BETA

Activities of Paulo CASACA

Plenary speeches (200)

Nigeria
2016/11/22
2002 discharges (continuation)
2016/11/22
Fight against fraud and protection of the financial interests of the Communities (2002)
2016/11/22
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
Commission strategy on services of general interest (SGI)
2016/11/22
Elections in Iran
2016/11/22
European Maritime Safety Agency
2016/11/22
Follow-up to 2001 discharges (Commission)
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Moldova
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report
2016/11/22
Assessment of OLAF
2016/11/22
Vietnam: freedom of religion
2016/11/22
Legislative and work programme for 2004 – Eurostat
2016/11/22
European Year of People with Disabilities (2003)
2016/11/22
Recovery of cod stocks
2016/11/22
2004 budget procedure
2016/11/22
Vote
2016/11/22
Presentation by the Council of draft general budget - 2004
2016/11/22
ACP bananas
2016/11/22
India: Mumbai bomb attack
2016/11/22
Mid-term review of EU-Greenland fisheries protocol
2016/11/22
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
The rights and dignity of disabled people
2016/11/22
Situation in Indonesia, particularly in the Aceh province
2016/11/22
Burma
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Fisheries
2016/11/22
Fisheries
2016/11/22
Taiwan's observer status at the 56th World Health Assembly
2016/11/22
Freedom of expression and religion in Vietnam
2016/11/22
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
2001 discharge procedure
2016/11/22
Protection of the financial interests of the Community and the European Prosecutor
2016/11/22
Fleet conversion in the light of the fishing agreement with Morocco
2016/11/22
Protection of financial interests and the fight against fraud
2016/11/22
Vote
2016/11/22
2000 discharge follow-up
2016/11/22
Reform of the clearance of accounts procedure
2016/11/22
Vote (continuation)
2016/11/22
One-minute speeches on matters of political importance
2016/11/22
Socrates and Youth for Europe programmes (CA Special Report 2/2002)
2016/11/22
Debate on the annual report of the Court of Auditors – 2001
2016/11/22
International Criminal Court (ICC)
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Discharge procedure: amendment of the Rules of Procedure
2016/11/22
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget
2016/11/22
Transactions financed by EAGGF Guarantee Section
2016/11/22
Transactions financed by EAGGF Guarantee Section
2016/11/22
General debate on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2003
2016/11/22
Floods in Europe
2016/11/22
AIEM tax applicable in the Canary Islands
2016/11/22
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
2000 discharges
2016/11/22
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
1999 discharge (measures taken by Commission)
2016/11/22
Excise duty on rum, liqueurs and eaux-de-vie
2016/11/22
Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report – 2000
2016/11/22
6th, 7th and 8th EDF discharge for 1999
2016/11/22
Structural measures
2016/11/22
Financial Regulation applicable to the EC general budget
2016/11/22
Aid scheme for olive oil
2016/11/22
EEC-Denmark/Greenland Fisheries Agreement
2016/11/22
Fight against fraud
2016/11/22
EC/Equatorial Guinea fisheries agreement
2016/11/22
Special reports of the Court of Auditors
2016/11/22
Young farmers in the Union
2016/11/22
VOTE
2016/11/22
Reform of budgetary control procedures
2016/11/22
Court of Auditors' annual report for 1999
2016/11/22
Vote
2016/11/22
Outermost regions of the EU
2016/11/22
Integrated control system for Community aid schemes
2016/11/22
Protecting the Communities’ financial interests and the fight against fraud
2016/11/22
COM in bananas
2016/11/22
Vote
2016/11/22
1998 discharge, budgetary control
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Response to Second Report of Committee of Independent Experts
2016/11/22
Human rights
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Appointment of 8 members of the Court of Auditors
2016/11/22
Losses under loans for projects outside the Community
2016/11/22
Vote
2016/11/22
Vote
2016/11/22
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
EC-Morocco fisheries agreement
2016/11/22
EC and ECSC budgets for 2000
2016/11/22
Iran: the case of Roxana Saberi
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2009/2603(RSP)
Humanitarian situation of Camp Ashraf residents
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2009/2581(RSP)
2007 discharge: EU general budget - Council (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2277(DEC)
Budget discharges 2007, (Vote will be held on Thursday) (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2207(INI)
Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/0216(CNS)
Conservation of fisheries resources through technical measures (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/0112(CNS)
EIB and EBRD annual reports for 2007 - Community guarantee to the European Investment Bank (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/0268(COD)
Iran: the Shirin Ebadi case
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2009/2508(RSP)
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
Authorisation to ratify the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007, of the International Labour Organisation (Convention 188) (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/0107(NLE)
Russia: attacks on human rights defenders, and the Anna Politkovskaya murder trial
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2697(RSP)
Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report - 2007
2016/11/22
Somalia
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2675(RSP)
Death penalty in Nigeria
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2676(RSP)
The case of the al-Kurd family
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2677(RSP)
The case of the al-Kurd family (vote)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2677(RSP)
Support schemes for farmers under the CAP - Modifications to the common agricultural policy - Support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development - Community strategic guidelines for rural development (2007 to 2013) (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/0106(CNS)
Burma
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2658(RSP)
Management of fishing fleets registered in the Community outermost regions (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/0138(CNS)
Hangings in Iran
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2624(RSP)
Hangings in Iran (vote)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2624(RSP)
Question Time (Commission)
2016/11/22
European Union fishing fleet affected by the economic crisis (debate)
2016/11/22
Amendment of Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/0304(COD)
Iran: execution of juvenile offenders
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2604(RSP)
The crisis in the fisheries sector caused by rising fuel oil prices (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2596(RSP)
Community system against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/0223(CNS)
Protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/0224(CNS)
An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2009(INI)
Management of deep-sea fish stocks (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2110(INI)
Iran: the case of Khadijeh Moghaddam
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2567(RSP)
Zero tolerance regime for unauthorised GMOs and the economic consequences thereof (debate)
2016/11/22
2006 discharge (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2038(DEC)
Rights-based management tools in fisheries (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2111(INI)
The European Union's role in Iraq (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2181(INI)
The European Union's role in Iraq (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2181(INI)
Transparency in financial matters (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2141(INI)
Situation in Iran (vote)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2683(RSP)
Egypt (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2008/2509(RSP)
Women's rights in Saudi Arabia
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2681(RSP)
Presentation of the Court of Auditors' annual report - 2006 (debate)
2016/11/22
Christian communities in the Middle East (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2659(RSP)
Christian communities in the Middle East (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2659(RSP)
Recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/0058(CNS)
Explanations of vote
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2131(INI)
Iran
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2646(RSP)
Commission Question Time
2016/11/22
A Maritime Policy for the EU
2016/11/22
Combating cigarette smuggling (EC-Philip Morris agreement) (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2005/2145(INI)
Burma
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2619(RSP)
Fight against terrorism (debate)
2016/11/22
Sustainability in EU fisheries through maximum sustainable yield (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2224(INI)
Forest fires in Greece, their consequences and conclusions to be drawn for prevention and preparedness measures (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2605(RSP)
The humanitarian situation of Iraqi refugees
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2590(RSP)
Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2299(INI)
MEDA and financial support to Palestine - evaluation, implementation and control (vote)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2128(INI)
MEDA and financial support to Palestine - evaluation, implementation and control (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2128(INI)
Draft estimates of the European Parliament for 2008 (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2018(BUD)
Discharge for the financial year 2005 (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2071(DEC)
The Commission's annual strategic priorities (Budget 2008) (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2017(BUD)
Regional policy (islands and natural and economic constraints) (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2106(INI)
Banning seal products in the EU (debate)
2016/11/22
Humanitarian situation of refugees from Iraq (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2007/2519(RSP)
Illegal fishing (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2225(INI)
Draft general budget for 2007, amended by the Council (all sections) – Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities – Draft amending budget No 6/2006 (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2265(BUD)
Commission Question Time
2016/11/22
Recovery of Community funds (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2632(RSP)
European Agency for Reconstruction (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/0057(CNS)
Improving the economic situation in the fishing industry (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2110(INI)
North Korean asylum seekers, in particular in Thailand
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2622(RSP)
Eco-labelling schemes for fisheries products (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2005/2189(INI)
Commission Question Time
2016/11/22
Protection of the Communities' financial interests (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2005/2184(INI)
Inshore fishing (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2004/2264(INI)
Explanations of vote
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2004/0220(COD)
Taiwan (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2577(RSP)
Council Question Time
2016/11/22
Commission's Annual Policy Strategy for 2007 (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2006/2020(BUD)
EC-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2005/0280(CNS)
Name of a delegation: see Minutes
2016/11/22
Discharges for the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2004 (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2005/2115(DEC)
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2005/0090(CNS)
More environmentally friendly fishing methods (debate)
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2004/2199(INI)
Explanations of vote
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2004/0001(COD)
National management declarations – Responsibilities of the Member States of in executing the EU budget
2016/11/22
Fisheries control programmes – Community sanctions in the fisheries sector
2016/11/22
Fisheries control programmes – Community sanctions in the fisheries sector
2016/11/22
Regional development
2016/11/22
Natural disasters (fires and floods)
2016/11/22
Agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union
2016/11/22
Agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union
2016/11/22
Council Question Time
2016/11/22
Structural Funds
2016/11/22
Policy challenges and budgetary means
2016/11/22
Protecting the Community's financial interests and fight against fraud
2016/11/22
Question Time (Council)
2016/11/22
Drought in Portugal
2016/11/22
Budgetary discharge
2016/11/22
Belarus
2016/11/22
Fisheries Control Agency
2016/11/22
Fish by-catch
2016/11/22
Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 115)
2016/11/22
Explanations of vote
2016/11/22
Protection of deep-water coral reefs in certain areas of the Atlantic Ocean
2016/11/22
Annual report of the Court of Auditors – 2003
2016/11/22
Iran
2016/11/22
Iran
2016/11/22
2005 budget procedure
2016/11/22

Reports (13)

