18 Amendments of Brigitte VAN DEN BERG related to 2024/2030(DEC)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Expresses its satisfaction that the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has declared the transactionsrevenue underlying the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), the European Training Foundation (ETF), and the European Labour Authority (ELA) annual accounts for the financial year 2023 to be overall legal and regular, and that their financial position as at 31 December 2023 is fairly represented;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to ensure better use of the Agencies’ expertise in relevant policy areas regarding employment and social affairs, which can allow for more efficient utilisation of existing Union budget resources compared to alternative solutions;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Notes the Court’s observations for agencies concern shortcomings in public procurement procedures, management and control systems and budgetary management and that weaknesses in public procurement procedures remain the main source of irregular payments;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Appreciates the Foundation’s continued high-quality work on enhancing and disseminating knowledge, and providing evidence-based expertise to support the development of better informed social, employment and work-related policies in Europe, to analyse policy options to improve working conditions, industrial relations, employment and living, and to produce expertise on inter alia inequality, inclusive labour markets, housing, right to disconnect, telework, hybrid work, the shift to a carbon-neutral economy and related impacts on work– life balance and quality of working conditions;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Commends the Agency for the achievement of 95 % of its annual work programme, with 36 out of 38 outputs delivered in 2023;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Expresses its satisfaction for the positive ECA’s opinion on the Foundation’s accounts, including on the legality and regularity of payments, and invites the Foundation to address the ECA’s remarks;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes the 16,87 % of carryover rate, above the 15 % benchmark, and the Foundation’s reply making a distinction between planned and unplanned carry- overs, the latest being assessed at 4 % by the Foundation;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Appreciates the Agency’s activities to develop, gather and provide reliable and relevant information, analysis and tools on national and EU priorities in the field of occupational safety and healthto advance knowledge, raise awareness and exchange occupational safety and health (OSH) information and good practice in order to promote healthy and safe workplaces in Europe in particular their work on the health and social care sector and psychosocial risks at the workplace;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Expresses its satisfaction for the positive ECA’s opinion on the Agency’s accounts, including on the legality and regularity of payments, and invites the Agency to address the ECA’s remarks;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes with satisfaction the cost- cutting actions performed by the Agency for allocating resources to the Agency’s core tasks; welcomes the Agency’s implementation of the AGM system (Advanced Gateway to Meetings), which will help provide an electronic and automated system for reimbursements of experts which was a significant factor in non-compliance with the payment time limits;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Expresses its satisfaction for the positive ECA’s opinion on the Agency’s accounts and invites the Agency to address the ECA’s observation, including on the legality and regularity of payments, and that the Court has no observations for 2023; invites the Agency to address the ECA’s outstanding observations from previous years;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Commends Cedefop for its exemplary commitment (100%) and payment (98%) appropriations rates successfully demonstrating the optimal use of resources entrusted to Cedefop;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16 b. Welcomes Cedefop’s cooperation with other agencies in the EMPL remit particularly with ELA with the connection of EURES vacancies data with Cedefop Skills-OVATE;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Expresses its satisfaction for the positive ECA’s opinion on the Agency’s accounts and, including on the legality and regularity of payments, and that the Court has no new observations for 2023; invites the Agency to address the ECA’s remarks, especially concerning open procurement procedure from 2022;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Appreciates the Authority’s work to assist Member States and the Commission in ensuring a fair and effective enforcement of Union rules on labour mobility and coordination of social security systems, in facilitating effective labour mobility in Europe through European Employment Services (EURES) activities, and to raising awareness, through training and information campaigns, about the rights and obligations of workers and employers, making it easier for citizens and businesses to reap the benefits of the internal market;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Welcomes in particular the Authority’s #EU4FairConstruction information campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the rights and obligations of workers and employers in the construction sector with a dedicated focus on posting of workers and actions on digital tools to support labour mobility, including training on the IMI, EESSI, and ERRU systems as well as its support and coordination to 76 concerted and joint inspections in 2023, more than doubling the number from 2022;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Expresses its satisfaction for the overall positive ECA’s opinion on the legality and regularity of underlying revenue and reliability of the Authority’s accounts; notes, however, the ECA’s remarks on a basis for qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts due to irregular expenditure exceeding the materiality threshold;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. In this regards, notes the ECA’s opinion on an irregular contract awarding and the Authority’s reply that the concerned contract was not renewed and ran until the end to avoid disruption in the Authority’s activities; welcomes that ELA has revised its tender documents, including financial offer templates, to clarify that tenders exceeding the contracting authority's maximum budget will be rejected;