Activities of Richard ASHWORTH related to 2016/2019(BUD)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2017 PDF (1 MB) DOC (568 KB)
Amendments (15)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas a budget of EUR 1 910 073 000 has been proposed by the Secretary- General for Parliament's preliminary draft estimates for 2017, representing an overall increase of 3,9% on the 2016 budget, from which 1,7% is considered to be ordinary expenditure, and would constitute 19,26% of heading V of the 2014-2020 MFF;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that Parliament should be provided with sufficient resources needed to comply with all its powers and ensure a proper functioning of the institution, althoughits core function as a co- legislative body; stresses that in the current economic context those resources should be managed with rigour and efficiency;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Points out that while the overall spending level is appropriate for the exercise of European democracy,should be readjusted in order to focus spending on the Parliament's core function as a co-legislator; efforts to look for savings and to strive for further enhancing the efficiency of the use of public money are strongly encouraged;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the need for precision and transparency in the evolution of the budget from one year to the other; considers, in this light, that EUR 15 million of extraordinary expenditure for security in 2016 should not be included in the basis for the calculation of the percentage increase for 2017, just like the that while certain extraordinary expenditure for security is justifiable for the 2017 budget, the growing use of extraordinary expenditure annually is problematic in terms of budgetary scrutiny and stability; believes extraordinary expenditure for 2017 should be deducted wincluded in the basis for then calculatingon of the percentage increase for 2018difference between budgets year on year;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Considers it appropriate to maintain or decrease the appropriations for the envelope of the expenditure regarding parliamentary assistance for 2017 at samcompared to the level as for 2016; calls for an evidence-based justification for the increased appropriations;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Questions the added value of oral explanation of votes, and indicates the availability of written explanations of votes to Members; notes that currently oral explanation of votes take place immediately after voting sessions in plenary; deplores the additional cost required for interpretation as a result; urges the Secretary-General to reconsider the utility of oral explanation of votes and, in the interim, calls for oral explanation of votes to be placed after the end of business each day on the plenary agenda;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Reiterates its call to the Bureau on the definition of more precise rules regarding the accountability of the expenditure authorised under the general expenditure allowance, which could include cost effective measures such as Members publishing their spending records, as already practiced by a growing number of Members, and could be accompanied by a simplified system for re-paying the unused funds; suggests that the Parliament website should link to the places where Members currently publish their spending in order to improve transparency; reiterates that this should not require additional staff for Parliament's administration;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Welcomes the progress that has been made regarding translation and interpretation efficiencies; asks the Secretary-General to make further rationalisation proposals such as increased translation and interpretation on demand; considers that the linguistic profiling system in place since October 2014 for committee-stage amendments is an example of efficiencies that can be made; urges the Secretary-General to consider extending the scope of this linguistic profiling system to other areas of parliamentary activity;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Takes notQuestions the added value and added expense of the proposal ofed internalisation of chauffeur service replacing the external service provider with Parliament's contractual agents, which will correspond to approximately EUR 2,3.7 million of immediate additional expenses; considers that a well organised external contract concluded pursuant to applicable public procurement rules, where the external service provider is clearly obliged to take responsibility for security and background checks as well as for decent working conditions and pay, would be a preferable alternative;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Believes the Parliament's budget should be reprioritized in order to focus on its core activity as a co-legislator; questions in this regard the added value of the Parliament's communication and promotional campaigns, in particular the LUX Prize, whose costs reached an all- time high of EUR 906 902 in 2014; calls for a survey on the public's awareness of the LUX Prize to be made available as soon as possible;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Urges the Secretary-General to devise detailed arrangements for the full sharing of back office functions and services between Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee; calls on the Secretary- General to undertake a study on whether synergies in back office functions and services can also be made between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Recalls the its resolution of 20 November 2013 on the location of the seats of the European Union’s Institutions1, which estimated the costs of the geographic dispersion of the Parliament to be between EUR 156 million and EUR 204 million and equivalent to 10% of the Parliament's budget; emphasises that the report also estimates the environmental impact of the geographic dispersion to be between 11,000 to 19,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions; reiterates the negative public perception caused by this dispersion; calls therefore for a roadmap to a single seat; __________________ 1 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0498.
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)
Paragraph 40 a (new)
40a. Calls upon the Secretary-General and the Parliament's Bureau to closely follow Commissioner Georgieva's work on performance-based budgeting; urges all parties involved in the drafting of the Parliament's estimates to identify negative priorities in order to free up spending for the Parliament's core responsibilities; considers this exercise particularly vital in the context of the Parliament's increasingly legislative role;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 b (new)
Paragraph 40 b (new)
40b. Notes that the appropriations for the funding of European political parties and European political foundations amount to 2,7% of the 2017 budget; believes that the funding for European political parties should not be increased, and that the proportion of the budget of European political foundations funded by the Parliament is too high and should be reduced from 85% to 50%; considers that both political parties and foundations should move towards being entirely financed by the national parties concerned or from other "own funding";