Report on the action by the Commission on the observations contained in the resolution accompanying the decision giving discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2001 financial year - Committee on Budgetary Control PDF (168 KB) DOC (83 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2003/2200(DEC)
Documents: PDF(168 KB) DOC(83 KB)
Report concerning discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2001 financial year (Commission) - Committee for Budgetary Control PDF (510 KB) DOC (601 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2002/2101(DEC)
Documents: PDF(510 KB) DOC(601 KB)
Report on the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 4045/89 on scrutiny by Member States of transactions forming part of the system of financing by the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund - Committee on Budgetary Control PDF (180 KB) DOC (131 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2001/0264(CNS)
Documents: PDF(180 KB) DOC(131 KB)
PDF (72 KB) DOC (100 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2001/2001(COS)
Documents: PDF(72 KB) DOC(100 KB)
PDF (38 KB) DOC (120 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 1999/0207(CNS)
Documents: PDF(38 KB) DOC(120 KB)
PDF (27 KB) DOC (73 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 1999/0091(CNS)
Documents: PDF(27 KB) DOC(73 KB)
REPORT Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2007 - Section I - European Parliament PDF (246 KB) DOC (226 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2008/2276(DEC)
Documents: PDF(246 KB) DOC(226 KB)
REPORT on the proposal for a Council regulation on establishing a Community framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and supporting scientific opinions on the Common Fisheries Policy PDF (195 KB) DOC (191 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: PECH
Dossiers: 2007/0070(CNS)
Documents: PDF(195 KB) DOC(191 KB)
REPORT Report on the proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulation No 1543/2000 establishing a Community framework for the collection and management of the data needed to conduct the Common Fisheries Policy PDF (126 KB) DOC (57 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: PECH
Dossiers: 2007/0127(CNS)
Documents: PDF(126 KB) DOC(57 KB)
REPORT on Member States’ efforts during 2005 to achieve a sustainable balance between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities PDF (159 KB) DOC (91 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: PECH
Dossiers: 2007/2108(INI)
Documents: PDF(159 KB) DOC(91 KB)
REPORT on the recovery of Community funds PDF (240 KB) DOC (165 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: CONT
Dossiers: 2005/2163(INI)
Documents: PDF(240 KB) DOC(165 KB)
REPORT on the proposal for a Council decision amending Decision 2004/465/EC on a Community financial contribution towards Member States fisheries control programmes PDF (176 KB) DOC (121 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: PECH
Dossiers: 2005/0136(CNS)
Documents: PDF(176 KB) DOC(121 KB)
REPORT Proposal for a Council Regulation on electronic recording and reporting of fishing activities and on means of remote sensing PDF (163 KB) DOC (139 KB)
2016/11/22
Committee: PECH
Dossiers: 2004/0252(CNS)
Documents: PDF(163 KB) DOC(139 KB)

Opinions (2)

OPINION Proposal for a Council regulation laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union
2016/11/22
Committee: BUDG
Documents: PDF(128 KB) DOC(80 KB)
OPINION Policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007-2013
2016/11/22
Committee: PECH
Documents: PDF(135 KB) DOC(50 KB)

Written declarations (12)

Written declaration on a democratic and free Iran

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(77 KB) DOC(37 KB)
Authors: Marco CAPPATO, Paulo CASACA, Carlo FATUZZO, Ulla Margrethe SANDBÆK, Michiel van HULTEN
Written declaration on the violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Vietnam and respect for the rights of Montagnards

Written declaration on the violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Vietnam and the release of religious leaders

Written declaration on improving the human rights situation of the Iranian Kurds

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(75 KB) DOC(37 KB)
Authors: André BRIE, Paulo CASACA, Bill NEWTON DUNN, Nickolay MLADENOV
Written declaration on the importance of jobs and workers’ rights in the EU

Written declaration on urging the Member States to include Hezbollah on the EU terror list

Written declaration on combating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(75 KB) DOC(34 KB)
Authors: Catherine STIHLER, Jerzy BUZEK, Paulo CASACA, Avril DOYLE, Gérard ONESTA
Written declaration on primates in scientific experiments

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(73 KB) DOC(40 KB)
Authors: Robert EVANS, Paulo CASACA, David MARTIN, Sajjad KARIM, Carl SCHLYTER
Written declaration on banning seal products in the European Union

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(73 KB) DOC(43 KB)
Authors: Carl SCHLYTER, Paulo CASACA, Karl-Heinz FLORENZ, Mojca DRČAR MURKO, Caroline LUCAS
Written declaration on recent executions of minors by the Iranian authorities

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(75 KB) DOC(37 KB)
Authors: Jana HYBÁŠKOVÁ, Paulo CASACA, Elizabeth LYNNE, Willy MEYER, Mogens CAMRE
Written declaration on drift netting for salmon at sea

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(72 KB) DOC(36 KB)
Authors: Terence WYNN, Catherine STIHLER, Neil PARISH, Paulo CASACA, Elspeth ATTWOOLL
Written declaration on export refunds for live cattle to third countries

2016/11/22
Documents: PDF(71 KB) DOC(30 KB)
Authors: Neil PARISH, Paulo CASACA, Marios MATSAKIS, Caroline LUCAS, Miguel PORTAS

Amendments (1124)

