with specific attention to be devoted to best value for money, security issues and the Union’s image and visibility, as well as budget optimisation;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. RegretsIs concerned by the fact that there is an increase in cases reported to the mediation service, reaching 183 in 2019 (compared to 135 cases in 2018), including five requests for assistance for psychological harassment; asks the EEAS to review and remedy the issues that arose by transferring the cases, which require additional investigation, to OLAF without any delay;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Regrets the factIs highly concerned that there are still unpaid trainees in the EU dDelegations; encourages the EEAS to take step to assure that trainees have means to support themselvcalls on EEAS to always hire trainees on a paid contract with an allowance that covers at least the living costs; recommends to allocate more budget to pay trainees;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Notes with appreciation that in 2019 the EEAS adopted a mandate to set up an environmental management system for EEAS headquarters with the intention to extend it to the network of delegations.; urges the EEAS to take all the necessary measures to decrease the carbon footprint of the Headquarters and in the Union Delegations by implementing paperless processes and with emphasis on its energy mix, promoting and renewable sources of energy;