23 Amendments of Michal WIEZIK related to 2022/2082(DEC)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes the response given by Parliament to the Court’s observation that the distance criterion played a major role in the quality criteria (namely a weighting factor of 20/50 quality points), and the possibility of interconnection with the central buildings received an additional weighting factor (4/50 quality points), which led Parliament to consider the Scholl building on Rue Wiertz as the most economically advantageous offer despite the substantial price difference;; understands that the purchase of the building allowed the saving of a significant financial amount, compared to the situation where Parliament would have not acquired the building, underlines furthermore that it allowed to preserve the future of the investments made so far in the building.
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Notes that 877 out of 6 621 posts (13,2%) were vacant at the end of 2021; acknowledges the general difficulties encountered by the Union institutions, including Parliament, in attracting and retaining talent, which has an impact on the diversity and geographical distribution of the workforce; notes that in 2021 two surveys were run by Parliament’s Directorate-General for Personnel (DG PERS) to find out the main reasons for applying for a job in Parliament and that the results pointed to salaries, but also job significance and flexible working conditions; notes the opinion of Parliament’s administration on the slowness of the competitions conducted by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) but recalls the current transformation process aiming to shorten the duration of competitions, to make them more efficient and to better target specialist profiles while keeping objectivity and equality of treatment at the core of the process; notes that in 2021 Parliament started running internal competitions and is concerned about the internal criticisms which have stressed that fast-track recruitment procedures that may lead to discrimination between professional categories;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Calls for a deep reflection on the new ways of working that can reconcile the needs of Parliament’s administration (including team cohesion, internal communication, and on-boarding of newcomers) with the expectations and satisfaction of its staff, which would positively impact their performance as well as the attractiveness of Parliament as an employer; highlights in this context the importance of a genuine social dialogue with the staff representatives on crucial points like a flexible work environment, health and welfare and training and career opportunities; also draws attention to the need to review the rules on harassment in relation to these new forms of work; suggests that a joint committee be established that assists DG PERS in monitoring the effective implementation and compliance of clear guidelines on teleworking and the right to disconnect that can be adapted to the needs of the different services;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Recalls Parliament’s recommendation to the Commission in its resolution of 18 April 2018 ‘to review its administrative procedure for the appointment of senior officials with the objective of fully ensuring that the best candidates are selected within a framework of maximum transparency and equal opportunities, thereby also setting an example for the other European institutions’; is of the opinion that an accelerated appointment procedure and an interview made up of only three questions to select its Secretary-General falls short of what is expected of Parliamentthe parliament, regarding appointment procedures, should always meet the highest standards in terms of transparency, accountability and good administration, and it is profoundly damaging to the institution’s reputation; recalls furthermore its own recommendation that officials from staff representatives bodies should sit on Parliament’s senior management selection panels; calls therefore on the Secretary- General to submit a proposal to the Bureau to modify its decision of 16 May 2000 laying down the steps in the procedure for appointing senior officials, in order to enable staff representatives to participate as observers in the Advisory Committee, which is fully compatible with Article 3(4) of Annex III of the Staff Regulations;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Reiterates its demand for APAs to receive the same subsistence allowance as the officials and other statutory staff for their missions to attend the part-sessions in Strasbourg; is of the opinion that the current situation, aggravated by the accumulated increase in prices over the last few years, is unacceptable as APAs have to travel to Strasbourg to carry out their work in exactly the same way as Parliament's officials and other statutory staff; fails to understand this discriminatory treatment regarding the missions to Strasbourg while expenses incurred by APAs in undertaking missions outside Parliament’s three places of work are reimbursed, mutatis mutandis, in accordance with the rules applicable to officials’ missions; highlights that aligning the daily subsistence allowance with that of statutory staff would also put an end to the discriminatory existence of three levels of allowances to choose from, which is maintained without any administrative or financial justification; reiterates, therefore, its request to the Bureau to modify its decision of 2 October 2017 with the aim of implementing such alignment;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
Paragraph 61
61. Stresses that transparency, accountability, and integrity are essential ethics principles within the Union institutions and particularly Parliament as house of the European democracy; recalls that unethical behaviours must be prevented, persecuted and condemned for significantly damage the credibility and legitimacy of the Union and constitute a serious threat to democracy and public trust; recalls the Court’s conclusions and recommendations in its special report 13/2019 on the ethnical frameworks of Union institutions, as well as Parliament’s resolution of 16 September 2021 on strengthening transparency and integrity in the Union institutions by setting up an independent Union ethics body with, on the one hand, a preventive role via awareness-raising and ethical guidance, and, on the other hand, a compliance and advisory role with the ability to issue recommendations on ethical matters, including conflicts of interest;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