Amendment 4 #

2008/2276(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new) under heading Follow-up by the Secretary-General to the last discharge resolution
27a. Welcomes the Bureau decisions of 10 March 2008, 19 May 2008 and 7 July 2008 (implementing measures for the Statute of Members and parliamentary assistance allowance) which represent the direct follow-up to recommendations of the 2006 discharge; welcomes furthermore the commitment of its President for the implementation of the decisions;
2009/02/20
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2008/2276(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
42. Underlines that the area of security is a very sensitive sector in any parliament, but even more so in a multinational parliament with high visibility and constant visits from Heads of State from all corners of the world; invites the Secretary-General to present to the competent committee the state of play in this area; recalls in this respect the importance of clear communication procedures in the event of major breaches of security of the House;
2009/02/20
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2008/2276(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 104
104. Welcomes the information that, as advocated in previous discharge resolutions, Members of the fund now pay their one-third contribution from their own resources, rather than out ofa private external account rather than having it deducted automatically by Parliament's administration from the general expenditure allowance;
2009/02/20
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Underlines its high regard for the results achieved by the Agency and congratulates the Director and its staff for the work done in a very difficult environment, improving considerably the image of the EU and its visibility;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Has seen ample evidence that the Agency had not only the systems (logistics, IT systems, and others) to swiftly implement large amounts of support in post-conflict situations, but that it also had the proven expertise and know-how to design and deliver high quality assistance that had real impact;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Regrets that the Commission did not respect discharge resolutions for the financial years 2005 and 2006 asking to prolong the Agency’s activities which ended in 2008, and is concerned about the consequential risk that the EU may lose much of the expertise the Agency had acquired over the last eight years;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Is therefore convinced that the Agency should have been transformed into an Agency for the implementation of certain EU external actions, in particular the management of EU assistance in post- conflict situations;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Urges the Commission to now create a "RELEX external actions Agency” for assistance in post-conflict situations that would draw heavily on the systems, experience and expertise of the European Agency for Reconstruction;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 f (new)
2f. Considers that this new Agency should play a crucial role in delivering EU assistance in situations in which traditional development assistance cannot be implemented by the Commission’s services in Brussels or its Delegations;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 g (new)
2g. Believes that this new Agency would not only provide an efficient means of delivering well targeted assistance in these situations, but would also greatly increase the EU’s visibility and credibility;
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2008/2256(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Notes the Commission's statement, in its follow-up to the 2006 Commission discharge, that the Agency would stop all operational activities by the end of September 2008; that the Agency would have three months, from October to December 2008, to finalise the administrative closure; and that in 2009, a closure cell attached to the Commission would undertake the closing of residual administrative activities during a limited period of a few months;deleted
2009/02/23
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Heading before paragraph -1 a (new)
MAIN CONCLUSIONS
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1a. Welcomes further progress made by the Commission and some of the Member States towards a more efficient use of EU funds and the overall control environment, which is reflected by the improvements in the ECA's statement of assurance (DAS);
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1b. Welcomes the considerable progress made in the management of the 7th Framework Programme by the Commission's research family in comparison with former Framework Programmes; reiterates that Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds management has further improved, in particular thanks to the functioning of the Integrated Administrative Control System (IACS); deeply regrets that Greece is still not meeting its obligations to implement IACS;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1c. Is of the opinion that the accession of Romania and Bulgaria has not been treated by the Commission with the necessary seriousness and that statements of the readiness of the two candidates for enlargement were misleading; regrets that this misinformation has led to the current situation where cohesion funds were released for Member States with non- functioning administrative and legal systems; is of the opinion that the Commission disregarded the Copenhagen criteria and misled public opinion and Parliament about the readiness of these Member States to the detriment of the reputation of the Union and the steady development of the Member States in question;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 d (new)
-1d. Notes that 2007 was the first year of closure of the 2000-2006 multiannual programmes and that many funds were recovered;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 e (new)
-1e. Notes considerable improvements in the field of Research and Technological Development (RTD) financial management where error rates were reduced by more than 50% in the space of 3 years; invites the Commission to continue its simplification efforts in order to improve the use of programmes by the final beneficiary;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 f (new)
-1f. Notes positively the efforts undertaken by the Commission in the field of funds lined to Cohesion Policy in the implementation of the action plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of structural actions which has been adopted in the context of the 2006 discharge; hopes that the first results of the above- mentioned action plan and the simplification efforts will be seen in the 2008 ECA Annual Report;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 g (new)
-1g. Continues to worry about the lack of EU capacity in crisis management; considers that the EU is losing in political guidance, visibility and accountability when using international trust funds which could have been managed by the Commission if it had respected discharge reports 2005 and 2006 and built up an own post-crisis instrument; is highly preoccupied by the lack of control of EU funds implemented by certain UN agencies and the unwillingness by UN agencies to follow up on fraud cases where EU funds are involved;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1. RegretsNotes the improvements in the individual parts which comprise the DAS, regrets, however, that, for the fourteenth year in succession, the DAS issued by the ECA in its annual report for 2007 includes an qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts in which; notes that the ECA takes the view that, in a large number of expenditure areas (agriculture and natural resources, cohesion, research, energy and transport, external aid, development and enlargement, education and citizenship), payments are still materially affected by errors, albeit to differing degrees;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 (replaced with paragraph 3)
2. Notes that the situation – in particular as regards control systems – is improving, but not to a sufficient extent or sufficiently quicklyWelcomes the fact that, according to the ECA's Annual Report, administrative expenditure and expenditure relating to economic and financial affairs, are free from material error;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 (replaced with paragraph 2)
3. Welcomes the fact that, according to the ECA's report, administrative expenditure and expenditure relating to economic and financial affairs, are free from material errorNotes that the situation – in particular as regards control systems – is improving, but not to a sufficient extent nor sufficiently quickly;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Considers it abnormal for the annual accounts to show net assets of - EUR 58.6 billion and wonders whether the amounts to be called from Member States should not be entered as liabilities, given that the estimated EUR 33.5 bn in employee benefits are clearly a commitment; regrets thatasks for further specification concerning the annexed notes on the other amounts to be called from Member States, totalling EUR 27.9 bn, are not very detailed;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Fails to understand why the assets received by the European Communities in connection with the Galileo programme were not entered in the annual accounts, given that, according to the ECA's report, the agreements were signed in late 2007 between the European Space Agency, the Galileo Joint Undertaking and the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) Supervisory Authority, which was set up in 2004 and given responsibility for taking over the activities of the former Galileo Joint Undertaking on 1 January 2007; accordingly, calls on the Commission to put forward a proposal concerning the major European projects (Galileo or TENs) which require funding which goes beyond the scope of the multiannual financial framework and which it cannot therefore control;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for examination of the possibility of including provisions in the annual accounts for major maintenance and refurbishment work on the European Communities' buildings stock, given the lack of a buildings depreciation schedule broken down by specific component and setting out the main tangible fixed assets to be replaced at regular intervals; takes the view that such provisions for major maintenance or refurbishment works should be backed by multiannual upkeep programmes designed to keep buildings in a good state of repair without extending their life;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
10. Deplores the fact, nonetheless, that in extremely important Community spending areas (agricultural spending that does not come under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), cohesion, research, energy and transport, external actions, education and culture), the ECA notes, once again, that complicated or unclear legal requirements, firstly, result in a large number of errors at final- beneficiary level and, secondly, result in only partially effective monitoring and control systems and that complexity is instrumental in preventing the ECA from issuing a positive DAS (Chapter 1, DAS, paragraphs X and XI); calls therefore on the Commission to conduct an analysis to determine the extent of, and possible solutions to, the problems;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28a (new)
28a. Insists that control systems are a reflection of the complexity of regulations and rules on the various, sometimes overlapping levels; urges therefore the Commission to accelerate the simplification exercise whilst fully involving Parliament; asks Member States and regions to undertake the same efforts;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 a (new) under heading "Transparency"
45a. Recalls the Commission's decision to start with a voluntary register for lobbyists and to evaluate the system after one year; is aware of the legal base for a mandatory register provided by the Treaty of Lisbon; recalls that Parliament's current register is already mandatory and that a possible common register would be de facto mandatory, since registering is, in either case, a prerequisite for gaining access to Parliament;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 b (new)
45b. Regrets that its invitation for a new code of conduct for Members of the Commission, so as to improve and define more clearly their individual and collective political responsibility and accountability for their decisions and for the implementation of their policies by their services, has not been implemented;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 c (new)
45c. Recalls again the Commission's responsibility for ensuring the completeness, searchability and comparability of data provided on the beneficiaries of EU funding and regrets that this objective has still not been achieved;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 56 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 d (new)
45d. Recalls again the importance of complete transparency and publicity with regard to the cabinet staff of Members of the Commission not recruited in accordance with the Staff Regulations;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 61 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48a (new)
48a. Invites the Commission to engage at a very early stage in consultations with the other institutions subject to the Financial Regulation;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 77 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Heading before paragraph 59 a (new)
Fisheries subsidies
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 78 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 a (new)
59a. Welcomes the disclosure by selected Member States of the names of beneficiaries, the names of the operations concerned and the amounts of public (EU and national) funding and the Commission’s web site which contains links towards Member States' sources of information;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 79 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 b (new)
59b. Requests, however, the Commission to ensure that all Member States comply with the requirements of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 Article 53(b) and Article 53b (2)(d) and the requirements of Article 31 second paragraph point (d) of Regulation (EC) No 498/20071;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 80 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 c (new)
1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 498/2007 of 26 March 2007 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Cou59c. Welcomes the Commission’s proposal (COM(2008)0721) to make it legally possible to suspend or reduce financial Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 on the European Fisheries Fund (OJ L120, 10.5.2007, p. 1). assistance from the European Fisheries Fund to Member States which fail to implement the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) adequately;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 81 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 d (new)
59d. Requests, however, that the Commission should also propose to exclude Member States which fail to implement adequately the rules of the CFP from benefiting from Fisheries Partnership Agreements;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 82 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 e (new)
1 Council Regulation (EC) No 1447/1999 of 24 June 1999 establishing a list of types of behaviour which seriously infringe the rules of the common fisheries policy (OJ L 167, 2.7.1999, p. 5).59e. Requests the Commission to introduce EU legislation that excludes all vessel owners convicted of serious infringements (in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1447/19991) from receiving Community aid under the European Fisheries Fund and/or benefiting from Fisheries Partnership Agreements; Or. en
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 83 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 f (new)
59f. Requests the Commission to ensure that Community aid is not used to modernise fleet segments characterised by overcapacities;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 84 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 g (new)
59g. Reminds the Commission of its commitments within the framework of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy approved by the European Council in Göteborg in June 2001 and revised by the European Council in Vienna in June 2006, to removing environmentally damaging subsidies and by 2008 to put forward a roadmap for the reform, sector by sector, of these subsidies with a view to eliminating them;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 86 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the Commission does not seriously dispute that rate of 11%;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 89 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62 a (new)
62a. Welcomes the intensive efforts made by the Commission to bring about an improvement in the situation, in particular by way of the above-mentioned action plan to strengthen its supervisory role under shared management of structural actions and appreciates the detailed reports given to Parliament on the action plan's implementation, particularly the report of 3 February 2009 (COM(2009)0042) and the further information presented during the discharge procedure, which have provided evidence of the effectiveness of the work being undertaken to tackle the problems;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 90 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. RWhile appreciating the improvements in the overall assessment of the supervisory and control system in the ECA's Annual Report, regrets that, in spite of the Commission's unremitting efforts, management and control systems both at Member State level and at supervisory level at the Commission are not yet sufficiently effective to limit risks of error, and calls on the Commission to report to Parliament in early 2010 on the further actions carried out in 2009 and on the initial impact of the actions under the above-mentioned action plan;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 93 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Also reminds the Commission of the ECA's recommendation to make as much use of possible, without undermining the effectiveness of spending, of the scope for simplification provided for by the spending rules, and calls on it to launch a discussion exercise on new simplification measures that might be adopted, including computerisation of the system;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 102 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 71 a (new) under heading "Research"
71a. Welcomes the development in the RTD area whereby the error rate has decreased considerably between the year 2005 and the year 2007; this major achievement is a success for the implementation of the discharge 2005 by the Commission's research family in close cooperation with the Parliament's competent committee and the ECA;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 103 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72
72. Notes with concern that, in 2007, the audit certificates system, despite its considerable cost, still did not provi brought down the error rate to 2,5% for projects under the anticipated guarantees, and regrets that the effectiveness of auditors' work is still being criticised by the ECA6th Framework Programme in comparison with 4,06% in projects under the 5th Framework Programme, which are not subject to the audit certificates system;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 104 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74
74. Calls upon the Commission to continue to fulfil the requirementanalyse further the appropriateness of the 7th Framework Programme rules for participation, inter alia aon flat-rate payment procedures , and to inform the parliamentary committee responsible in the context of the mid-term review, of its contribution to the simplification of the rules for beneficiaries and to the necessary improvements to the system;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 109 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
75. Notes with concern that the two-stage procedure for the 7th Framework Programme for research and development is not being applied systematically and that only 13.87% of projects submitted have been selected, as opposed to more than 25 000 projects rejected; calls on the Commission to submit a specific proposal on this question before the end of 2009 so as to reduce the considerable amount of money lost by research bodies by revising the way in which they make calls for proposals and conduct selection procedurein certain areas; calls on the Commission to consult with research organisations on the appropriateness of extending this experience to other types of project where this would result in considerable reductions in the preparation costs of initial project applications;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 110 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
76. Remarks that, in the research field, the Commission has increased the number of research bodies, cooperation models and management mechanisms; is most concerned at threcalls that this is due to the considerable increase in funds made available under the 2007- 2013 financial perspective for research and innovation; invites the ECA to assess possible problems of transparency vis-à-vis the budgetary authority and at the differing way of dealing with beneficiaries under those models; calls for the Director- General to give over a chapter of his annual activity report to each such body, model and mechanism in order to provide information on the use of funds and the outcomes sought with these public-private cooperation models;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 115 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86
86. ProposesDeplores deeply that the Commission ensure that it can manage thfailed to create a truly European instrument for implementation of crisis management as it had been asked to do in the 2005 and 2006 discharges; insists that this should be done urgently and reinvites the Commission to create the possibility to manage multidonor trust funds itself, where appropriate, when it is involved in such funds;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 135 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Subheading before paragraph 113
Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo and the other Western Balkan countries
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 137 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Subheading before paragraph 115
Kosovodeleted
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 138 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 115
115. Deplores the cases of fraud and mismanagement of European funds managed by the UN identified in connection with EU funding of reconstruction work in Kosovo; and the lack of follow-up by the UN of these clearly identified cases;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 144 #

