Activities of Virginie JORON related to 2024/2056(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Activities of the European Ombudsman – annual report 2023 (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2023
Amendments (13)
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the recommendations following the Ombudsman’s own-initiative inquiry into the time the Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents, which call on the Commission to deal with its systemic delays as a matter of urgency and to respect the deadlines set out in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents; is worried by the inquiry’s finding that the Commission’s systemic and significant delays in dealing with document access requests amount to maladministration; deplores the fact that the most important contracts with the pharmaceutical industries concluded by the President of the Commission without any transparency and in violation of all European public procurement rules have still not been made public;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Council to engage in constructive negotiations with Parliament and the Commission on the revision of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, in order to turn these three key EU institutions, including their presidency, into role models of transparency and public accountability for the whole of the EU;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Endorses the conclusions of the Ombudsman’s special report4 to the European Parliament concerning the time the European Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents and is worried about the Ombudsman’s assessment that these systemic and significant delays in the Commission’s processing of requests for public access to documents amount to maladministration; underlines how important it is that the Commission dedicate more resources to dealing with confirmatory requests under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and calls on the Commission to correct this situation as a matter of priority and to improve its practice of handling confirmatory requests; acknowledges the importance of the timely treatment of access to documents requests by all institutions; reminds the Commission of Parliament’s right to bring action against it before the Court of Justice of the European Union on the grounds of infringement of the Treaties and expects a clear and unequivocal commitment by the new College of Commissioners and the Commission President to remedy this situation; _________________ 4 Special Report of the European Ombudsman in her strategic inquiry concerning the time the European Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents (OI/2/2022/OAM).
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is particularly worried that the Ombudsman found maladministration in the Commission’s refusal to provide access, as with all the contracts concluded since 2020 with the pharmaceutical industries, to documents concerning the greenhouse gas emissions of the ceramics industry reported under the EU Emissions Trading System; calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the overriding public interest and to be more mindful of it when assessing the possibility of disclosing documents concerning emissions into the environment;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Appreciates the Ombudsman’s commitment to upholding fundamental rights in the EU institutions’ border management activities by launching inquiries into the actions of Frontex and the Commission in this area; notes thatcalls on the Ombudsman to asked for further clarification from the Commission as to how it intends to guarantee respect for humanthe rights in the context of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding, in an effort to ensure that the EU complies wiof European states to better control their borders in an effort to combat uncontrolled migration flows, the scale of which is undermining the its human rights obligatiodentity, security and prosperity of the EU’s Member States and their citizens;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. In this context, calls on the Ombudsman also to take into account the human rights and interests of local European citizens. Local residents of the Greek, Spanish, Italian, etc. islands with reception centres are suffering serious safety, health and economic damage due to mass migration. It is also part of the Ombudsman’s mission to protect the interests and human rights of European citizens;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. WelcomNotes the Commission’s decision to work with local authorities to draw up a fundamental rights impact assessment of EU-funded migration management facilities in Greece, following an own- initiative inquiry by the Ombudsman into how the Commission ensures respect for fundamental rights in these facilities; stresses that local residents also have rights;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Strongly supports the Ombudsman’s conclusions that the EU’s ethical and anticorruption rules need to be respected and strengthened by the EU institutions and that Parliament’s implementation of reforms in this area must be properly monitored and enforced at all levels, beginning with that of their presidency; urges the Ombudsman to pay close attention to direct and indirect lobbying practices in Parliament that might increase the risk of potential conflicts of interest; invites the Ombudsman, in this context, to suggest improvements to the current Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament regarding integrity and transparency;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Welcomes the Commission’s changes to its internal guidance on public procurement, positively assessed by the Ombudsman’s inquiry, which strengthen its handling of potential professional conflicts of interest in calls for tender; regrets, however, that no serious clarification has yet been provided as regards the conditions for the award of more than EUR 70 billion worth of public contracts concluded with the pharmaceutical industries since 2020, which will have a long-term financial impact on the finances of the Union and its Member States;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Encourages the Commission to step up its efforts to increase transparency with regard to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and supports the Ombudsman’s call on the Commission to improve its handling of requests for public access to RRF-related documents and to continue publishing preliminary assessments of Member States’ payment requests; strongly recommends that the Ombudsman investigate the activities of the Commission in the area of border protection; instead of criticising the Member States and border protection agencies, the Commission should support Member States that are defending their borders and not threaten them or punish them with withdrawal of funding and with fines. The activities of the European Ombudsman should take into account the interests of European citizens;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Is worried that the Ombudsman identified several transparency concerns in the Commission’s interactions with the tobacco industry, as is still the case with the pharmaceutical industries; notes, however, that the Commission committed to further assessing the exposure of its departments to lobbying by the tobacco industry; reminds the Commission that the EU and all its Member States are signatories to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and that they are therefore obliged, in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, to take action to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Stresses that, although progress has been made within the EU institutions in the implementation of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the achievement of many accessibility targets is still delayed and insufficiently effective; recommends that the next Ombudsman intervene to examine and accelerate accessibility measures in the European institutions and to examine whether people with disabilities are proportionally represented in the institutions;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Calls on the Ombudsman to open an inquiry into the case of the European Schools and to examine how children with disabilities could be integrated into that institution, so that their parents can participate in the work of the institutions under equal opportunities;