Paragraph 62
62. Calls for a thorough overhaul of Parliament’s ethical framework that integrates lessons learned and strengthens the current rules to ensure that there are stronger deterrents to address effectively current and future threats and interferences, whether they affect Members or staff; stresses that illegal activities funded by paid lobbying constitutes a profound attack on democracy and should be met with zero tolerance and heightened vigilance; calls in particular for aommends the current work initiated by the President of Parliament regarding the revision of the Rules of Procedure and the Members’ Code of Conduct, as well and calls for an urgent upgrade and reform of the current European Parliament’s Advisory Committee on the Conduct of Members, making it more visible and prominent, consolidating its role and strengthening its powers in order to ensure that Members act without any undue influence from interest representatives by means of a strict regulation of paid activities during the mandate, gifts or travel invitations, future employment expectations, and of undue use of information or contacts;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62 a (new)
Paragraph 62 a (new)
62a. Recalls the importance of ensuring and promoting a transparent and ethical interest representation at EU level, reminds that a transparency register has been set up in order to ensure the European institutions are open and transparent in their dialogue with interest representatives and civil society, allowing the citizens to see what interests are being represented at union level, as well as the financial and human resources dedicated to these activities; reminds that According to Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedures, members of Parliament should adopt the systematic practice of only meeting with registered interest representatives; that Members should publish online all scheduled meetings with interest representatives falling under the scope of the Transparency register; that without prejudice to Article 4(6) of Annex I, rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs shall, for each report, publish online all scheduled meetings with interest representatives falling under the scope of the Transparency register; calls on Parliament’s services to expand the infrastructure on Parliament’s website to allow APAs and policy advisers to voluntarily publish their meetings with interest representatives;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62 b (new)
Paragraph 62 b (new)
62b. Calls for a ban on friendship groups with third countries when an official Parliament delegation already exists; reminds that Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure must be respected in order to avoid any confusion with the official activities of the Parliament with third countries; recommends that Parliament allows on a case-by-case basis friendship groups for activities relating to certain sub-regions, or some local persecuted minorities for which an official delegation doesn't exist, on the basis of an official declaration, in an ad- hoc transparency register with the name of all the members affiliated, and with a mandatory declaration of meetings and stakeholders;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74 a (new)
Paragraph 74 a (new)
74a. Underlines that the workload in the EPLOs seems to have dramatically increased taking on new permanent tasks, and calls for the Parliament to ensure EPLOs have sufficient human, technical, financial resources to fulfil their missions;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 80
Paragraph 80
80. NoteRegrets that eight Members decided, on their own initiative, to observe elections in third countries where Parliament had decided not to send an election observation delegation or had not been invited; notes that in all eight cases the Members were in breach of the Implementing Provisions of the European Parliament’s Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group and that they could not and were not selected to participate in an official Election Observation delegation until the end of 2021;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
Paragraph 82
82. Welcomes the fact that the Digital Signature Portal (DiSP) allows Members to digitally sign documents, which improves efficiency, traceability and transparency to the procedures, and regrets that, in contrast to DiSP, signing plenary amendments is still an outdated and burdensome procedure of signing them by hand and sending them in scanned form; calls for the extension of DISP to all signed documents;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 85
Paragraph 85
85. HighlightWelcomes Parliament’s investment in strengthening its cybersecurity, which includes the creation of a dedicated Directorate in DG ITEC and a significant increase of the related resources aiming to increase the protection of Parliament’s information systems in the face of constantly growing threats and ransomware attacks; urges the Parliament to maintain its efforts and increase its investments in cybersecurity as long as the infrastructures remain vulnerable to cyber-attacks; underlines the need to ensure the recruitment and retention of enough highly-qualified staff in this very strategic sector; welcomes the expansion of the range of digital services provided via the e-Portal leading to an increase of 67% in the number of transactions, which is a significant increase compared to 2020, and to the achievement of 85% use rate of the e-Portal by Members for their travel and subsistence expenses;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 89
Paragraph 89
89. Notes the purchase of the Treves II building approved by the Bureau on 18 October 2021, purchased with the intention of allowing the interconnectivity of Parliament’s central buildings in Brussels, and notes that it will be at the disposal of Parliament as from 1 January 2025; is concerned by the poor energy- performance of the building, of whichnotes that the energy performance certificate indicates an annual primary energy consumption equivalent to class E, and notes that the last renovation of the building dates back to 2000; calls on Parliament’s administration to make the necessary adaptations to the applicable energy efficiency regulations in order to improve the building’s energy- performance;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95
Paragraph 95