2008/2186(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 121
121. Voices its disappointment at the incorrectNotes the information given by the Commission in 2005 and 2006 in this area, which is extremely important from a budgetary point of view; acknowledges the efforts made in the meantime as regards transparency on the Commission web site and the annual staff screening report;
2009/02/24
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)
-Aa. Whereas in any geographical area all living organisms (people, plants, animals and micro-organisms), their physical surroundings (such as soil, water, air) and the natural cycles that sustain them, are all interconnected,
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 2 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A b (new)
-Ab. Whereas developments, interactions and changes within such ecosystems have direct and often unwanted or unforeseen effects on other elements both inside and outside the system and, likewise, developments occurring outside the system can have an immediate impact on the system,
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 3 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital -A c (new)
-Ac. Whereas an ecosystem approach to fisheries currently provides the best basis for the most holistic management and decision-making system which takes into account all of the stakeholders and elements concerned, their requirements and needs, as well as future effects on the system and its interactions,
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 5 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Ca. Whereas such an ecosystem approach does, however, have to be dynamic and flexible in its use and its information and decision-making processes, since new scientific knowledge and interrelations may constantly lead to a need for this approach to be adapted,
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 9 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1. NotWelcomes the above Commission communication with interest and points out that it is a contribution to the necessary and wide-ranging debate on the CFP and onand underlines the need for this initiative as a basis for guaranteeing exploitation of fishery resources in a way that will create sustainable conditions from the social, environmental and economic points of view;
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 10 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses the need for such an ecosystem approach to be developed into a system of management, mutual learning and research which remains dynamic and flexible to incorporate further variables that might arise out of unforeseen factors of influence or other scientific disciplines in the future;
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 11 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. In this context, calls on the Commission to include in its proposal methods and tools to allow for the mutual exchange of information, input and a continuous learning process for all stakeholders, in order for the ecosystem approach to be further developed by all of them with the objective of showing and proving the benefit for all;
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 16 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that, taking account of its own objectives, a CFP must not be subordinate to other Community policies that have since been defined; considers, on the contrary, that these latter policies must safeguard and integrate the objectives of fisheries policy;deleted
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 28 #

2008/2178(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Recognises that the existing fisheries management instruments, based on total allowable catches (TACs), have until now been the best means of controlling total fishing effort to the extent that they have a direct impact on catches and an indirect impact on fishing effort;deleted
2008/11/14
Committee: PECH
Amendment 2 #

2008/2155(INI)

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 - introductory wording
1. Stresses that the European Investment Bank (EIB) should pursue a "zero- tolerance" policy towards fraud and corruption and welcomes in this respect the review of its anti-fraud PolicyWelcomes the review of the anti-fraud policy of the European Investment Bank (EIB); is concerned however that this policy seems to remain largely passive; reiterates its calls on the EIB to include, in adopting its anti-fraud policy and procedures, measures aimed at:
2008/12/17
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
- having regard to the IWC's agreement on zero catch limits (the ‘moratorium on’) for commercial whaling that came into effect in 1986,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 3 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
1 OJ C 340, 10.11.1997, p. 110- having regard to the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union - Protocol on protection and welfare of animals1.
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 4 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 b (new)
- having regard to the adoption by, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and its implementation by the EU, of a ban on international commercial trade in the products of all species of great whales,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 5 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital E
E. whereas almost one in four cetacean species are currently regarded as under threat, with nine species listed as either endangered or critically endangered, whilst the status of many species and populations remains unclear,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 6 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital F
F. whereas the situation of various types of whale has impralthough some whale populations have achieved some degree of recovedry since the introduction of the moratorium, several remain critically depleted and endangered, and their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions remains unknown,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 8 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital G
G. whereas the moratorium was originally intended to last only until an adequate management scheme was put in place, 1 Article 10e of the ICRW http://www.iwcoffice.co.uk/commission/schedule.htmmplemented to allow the IWC to “undertake a comprehensive assessment of the effects of this decision on whale populations and consider modification of this provision and the establishment of other catch limits”1,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 10 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital H
H. whereas not all members of the IWC subscribe to the moratoriumNorway and the Russian Federation maintain objections to the moratorium and Iceland claims a reservation to it,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 12 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital J
J. whereas the number of whales killed has actualsteadily increased since the introduction of the moratorium,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 13 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital K
K. whereas the IWC (in over 30 Resolutions) and a number of NGOs and other bodies have expressed doubts as to whetheep concern the scientific study of whales necessitates lethal practices and concerns that the meat derived from them is used for commercial purpoat current special permit whaling is “contrary to the spirit of the moratorium on commercial whaling” (IWC2003-2); the meat from such whaling should not be used for commercial purposes; whaling in the name of science is unjustified and should cease,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 14 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Recital L
L. whereas, despite recent improve the weapons, hunting environments, the methods by whichsize and physiology of whales apre killed still fall short of the desired standardsent insurmountable obstacles to ensuring a swift and humane death for hunted whales,
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 16 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Believes that the moratorium on commercial whaling, and the international ban on trade in whale products, continue to be essential with respect to both the conservation of whales and animal welfare concerns, and calls on the Council, the Commission and the Member States participating in the Working Group to ensure the maintenance of these measures as a priority in all negotiations;
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 17 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Hopes that the Working Group will address the issue of lethal whaling for scientific purposes and whaling under objection or reservation in order to find a basis formeans to eliminating ite them;
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 19 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for any such hunting to take place only with clear quotas based on scientific advice,Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling to take place only when the IWC recognises a clearly and quantitatively demonstrated subsistence and cultural need for whale products; limits it by quotas based on scientific advice from the IWC Scientific Committee; and regulates it under strict controls and withincorporating full recording and reporting to the IWC;
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 22 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Calls also for the establishment, in suitable locations around the world, of more mMarine reserveProtected Areas in which whales would receive special protection;
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 26 #

2008/2101(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
9. Calls also for threats to the cetacean populations arising from climate change, pollution, ship strikes, fishing gear, sonaranthropogenic ocean noise and other hazards to be tackled outside such protected areas;
2008/11/18
Committee: PECH
Amendment 22 #

2008/2026(BUD)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
School fruit and vegetables scheme 16. Deplores the fact that, for the second consecutive year, the Council has rejected Parliament's proposal for an amendment concerning the creation of a new line 05 02 08 12 - School fruit and vegetables scheme; welcomes, however, the political agreement of the Council on the legal base for such a programme; had expected the programme to start in time for the school year 2009/2010 and regrets, therefore, that the Council did not accept the Commission's proposal to create already a token entry ("p.m.") in the budget, which would have allowed for a flexible start of, as well as its firm commitment to start it in the 2009/2010 school year; invites the Council to take all the necessary measures to honour its commitments and enable the programme as appropriateto start during the budgetary year 2009;
2008/11/27
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 26 #

2008/2026(BUD)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Draws attention to the need to make available more funds to support the millions of Iraqis refugees and displaced people; notes that the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 4 million Iraqis are currently displaced from their homes, including some 2.2 million inside Iraq and up to 2 million refugees; points out, in addition, that Iraq continues to accommodate some 41,000 refugees who are in need of protection and assistance; stresses that the UNHCR is facing a refugee situation which involves the largest urban population that it has ever been called on to attend to, and which places an unprecedented burden on the economies and social infrastructure of host countries (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, the Gulf States and countries further afield);
2008/11/27
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 1 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes the unacceptable and frequently criticised overlaps between this agency’s area of activity and that of other agencies; this is generating yet more additional costs, in particular as a result of the duplication of work in the administrative sphere;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2008/2000(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the agency’s staff expenditure per post increased by 789% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 153 #

2008/0216(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. The Commission shall present to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal for a new instrument for the management of Community fishing capacity by 31 December 2010.
2009/03/10
Committee: PECH
Amendment 211 #

2008/0216(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation
Article 69
Member States shall set up and keep up to date an electronic database where they upload all inspection, observer and surveillance reports drawn up by their officials.
2009/03/10
Committee: PECH
Amendment 232 #

2008/0216(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation
Article 84 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. As long as a holder of a fishing authorization has been assigned with penalty points the holder should be excluded from receiving Community subsidies or national public aid during that time.
2009/03/10
Committee: PECH
Amendment 245 #

2008/0216(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation
Article 85 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Information on the fishing vessels and individuals in question will be available to the public.
2009/03/10
Committee: PECH
Amendment 9 #

2008/0138(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation – amending act
Recital 4
(4) It is, therefore, appropriate to extend for one more yearup to 2013 the deadline for the derogation set out in Article 2(5) of Regulation (EC) No 639/2004.
2008/09/16
Committee: PECH
Amendment 12 #

2008/0138(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation – amending act
Article -1-A (new)
Regulation (EC) No 639/2004)
Article 2 − point 4
Article 1a Article 2(4) of Regulation No 639/2004 is amended to read as follows: "4. In derogation Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999, public aid for the renovation of fishing vessels may be granted up to 31 December 2011."
2008/09/16
Committee: PECH
Amendment 15 #

2008/0138(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation – amending act
Article 1
Regulation (EC) No 639/2004)
Article 2 − point 5
In Article 2(5) of Regulation (EC) No 639/2004, "31 December 2008" shall be replaced by "31 December 200913".
2008/09/16
Committee: PECH
Amendment 3 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Recital 2 a (new)
(2a) Given the political risk and credit risk situations in the respective countries that are crucial for the Community exposure to guarantee payment as envisaged in Article 5 of Decision 2006/1016/EC, the EIB’s operations in each of the Central Asia countries should be conditional upon progress on human rights and freedom of speech and association issues and on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as specified in EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreements.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 5 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Recital 3 a (new)
(3a) Regarding energy supply and transport projects, EIB financing operations in Central Asia should be consistent with and support the EU policy objectives of diversification of energy sources and the Kyoto requirements, and of enhancement of environmental protection.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 6 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Recital 3 b (new)
(3b) The EU policy objective of combating climate change requires that the EIB not support projects that generate energy from fossil fuels until a full evaluation of the implications of such projects for the fight against global warming has been undertaken.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 7 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Recital 3 c (new)
(3c) The EIB should ensure that individual projects are subject to a Sustainability Impact Assessment carried out independently of the project sponsors and the EIB, and made available to the public at least 60 days prior to any loan decision by the Bank, and that residents in the area concerned receive adequate and timely information so that they have the possibility of playing a full part in the decision making process, before framework agreements are concluded between the Bank and the countries concerned.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 9 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Recital 4
(4) The macro-economic conditions prevailing in the Central Asian countries, and in particular the situation of external finances and debt sustainability, have improved in the recent years as a result of strong economic growth and prudent macroeconomic policies, and they should therefore be allowed access to financing from the EIB, under the condition that they are not subject to EU sanctions for human rights violations, which shall exclude access to financing from the EIB.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 13 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Article 1
1. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikist an,d Turkmenistan and Uzbeajikistan are eligible for EIB financing under Community guarantee in accordance with Council Decision 2006/1016/EC. Uzbekistan will be eligible as soon as the EU sanctions against the country are lifted. The further eligibility of Turkmenistan shall be assessed by the Commission on an annual basis, subject to a sustainable improvement of the human rights situation in the country and consultation of the European Parliament.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 16 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Article 1 a (new)
Article 1a On the basis of the information received from the EIB, the Commission shall produces an assessment and a report, on an annual basis, to be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council, on the EIB financing operations carried out under this Decision. The report should include an assessment of the contribution of the EIB financing operations to the achievement of the external policy objectives of the EU and especially the contribution to the general objective of developing and consolidating democracy and the rule of law, the objective of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the observance of international environmental agreements to which the European Community or its Member States are parties.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 17 #

2008/0067(CNS)

Proposal for a decision
Article 1 b (new)
Article 1b The EIB shall ensure that framework agreements between the Bank and the countries concerned are made available to the public at least 60 days prior to Board approval, and that adequate and timely objective information is made available to enable them to play a full part in the decision making process.
2008/07/02
Committee: BUDG
Amendment 1 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for a substantial proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks difficult;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that the cost of privileges for agency staff is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2214(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 400% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2063(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68 a (new)
68a. Invites the European Police College (CEPOL) to ensure without delay, and by June 2008 at the latest, that its financial management fully respects the provisions of the Financial Regulation.
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Railway Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Railway Agency for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37)
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 11% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2062(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 43.4% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Network and Information Security Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Network and Information Security Agency for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the cost of privileges for agency staff in the financial 2006 accounted for at least 14% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 24.33% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that the Commission has breached the requirement to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the agency's work and the funding provided for that work are not consistent with the subsidiarity principle and the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that no rational considerations can be seen for the location of the agency and that unnecessary additional costs are being caused;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 56 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Refuses to accept the fact that the Agency's Management Board has an unacceptably high number of members, thus preventing efficient decision-taking, notes in this connection that expenditure on members' daily allowances is very high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 57 #

2007/2061(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Notes that the agency's administrative spending accounts for an unacceptably high proportion of overall costs; therefore calls on the Agency to evaluate and reduce administrative spending;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for a substantial proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks difficult;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how an activity to be performed on the basis of the small number of posts in the agency's establishment plan can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 4% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2060(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 16% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Food and Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Food and Safety Authority for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC; deleted Or.
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 7% of the agency’s final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency’s staff expenditure per post increased by 47% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Notes that in its report on the closure of the accounts for 2006 the European Court of Auditors stated that in connection with procurement procedures seven instances of irregularities involving an estimated EUR 670 000 had been identified, and that shortcomings included the fact that selection criteria were not indicated or were not complied with, that the price assessment method was laid down after the assessment procedure had already started, and that the description of the quality criteria was too vague;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2059(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Recalls that, in its 2005 report, the Court of Auditors qualified its statement of assurance with an observation concerning the considerable number of anomalies revealed during its audits carried out on the award and conclusion of contracts;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Aviation Safety Agency for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks virtually impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 7% of the agency’s final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2058(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency’s staff expenditure per post increased by 44% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution (general points)
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37)
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for a high proportion of its overall costs, making the effective and efficient working virtually impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more nearly 6% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2057(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 31% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Training Foundation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the Foundation's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too high a proportion of its overall costs, making effective and efficient working impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the Foundation and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that there are unacceptable overlaps between the Foundation's area of activity and that of other agencies, something which has been frequently criticised; this is generating even more additional costs, in particular through the duplication of work in the administrative sphere;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than nearly 6% of the Foundation's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the cost of private travel for Foundation staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Notes that the Foundation's staff expenditure per post increased by 29% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2056(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Notes that the Governing Board has an unacceptably high number of members, so that efficient decision- making is impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37)
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2055(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
Motion for a resolution 61. Notes that Eurojust's administrative expenditure, as a proportion of overall expenditure, is higher than average; calls on Eurojust, therefore, to assess and reduce its administrative expenditure;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2054(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the Agency has by far the highest buildings-related costs; calls on the Agency to assess the overall costs under Chapter 20 of the budget and if possible reduce them;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the Centre's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too high a proportion of its overall costs, making effective and efficient working impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the Centre and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for Centre staff made up more than 5% of the Centre's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for Centre staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2053(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the Centre's staff expenditure per post increased by 24% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for a substantial proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
Motion for a resolution 62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes the unacceptable and frequently criticised overlaps between this agency's area of activity and that of other agencies; this is generating yet more additional costs, particularly as a result of the duplication of work in the administrative sphere;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out on the basis of the small number of posts in the agency's establishment plan more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 4% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 18% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2052(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Notes that the administrative board has an unacceptably high number of members, so that efficient decision- making is impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the executive Director of the European Environment Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks virtually impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up almost 5% of the agency’s final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2051(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency’s staff expenditure per post increased by 15% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too high substantial proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 13% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2050(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 11.6% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (formerly European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia) discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (formerly European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia) for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for a substantial proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks difficult;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up more than 6% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 44% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Notes that, in January 2008, OLAF launched an investigation in connection with the Agency and that results are not yet available;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Notes that the number of members of the Management Board is unacceptably high and, as a result, efficient decision- taking is impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69
69. Is of the opinion that because of direct and indirect financial contributions from the host country, cost transparency is difficult to achieve;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 56 #

2007/2049(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70
70. Notes that expenditure under budget Item 2050 was EUR 2109 per staff member and that this figure, by comparison with the other 19 agencies, is the second largest; calls therefore on the Agency to evaluate and reduce these costs immediately,deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 3 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Privilegesdeleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 a (new)
60a. Congratulates the Director and his staff for the work done in a very difficult environment, which has considerably improved the image of the EU and its visibility;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 b (new)
60b. Considers that the Agency has not only the systems (logistics, IT systems, and others) to implement swiftly large amounts of support in post-conflict areas, but that it has especially also proven high levels of expertise and know-how in post- war reconstruction;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 c (new)
60c. Is convinced that, at the point where the Commission takes over the management of the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in view of the acquis-related tasks related to the Balkans, it should finally present to the Council a new mandate for the Agency, which should, as decided, finish its work in the Balkans by the end of 2008 and be converted into a truly European Agency for external actions;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 d (new)
60d. Considers that a new mandate for this successful agency would be the most efficient way to carry out the new tasks in external actions, which cannot be carried out by Commission services in Brussels or by Commission delegations;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2048(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60 e (new)
60e. Considers that, with this new mandate, the Agency could play a most efficient role in areas where traditional development assistance cannot be implemented; considers also that this would significantly increase the EU's visibility;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions discharge in respect of the implementation of the Foundation's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of the accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 5 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 7 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 9 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 10 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 11 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks almost impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes the unacceptable and frequently criticised overlaps between this agency’s area of activity and that of other agencies; this generates yet more additional costs, particularly as a result of the duplication of work in the administrative sphere;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up almost 10% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 9.3% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Notes that the administrative board has an unacceptably high number of members, so that efficient decision- making is impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #

2007/2047(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69
69. Notes that although the agency was set up as long ago as 1975, the rate of increase in the subsidy from the Community budget over the period from 2000 to 2006 was 27.13%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 1 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on discharge
Paragraph 1
1. Postpones its decision on gGrantings the Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training discharge in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Proposal for a decision on the closure of the accounts
Paragraph 2
2. PostponApproves the closure of the accounts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1.Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of the limited conferral of powers, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and which stipulates that the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors exercise their powers under the conditions and for the purposes provided for, on the one hand, by the provisions of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and of the subsequent Treaties and Acts modifying and supplementing them and, on the other hand, by the other provisions of the TEU;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of subsidiarity, which, in the current documents providing the legal basis for the European Union, is enshrined, inter alia, in Article 5, second paragraph, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and which stipulates that in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Community shall take action only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality for any proposed Community legislation the reasons on which it is based must be stated with a view to justifying its compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the reasons for concluding that a Community objective can be better achieved at Community level must be substantiated by qualitative or quantitative indicators;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 3 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Community action within the limits of its powers can be either expanded or restricted or discontinued where it is no longer justified;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 16 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises, in that connection, that pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality due account must be taken of the need for any financial or administrative burden falling on the Community to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 17 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that it unreservedly endorses the principle of sound financial management, as laid down, inter alia, in Article 274 TEC, and, hence, the objective of achieving the best possible result with a given volume of appropriations or achieving a given result using the smallest possible volume of appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 18 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises, in that connection, that in its White Paper on the reform of the Commission the Commission laid down as guidelines for the formulation of an externalisation policy cost-effectiveness and the ability to exercise its powers to implement the budget, pursuant to Article 274 TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that pursuant to Article 253 TEC regulations, directives and decisions adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council and such acts adopted by the Council or the Commission must state the reasons on which they are based and refer to any proposals or opinions which were required to be obtained pursuant to the TEC;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that decentralisation and devolution were key results of the process of reforming the Commission started in 1999, but that to date the Commission has submitted neither a study, nor an activity report nor an interim assessment of this form of administration; by the same token, the Commission has never given a convincing explanation of the added value provided by the agencies and of why their tasks could not equally well be performed within the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises, in that connection, that between the year 2000 (publication of the White Paper on the Reform of the Commission) and 2007 the staff complement of the Commission and agencies (excluding executive agencies) increased by a total of 85%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Notes, in that connection, that in recent years the pace at which decentralised agencies are being set up has steadily increased, and that they are being established unsystematically and with no uniform framework: whereas in 1990 only three, in 1995 six, and in 2000 seven agencies existed, the 2008 budget lists no fewer than 25, seven of which have been added since 2005 alone;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
16. Emphasises, in that connection, that the agencies to which it grants discharge make up only a part of the total and that the increase in permanent and temporary posts for all the decentralised agencies from 166 in the year 2000 to a total of 3151 in 2007 (+1800%) clearly illustrates the problems in this area;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises further, in that connection, that average staff costs increased by more than 40% between 2006 and 2008;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Emphasises finally, in that connection, that the subsidies paid to the agencies from the Community budget have increased disproportionately in recent years, that the appropriations from the Community budget paid to agencies to which Parliament grants discharge, which were established between 1975 and 1997 and have thus gone well beyond the start- up and initial growth phases, increased by some 90% between 2000 and 2008, and that during that period the subsidies paid to some of these agencies increased by more than 210%;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Emphasises that only two agencies are not in any way dependent on EU subsidies, whilst most of them are funded exclusively from EU budget appropriations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, in that connection, that a clear trend is emerging whereby the agencies revise their need for Community subsidies disproportionately upwards every six months, thus committing a steadily increasing proportion of the available appropriations, and that there are insufficient incentives to use financial resources sparingly;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
21. Takes the view that direct and indirect payments and subsidies to the agencies from host countries (e.g. funding for building projects, office facilities, municipal taxes, etc.) have made it impossible to draw up a comprehensive breakdown of the cost of the agencies and that this practice disguises the true costs;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Takes the view that in most cases there has been no proper strategy underpinning the process of establishing agencies and that political considerations and factors, such as the attempt, with the help of the agencies, to influence the balance of power among the institutions, outweigh, and in some cases run entirely counter to, the original objectives, such as greater responsibility, transparency and efficiency in European administration;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
23. Takes the view that the lack of a proper strategy on setting up agencies has generated unnecessary costs and that the true costs have been hidden from taxpayers, since, for example, missing infrastructure has not been taken into account and additional costs – for instance for the construction of new office and conference buildings, the setting-up of new schools, the development of transport infrastructure in response to an increase in missions between places of work scattered throughout Europe, as a result of serious recruitment problems, etc. – have arisen as a result;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Notes that the Commission's devolution policy has given rise to the duplication of work, above all in the area of administration, generating unnecessary additional costs and requiring the same know-how to be available several times over; notes, at the same time, that many agencies' administrative expenditure is far too high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Takes the view that, with a few exceptions, no efforts have been made systematically to involve the agencies in the work of the Commission and that the agencies' spheres of responsibility frequently relate only to areas covered by 'open coordination' and bear no relation to the European Union's real needs and taxpayers' expectations;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
26. Takes the view that the Commission no longer regards the decentralised agencies as a means of implementing its policies and has attempted to shed all responsibility for them, for example by stipulating that the Commission's Internal Auditor should no longer be responsible for auditing the decentralised agencies and should in future only confirm that their internal audit practices are consistent with international standards;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
27. Notes that in the case of some agencies the number of members of the administrative board exceeds the total number of staff, ruling out efficient and cost-effective decision-making;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
28. Notes, on that basis, that the aim behind the practice of devolution - which is seen as one of the three main aspects of externalisation policy and was put forward as a reform strategy by the Commission in its White Paper - namely the more efficient, more rational and more effective provision of responsible administration, has not been achieved through the setting-up of decentralised agencies and that the Commission's reform efforts in this area have failed;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to meet to the letter the requirements to justify compliance with the subsidiarity principle;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to comply strictly with the principle of sound financial management;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
33. Calls for every decision on the final location of an agency to be taken when the regulation establishing that agency is adopted;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which provides for the number of full members of the administrative board of an agency to be reduced as quickly as possible to a figure equal to no more than 10% of the posts in that agency’s establishment plan and to no more than 20 in total;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
36. Requests that the performance of the agencies be regularly (and on an ad hoc basis) audited by the Court of Auditors or another independent auditor; considers that this should not be limited to traditional elements of financial management and the proper use of public money, but should also cover administrative efficiency and effectiveness and should include a rating of the financial management of each agency;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Takes the view that in the case of agencies which are continually overestimating their respective budget needs, technical abatement should be made on the basis of vacant posts; is of the opinion that this will lead in the long run to less assigned revenue for the agencies and therefore also to lower administrative costs;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 43 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Notes that it is a serious problem that a number of agencies is criticised for not following rules on public procurement, the Financial Regulation, the Staff Regulations etc.; considers that the principal reason for this is that most regulations and the Financial Regulation are designed for bigger institutions and that most of the small agencies do not have the critical mass to be able to cope with these regulatory requirements; therefore asks the Commission to look for a rapid solution in order to enhance the effectiveness by grouping the administrative functions of various agencies together, in order to achieve this critical mass (taking into consideration the necessary changes in the basic regulations governing the agencies and their budgetary independence), or urgently to draft specific rules for the agencies (in particular implementing rules for the agencies) which allow them to be in full compliance;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 44 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Insists that the Commission, when drafting the Preliminary Draft Budget, take into consideration the results of budget implementation by the individual agencies in former years, in particular in year n-1, and, revise the budget requested by the particular agency accordingly; invites its competent committee to respect this revision and, if not undertaken by the Commission, to revise itself the budget in question to a realistic level matching the absorption and implementation capacity of the agency in question;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 45 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 d (new)
36d. Recalls its decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2005, in which it invited the Commission to present every five years a study on the added value of every existing agency; invites all relevant institutions in the case of a negative evaluation of the added value of an agency to take the necessary steps by reformulating the mandate of that agency or by closing it; notes that there has not been one single evaluation undertaken by the Commission in 2007; insists that the Commission should present at least 5 such evaluations before the decision on discharge in respect of the financial year 2007, starting with the oldest agencies;
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Council to agree to a binding horizontal funding ceiling for the agencies;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
38. Acknowledges that Parliament, as the body responsible for financial control of the agencies, creates unacceptable conflicts of interest through its practice of appointing members of the agencies’ administrative boards and management bodies, and calls, therefore, for Parliament to halt this practice;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on the Commission to submit as quickly as possible a proposal to abolish or drastically cut back privileges, in particular under budget Items 1101, 1102, 1141, 1182 and 1183;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
40. Refuses to accept that agency staff and members of their families should be able to undertake private travel paid for from the agency's budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
41. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal which seeks to amend the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, so that private travel by staff and members of their families, as governed by Annex VII, Section 3 C, Article 8, can no longer be paid for from public funds, and to achieve drastic savings in the area of staff privileges; Specific pointsdeleted Or. en
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
61. Notes that the agency's administrative spending in 2006 accounted for much too great a proportion of its overall expenditure, making the effective and efficient performance of its tasks impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 56 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that no strict logic was applied to the choice of location for the agency and that as a result a substantial volume of unnecessary additional costs has arisen;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 58 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 63
63. Notes the unacceptable and frequently criticised overlaps between this agency’s area of activity and that of other agencies; this is generating yet more additional costs, particularly as a result of the duplication of work in the administrative sphere;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 60 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
64. Notes that it is not clear how this activity can be carried out more efficiently and more effectively in a decentralised agency and in this location than in the Commission itself;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 62 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
65. Notes that in the financial year 2006 the cost of privileges for agency staff made up at least 8% of the agency's final budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 63 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
66. Notes that the cost of private travel for agency staff and members of their families is unacceptably high;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 64 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
67. Notes that the agency's staff expenditure per post increased by 26.13% between the financial year 2006 and the 2008 preliminary draft budget;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 65 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
68. Notes that the administrative board has an unacceptably high number of members, so that efficient decision- making is impossible;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 66 #

2007/2046(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 69
69. Notes that although the agency was set up as long ago as 1975, the rate of increase in the subsidy from the Community budget was 29.25% over the period from 2000 to 2006;deleted
2008/03/06
Committee: CONT
Amendment 2 #

2007/2038(DEC)

Proposal for a decision
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing its President discharge for implementation of the European Parliament budget for the financial year 2006;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 4 #

2007/2038(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Heading before paragraph -1 (new)
Reasons for postponement
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 6 #

2007/2038(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Urges its President to set up a working group which should immediately prepare, together with the competent Commission services, an assistants' statute to be proposed to the Council for adoption under the French presidency so that it can be applied as from the same day as the new Members' Statute;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 8 #