95. Notes that the East Wing of the Adenauer building in Luxembourg was completed in 2020 and the large-scale relocation of offices from the Schuman building startended in 20212; notes that works to build the West Wing started in 20210 and draws attention to the low occupancy rate of the buildingsthat the office space are almost all allocated to the parliament staff;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 100
Paragraph 100
100. ObserveRegrets that the evacuation system in Parliament’s buildings is largely based on security volunteers, as well and underlines the difficulties to recruit them in buildings with less presence of administrative staff; stresses the importance of not counting only on trained volunteers capable of guiding and supporting people present in Parliament’s building during evacuation simulations and real emergencies;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 103
Paragraph 103
103. Recalls that transport of persons accounts for roughly two-thirds of Parliament’s carbon footprint; notes that the CO2 emissions from the monthly commutes to Strasbourg in 2021 were approximately 490 tonnes of CO2 including travel of staff and APAs, and transport of documents and equipment; underlines however the parliament’s efforts to reduce CO2 emissions through chartered trains, and the “paperless initiative” to help reduce the carbon footprint;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106
Paragraph 106
106. Acknowledges that, following the example of measures taken in many Member States and in other Union institutions, the proposaldecision taken by the Bureau to turn off the heating system and let the building drift to a minimal temperature as of Thursday evening to Monday morning and over the holiday periods would result in significant savings estimated at over EUR 2.5 million in total; however, calls on Parliamentnotes the measures taken by the Bureau to guarantee an adequate temperature in the Parliament’s buildings from Mondays to Fridays as regular working days; understands the need to reduce energy consumption but calls forand reminds that heating saving measures to beneed to remain compatible with staff welfare;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 107
Paragraph 107
107. Recalls that efficient lighting solutions are an essential factor for the sustainability of buildings; welcomes the fact that the replacement of existing lighting with low-energy LED lights is evaluated whenever possible and feasible in Parliament’s buildings; regrets thatnotes that in Brussels, not all offices in Parliament’s three places of workbuildings are equipped with motion detectors and that it appears that the motion detectors in several offices in the Spinelli building do not work correctly; understands that the areas not equipped are limited and concern buildings rented or awaiting decision on their future use; welcomes the fact that, in Strasbourg, all offices are equipped with motion detectors, and that in Luxembourg, the new Adenauer building is equipped with automatic switch off based on the absence of movement; calls on Parliament to ensure that fully functioning motion detectors are installed in Brussels as soon as possible wherever feasible to reduce energy consumption; understands the need to reduce electricity consumption but calls for lighting saving measures to be compatible with staff welfare;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 108
Paragraph 108
108. Understands that the core business of the service cars is the transport of Members, including the journey between Brussels and Strasbourg; points out, however, the waste of resources resulting fromwelcomes the fact that on average 185% of the seats available in the service fleet were been occupied for that journey in 2021; reiterates its call on Parliament’s administration to widen the user group while making sure that Members’ seats are secured, i.e. establishing a reserve list, and coherent deadlines to confirm the journey, giving regular updates on the numbers of seats available;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 113
Paragraph 113
113. Suggests the creation of a Bureau ad-hoc Working Group to carry out a thorough overhaulat an evaluation of the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament (IMMS) while striking a balance between the freedom of the exercise of the mandate, the reputational risks to Parliament and managerial ethics; strongly recommends that a comprehensive consultation of Members is carried out before the end of the current mandate to provide this Working Group with first-hand information from experienced Members on thshould be carried out, in order to take into account a more practical application of the rules governing the Parliament and the ability to identify inconsistencies such as the fact that the Members’ attendance on Fridays is not registered in Brussels during plenary weeks or even if a Parliament’s committee official mission is carried out on Thursdayo remedy certain inconsistencies;
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 114
Paragraph 114
114. Recalls that in previous discharge resolutions Parliament requested a reform of the General Expenditure Allowance (GEA) to make the expenditure of this lump sum more transparent and accountable; notes the announcement at the Bureau meeting of 7 March 2022 of the setting up of a Bureau ad-hoc working group on the GEA, which is tasked with evaluating the operation of the Bureau decision of 2 July 2018; observwelcomes that the Bureau, at its meeting of 17 October 2022, adopted a set of amendments to the IMMS clarifying the rules applicable to the entitlement and use of the GEA and measures aimed at increasing transparency but believes that this reform does not meet the demands expressed in Parliament’s resolution of 26 March 2019 on the 2017 discharge and in subsequent resolutions;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 116 a (new)
Paragraph 116 a (new)
116a. Stresses the need for more transparency about ongoing investments made by the funds ; underlines that investments should be aligned and coherent with the goals and objectives set by EU policies, calls therefore for any investments in contradiction with those goals to be removed; underlines the potential devastating reputational risks for the European Parliament; notes the inquiry opened by European ombudsman into Parliament’s decision to refuse access to documents under Regulation 1049/2001; notes that the Parliament invoked an exception under the EU legislation on public access to documents, arguing that disclosure could undermine the commercial interests of the private company responsible for the fund; calls on the advisory board of the pension fund to revise all ongoing investments not in line with EU values and goals;