2007/2038(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1a (new)
-1a. Urges its President to use Parliament's leverage on the Council to have the assistants' statute adopted at the earliest possible moment;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 12 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Heading before paragraph -1a (new)
Requests to the Commission
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 13 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1a (new)
-1a. In the field of general budgetary management: • The Commission should present a proposal to the Council concerning national management declarations and should present a new point 5N for the Action Plan for an Integrated Internal Control Framework concerning national management declarations • The Commission should launch immediate infringement procedures and sanctions against those Member States which do not comply or partly comply with their obligations under the Structural Funds Regulation, the Financial Regulation and its implementing rules and the Interinstitutional Agreement such as to present the Commission with information on financial corrections and recoveries and to present annual summaries for the 2000-2006 and 2007- 2013 periods; • The Commission should present to Parliament an evaluation of the quality of all the annual summaries received for Agriculture, Structural Policy and Fisheries; the evaluation should entail a breakdown per Member State and per policy area and should give an opinion on the overall assurance and overall analysis that can be drawn from them;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 14 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1b (new)
-1b. In the field of structural funds: • The Commission is asked to explain how it can be sure that all money will be recovered and how/when it will be able to provide documentation on 2006 and on the 2000-2006 period. Furthermore Parliament would like to know how the Commission can be sure that no money is lost in cases where projects have not been put through a tendering procedure; • The Commission needs to present a scoreboard with a final implementation date on the implementation of the Action Plan to strengthen the Commission’s supervisory role for structural actions (COM(2008)0097), including a common scheme of quantitative indicators and intermediate deadlines for its implementation; • The Commission must commit itself to put in place more rapid and effective suspension procedures against Member States where supervisory and control systems are deemed to be inadequate and to ensure the presentation of a clear timetable for - and nature of - the sanctions which the Commission will employ upon identification of irregularities; The Commission must commit to quarterly reporting to Parliament on corrections and recoveries, which are to be audited by the ECA, including the establishment of a system and a reporting scheme which allows for recoveries made ex-post to be linked to the year in which the funding was allocated;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 15 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1c (new)
-1c. In the field of external actions: • The Commission should inform Parliament on how it will fulfil the requirements under Article 30(3) of the Financial Regulation to "make available, in the appropriate manner, the information on the beneficiaries of funds deriving from the budget held by it when the budget is implemented on a centralised basis and directly by its departments, and the information on the beneficiaries of funds as provided by the entities to which budget implementation tasks are delegated under other modes of management" and explain what the Commission defines as "appropriate manner"; • The Commission should finally present a complete list of information on EU-funded projects in Iraq for 2006 including information on "project", "budget", "implementing agency", "contractor", "beneficiary" and "geographical location" or to indicate which parts of the information has not been delivered by the Trust Funds; • The Commission needs to present a full list of organizations / entities (type IMG) which are not subject to tender procedures in order to implement EU funds in the field of External Actions (excluding United Nations and World Bank), this list should specify: a) name of the entity; b) since when this exemption is valid; c) contracts signed with the entity since exemption (with local specification); d) financial volume linked to the contracts; • The Commission needs to present the list and the respective conclusions of the controls which have been undertaken to date under the Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement between the European Community and the United Nations (FAFA); • The Commission needs to present concrete measurable proposals to improve political guidance, visibility and control over EU funds managed via international trust funds with specification of staff resources allocated to this task1 taking into account that the Commission is managing almost EUR 1 billion less in 2006 in comparison to the year 2000 but with 1000 staff members more; • The Commission should present its definition of a “Non-Governmental Organisation”, not only in the legal sense but also in the way the non-governmental financing of these organisations is ensured; 1 In the field of External Actions, the Commission managed EUR 7,978 billion in 2000 and EUR 8,23 billion in 2006. In 2000 the contribution to the UN budget was EUR 200 million whereas in 2006 it was EUR 1,4 billion; deducting the funds managed by the UN, the Commission had to manage EUR 7,778 billion in 2000 and EUR 6,83 billion in 2006, almost 1 billion less than 6 years earlier; in the same timeframe the number of staff in external actions (all Directorate Generals and EC Delegations included) increased from 5841 to 6886, thus 1000 staff members more.
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3a (new)
3a. Recalls that in 2006 Community funding of Structural Policies totalled EUR 32,4 billion; points out that for 2007 this amount has risen to EUR 46,4 billion not including co-financing by Member States;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 20 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3b (new)
3b. Notes with great concern that in its 2006 Annual report, the ECA indicates that the reimbursement of expenditure to Structural Policies projects is subject to material error; that the proportion of reimbursements in the sample affected by error was 44% and "at least 12% of the total amount reimbursed in structural policies should not have been reimbursed;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 21 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3c (new)
3c. Considers it unacceptable that, according to the ECA’s findings, first level control systems in Member States are generally ineffective or only moderately effective and that a number of national and regional authorities do not handle EU funds seriously enough; in the 2006 ECA's audit sample (19 first level control systems) none of the systems was effective, only 6 moderately effective and 13 ineffective, and thus no progress has been made in the field of Structural Funds compared to last year; is very concerned by the inability of the Council to clearly recognise its responsibility for this situation which arises largely from inadequate controls by Member States;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 22 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3d (new)
3d. Urges therefore Commission to make use of ex-ante checks to verify if supervisory and control systems for the 2007-2013 period are in place in all the Member States and to regularly follow-up on them;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 23 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3e (new)
3e. Regrets also that, according to the ECA, the Commission maintains only moderately effective supervision to mitigate the risks of control systems in the Member States, failing to prevent reimbursement of overstated or ineligible expenditure;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 24 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3f (new)
3f. Notes with regret that, as pointed out by the ECA, for expenditure under structural policies (such as under the CAP and internal policies) complicated or unclear eligibility criteria or complex legal requirements have a negative impact on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 25 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3g (new)
3g. Finds it unacceptable that according to Commission1 little evolution is to be expected concerning simplification for the existing regulations for the 2007-2013 period for Structural Funds and that further simplification will only be proposed for the next legislative round; __________ 1 Commission statement under Action 1 in the Progress report on the Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework (COM (2008)0110)
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 26 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3h (new)
3h. Urges the Commission to follow up on the recommendation given by the ECA (paragraph 6.45) concerning the Cohesion Fund and to present further simplification proposals as soon as possible to the legislative authority, among others including clear and straightforward rules, guidelines and eligibility criteria;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 27 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3i (new)
3i. Considers and fully agrees with the ECA on this point, that Member State authorities have a very important role in the effective implementation of Structural Funds and Commission should reinforce their audits and make supplementary efforts with the supervision of the Managing Authorities in the Member States;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 28 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3j (new)
3j. Regrets the lack of incentives for Member States to effectively control the expenditure, since any ineligible expenditure identified by the Commission or the ECA, can be substituted for eligible expenditure by the Member State; asks the Commission to make sure that in the future only irregularities identified by Member States themselves could be substituted for other expenditure without any loss of funding for the Member State concerned;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 29 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3k (new)
3k. Welcomes the Commission's new Action Plan to strengthen the Commission’s supervisory role for structural actions (COM(2008)0097) with 37 measures aimed at reducing irregular payments made by Member States; welcomes also the Commission's commitment announced publicly in the committee hearing held on 25 February2008 to report quarterly to the Parliament on the progress of this Action Plan; expects the Commission to develop the reporting scheme in cooperation with the ECA;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 30 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3l (new)
3l. Requires the Commission, while assuming its Treaty responsibility for the implementation of the budget and respecting the principle of sound financial management, to take, in cooperation with the Member States, the following actions concerning shared management of structural funding: a) To make a formal commitment to fully implement the Action Plan and agree in particular to: • Quarterly reporting of progress, measured where possible in quantitative rather than qualitative terms, in a form accepted by the ECA, in particular providing progress reports by 31 October 2008, and by 31 January 2009; • Provide complete and accurate quarterly reporting on corrections and recoveries by the Commission , in particular giving a progress check by 31 October 2008 and by 31 January 2009; • Obtain information from Member States on the corrections they have made, by the withdrawal of projects or the recovery of errors, in particular by submitting progress reports by 31 October 2008 and 31 January 2009, on the verification by the Commission of the completeness and accuracy of these figures; b) Take further measures to prevent errors in the future, in particular by improving the first-level checks;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 31 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3m (new)
3m. Asks the Commission to present to Parliament a scoreboard with a final implementation date on the implementation of the Action Plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of Structural Actions(COM(2008)0097), including a common scheme of quantitative indicators and intermediate deadlines for its implementation; Is of the opinion that Commission should focus on the reliability of national monitoring and reporting systems, guidance to Member States and coordination of audit standards and should always give a breakdown per Member State;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 32 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3n (new)
3n. Expects the Commission to initiate infringement procedures against those Member States which have not complied with their obligations under the Regulations on Structural Funds, the Financial Regulation and its implementing rules and the Interinstitutional Agreement, in particular those who are not presenting reports on recoveries and financial corrections and those who are not presenting the annual summaries in conformity with the guidelines or those where the quality of the annual summaries is inadequate;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 33 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3o (new)
3o. Stresses the importance of Commission guidelines to effectively live up to the Interinstitutional Agreement; is of the opinion that these guidelines as a first step, should at least entail what is requested under the sector regulation for Agriculture (i.e. Declaration of Assurance signed by the head of the Managing Authority accompanied by a certification report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 34 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3p (new)
3p. Insists that the Commission should start suspension procedures against Member States where first level control systems are inadequate, it has to speed up the sanctions system and present to Parliament a concrete plan of the timing and sanctions to be applied upon identification of irregularities;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 35 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3q (new)
3q. Insists on auditable reporting to Parliament on corrections and recoveries by the Commission for all unduly made payments for all funds, with precise definitions of all these different categories of financial corrections; expects the Commission to develop these reporting schemes in cooperation with the ECA and asks the ECA to give an opinion on the quality of the reports presented;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 36 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3r (new)
3r. Notes the Commission's statement that none of the unduly paid amounts in 2006 will be lost due to the effectiveness of the ex-post controls; expects the Commission to provide Parliament with objective, clear and full information concerning the Commission's capacity to recover unduly paid amounts, the underlying proof of which will be presented to Parliament;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 37 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3s (new)
3s. Recalls action 11N1 that should have been implemented by 31 December 2007; expects the Commission to act accordingly "To determine whether recovery and offsetting systems are working effectively, by identifying amounts recovered in 2005 and 2006 and their coherence with errors identified during controls the Commission will, in direct management, develop a typology of errors and the relationship with recoveries, financial corrections and adjustments to payments and for share management it will examine the reliability of national monitoring and reporting systems."; _________ 1 Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors on the progress of the Commission Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework (COM(2007)0086).
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 38 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3t (new)
3t. Is worried by Commission's statement in its Progress Report (COM(2008)0110) that only recoveries launched in 2008 will be recorded in the central financial and accounting system; urges therefore the Commission to record information in the central financial and accounting system on the control authority and the type of error and to retroactively encode all recoveries for the 1994-1999 and 2000- 2006 periods;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 39 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3u (new)
3u. Asks the Commission in this light to give an assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of multi-annual recovery systems and report on this in the 2008 or 2009 accounts;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 40 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3v (new)
3v. Expects the Commission to present to Parliament an evaluation before 10 April 2008 of the quality of all the annual summaries received for Agriculture, Structural Policy and Fisheries; the evaluation should entail a breakdown per Member State and per policy area and should give an opinion on the overall assurance and overall analysis that can be drawn from them;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 41 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3w (new)
3w. Regrets the diversity of information given by the Commission itself on financial corrections and recoveries and expects that the information provided for the discharge concerns exactly the same definitions of financial corrections as asked for the three-monthly reports;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 42 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3x (new)
3x. Asks the Commission to report during the mid-term review on the results of 'Contract of Confidence' arrangements, including the fundamental question of whether these contracts are considered as having added value, and to present the forecasted results and assurance;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 46 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4b (new)
4b. Recalls that funds spent on external actions in 2006 totalled EUR 5,867 billion and in payments EUR 5,186 billion;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 47 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4c (new)
4c. Deeply regrets the ECA’s findings, according to which once again a high incidence of error was detected in the sample tested at the level of project- implementing organisations (paragraphs 8.9 and 8.10 of the 2006 Annual Report) and only at EC Delegations level is there a lower level of error affecting transactions detected;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 48 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4d (new)
4d. Notes with concern that as regards implementing organisations, the ECA analysed the effectiveness of the Commission's internal control system and concluded that the Europe-Aid ex-post controls in 2006 did not cover transactions at the level of project- implementing organisations (paragraph 8.19 of the 2006 Annual Report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 49 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4e (new)
4e. Notes that the ECA identified again the highest risk areas to be contracting procedures, the eligibility of expenditure at project level and insufficient supporting documentation;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 50 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4f (new)
4f. Regrets that as concerns the annual activity reports for DG AIDCO the ECA stressed that "the material incidence of error and the weaknesses in the supervisory and control systems designed to ensure the legality and regularity of the transactions at the level of project implementing organisations in the area of external actions found by the ECA are not sufficiently reflected in the annual activity report and declaration of Europe Aid Co- operation Office" (paragraph 2.17 and Table 2.1 of the 2006 Annual Report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 51 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4g (new)
4g. Notes also with regret that once again in the analysis of some of the DG's Annual Management Plans there is no indication of project external auditors, nor of the particular risks associated with the different types of implementing organisations (NGO, international organisation, government institution, etc.) and funding methods (grant, budgetary support, trust fun, etc.) (paragraph 8.28 of the 2006 Annual Report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 52 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4h (new)
4h. Notes with concern that the ECA’s findings referred to above were the same in the ECA's 2005 Annual Report, i.e. inconsistency of external audit information submitted to the headquarters, lack of systematic centralisation of this information in order to reach conclusions and insufficient follow up, and therefore asks the Commission to react to these findings urgently;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 53 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4i (new)
4i. Regrets also that according to the ECA's 2006 Annual Report "the Internal Audit Capability (IAC) does not at present provide an annual overall assessment of the state of internal control in Europe-Aid and DG ECHO ... Despite the creation during 2006 of two additional posts in the IAC, it does not seem feasible with the present staff complement to carry out, within the three-year cycle proposed, the full audit coverage identified in the Europe-Aid Audit Needs Assessment" (paragraph 8.30 of the 2006 Annual Report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 54 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4j (new)
4j. Asks the Commission to carry out an annual overall assessment of the state of play of internal control in Europe-Aid and to evaluate if additional posts are necessary in the IAC service to implement this task;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 55 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4k (new)
4k. Notes the situation criticised by the ECA as regards the ex -post control activities of the Commission (paragraphs 8.23 and 8.33 of the 2006 Annual Report) and asks the Commission to regularly inform the Committee on Budgetary Control what steps will be taken by the Commission to remedy the situation;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 56 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4l (new)
4l. Invites the Commission to further develop Europe Aid's risk assessment by making reference to the findings of auditors at project level, and by making a separation between the different types of implementing organisations and the funding method;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 57 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4m (new)
4m. Invites EuropeAid to improve the terms of reference of its external audits to cover all known risk areas, including the verification of compliance with the Commission's requirements regarding contracting procedures and the eligibility of expenditure;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 58 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4n (new)
4n. Underlines that in the period 2000 to 2006 EU contributions to the UN have increased by 700% (from EUR 200 million in 2000 to EUR 1,4 billion in 2007); cannot understand the lack of follow up of funds transferred to international trust funds by the Commission;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 59 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4o (new)
4o. In this context, expresses its concern about the lack of basic information necessary for the discharge authority to proceed to a meaningful discharge in respect of the funds implemented under the external action heading;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 60 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4p (new)
4p. Insists that a harmonised information system should be urgently developed (preferably the Common Relex Information System (CRIS) database should be enabled to deliver this kind of information) in order to provide the discharge authority in particular, and the public in general, with a fully transparent database containing the full overview of projects financed with EU funds in the world and the final recipients of these funds;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 61 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4q (new)
4q. Recalls that under the Financial Regulation, the Commission should since May 2007 have been able to immediately identify in any case the final beneficiaries and the implementing actors of any of the projects financed or co-financed with EU funds;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 62 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4r (new)
4r. Considers that the visibility, political guidance and possibility of control by the Commission of international trust funds (where the EU is a major donor) should be strengthened without compromising the effectiveness of action in this field;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 63 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4s (new)
4s. Invites the Commission to present to Parliament, before granting discharge in respect of the financial year 2006, a plan to further increase in EU ownership of its external actions;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 64 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4t (new)
4t. Expresses its concern about a situation in which the two cases where Parliament asked for the list of projects financed by EU funds it took the Commission 2 ½ months to deliver the list of projects financed under CARDS and 13 months to provide basic information about the projects co-financed with EU funds in Iraq; insists on the immediate rectification of this situation for all funds managed under external actions;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 65 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4u (new)
4u. Urges the Commission to very seriously address the detected deficiencies regarding contracting procedures and the eligibility of expenditure, and deeply regrets the critical assessment of the ECA in this area, which is under the Commission's direct financial management;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 66 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4v (new)
4v. Agrees with the ECA that the Commission should include information on all audits of projects in the Common Relex Information System (CRIS) and should better link this information to project management information; also asks the Commission's EuropeAid headquarters to review the financial information provided by the delegations, supported through headquarters' audits, in order to ensure its completeness and consistency;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 67 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4w (new)
4w. Invites the Commission to improve the transparency and access to documentation relating to projects managed by UN agencies and to continue to develop clear guidelines and procedures within the Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement between the European Community and the United Nations (FAFA) setting out the framework for managing the financial contributions made by the Commission to the UN;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 68 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4x (new)
4x. Invites the Commission to report to Parliament on controls undertaken under the Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement between the European Community and the United Nations (FAFA);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 69 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4y (new)
4y. Appreciates the results of the audit of implementation of the Phare and ISPA instruments in Bulgaria and Romania and the assistance programme for Turkey, which identified an insignificant level of error; takes note of the errors and weaknesses found in relation to the implementation of the SAPARD instrument in Bulgaria and Romania; calls on the Commission to continue working with the authorities of both countries to ensure that all requirements for public tendering and sound financial management are met and that adequate assurance of the correctness, regularity and eligibility of claims on Community assistance is provided;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 70 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4z (new)
4z. Notes the ECA's assessment that the national supervisory systems linked to the Decentralised Implementation Systems (DIS) of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey remained weak;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 71 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4aa (new)
4aa. Reiterates its concern about the delays in the accreditation of the Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS) in Bulgaria, and urges the Commission and the Bulgarian authorities to step up their cooperation and efforts in order to ensure that adequate management and control structures as well as administrative capacities are in place to allow efficient functioning of EDIS;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 72 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4bb (new)
4bb. Supports the recommendations of the ECA to the Commission that the Commission closely monitor the effective functioning of national supervisory and control systems, notably the preparation and management of tenders in Turkey, procurement under EDIS in Bulgaria and Romania and the timely delivery of national co-financing; underlines the need to strengthen the administrative capacity of those countries that have recently acceded and those which are in the course of accession;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 73 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4cc (new)
4cc. Is pleased with the ECA's assessment that several remedial measures were introduced by the Commission in the follow-up to the ECA's special report on twinning from 2003; invites the Commission to motivate beneficiary governments more strongly to make use of the outputs of projects realised in the context of their reform efforts; supports the ECA's recommendation to the Commission that the Commission reduce the level of detail of the twinning contracts in order to allow greater flexibility for project management;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 74 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4dd (new)
4dd. Notes the ECA's findings as to the legality and regularity of transactions in the field of external actions and of related supervisory and control systems; invites the Commission to undertake all necessary system improvements so as to ensure that irregularities identified at the level of project-implementing organisations in third countries are removed;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 75 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4ee (new)
4ee. Invites the Commission to present to Parliament a report on what exactly has been done to alleviate the situation of Iraqi refugees and displaced persons;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 76 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4ff (new)
4ff. Stresses its interest regarding the EU assistance provided to Afghanistan, and invites the Commission to present to Parliament a report on the state of play of the implementation of EU funds for Afghanistan and to comment on the expulsion from that country of the acting EU representative on a charge of having communicated with the Afghan Taliban;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 77 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4gg (new)
4gg. Expects annual reporting to Parliament on budget implementation contracts, an annual list of projects and their location and lists of final beneficiaries; considers that the rapporteur for the discharge should have access to information declared confidential for security reasons;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 78 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4hh (new)
4hh. Welcomes the Commission's commitment to re-negotiate relevant agreements on trust funds with the UN in order to achieve joint reporting guidelines and disclosure of final beneficiaries; welcomes also the Commission's commitment to organise annual meetings between the European Parliament and senior UN staff responsible for the management of multi-donor trust funds and considers that this would provide a framework for the UN to provide additional information on EU funds;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 79 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Heading (new)
Humanitarian aid and Development
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 80 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4ii (new)
4ii. Regrets that the ECA's assessment of internal audits in DG ECHO is only "partially satisfactory" (Annex 8.2 of the 2006 Annual Report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 81 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4jj (new)
4jj. Fully supports the ECA's conclusions concerning DG ECHO in the 2006 Annual Report: “DG ECHO should clarify the rules on eligibility of expenditure to prevent varying interpretations and the balance between DG ECHO's headquarters and field audits of implementing partners should be reviewed, in order to obtain a better view of the reality of project expenditure” (paragraphs 8.11 and 8.18 of the 2006 Annual Report);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 82 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4kk (new)
4kk. Regrets the finding of the DG DEV 2006 Annual Activity Report to the effect that "Ensuring the coherence of Community policies with an impact on developing countries, is a major source of risk. This risk is most relevant to respect to trade, notably Economic Partnerships Agreement (EPA) negotiations. This represents a critical dimension of development policy but the capacity in this area is concentrated in DG Trade. This risk persists in spite of the reinforcement and concentration of the responsibilities related to trade following DEV's reorganisation in July 2006"( point 2.1 of the 2006 Annual Activity Report, p. 18.);
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 83 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4ll (new)
4ll. Asks the Commission to present to the Committee on Budgetary Control its ideas on how to confront this situation and the measures to be taken in 2007 to improve the functioning of the internal control system in DG DEV with regard to the level of implementation of internal control standards;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 84 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Heading (new)
Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 85 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4mm (new)
4mm. Notes with satisfaction that according to the ECA Special Report No 5/2006 concerning the MEDA programme, "the Commission’s management of the MEDA programme has clearly improved since the early years and can be considered as satisfactory";
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 86 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4nn (new)
4nn. Notes furthermore, as concluded by the ECA, that, as a result of devolution, EC Delegations played an important role in the implementation of the programme by helping partner countries to deal with the procedural aspects of procurement;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 87 #

2007/2037(DEC)

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4oo (new)
4oo. Asks the Commission to regularly inform Parliament about the carrying out of on-the-spot checks and inspections, identifying noticeable cases of suspected fraud or other financial irregularities during the last year of implementation of the MEDA programme;
2008/03/10
Committee: CONT
Amendment 19 #

2007/0224(CNS)

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12 a (new)
(12a) This Regulation takes account of international guidelines on the management of deep-sea fisheries in the high seas adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), in particular the definitions of 'vulnerable marine ecosystems' and 'significant adverse impacts', as well as their scope, and does not call into question the basic rules set out in these guidelines. When implementing this Regulation, due account should be taken of the FAO guidelines. Should doubt arise over the interpretation of this Regulation, it should be interpreted in the light of the FAO guidelines.
2008/04/10
Committee: PECH