Activities of Michèle RIVASI related to 2022/2081(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021 Section III, Commission and executive agencies
Amendments (14)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Reiterates with strong concern that, according to the Court’s performance audit on climate and biodiversity mainstreaming, the Commission did not sufficiently considered the existing overlaps between climate and biodiversity goals when calculating the contribution made by annual spending under the MFF to biodiversity objectives and did not report on existing overlaps between climate and biodiversity goals in the programme statements or in the 2021 Annual Management and Performance Report; calls on the Commission to ensure at least 30 % of the total amount of the EU budget and EU Recovery Instrument expenditure is allocated to support climate objectives;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. SupportAcknowledges the ambition to bring together public and private actors and achieve synergies between different policies through the Global Gateway (GG) strategy; stresses that allocations of official development assistance involved should be firmly guided by Agenda 2030 and that policy coherence for development, the SDGs, as well as the Paris Agreement with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1,5°C as well as improving resilience to adverse climate change impacts, and that policy coherence for development, democratic country ownership and social and human right due diligence should consistently be applied; noteregrets that the only role for Parliament in the governance arrangements adopted by the Member States is that as an observer in the GG board; stresses the need to ensure proper influence for Parliament in strategic choices involving Union funds; calls for regular assessments of the implementation of the Global Gateway and expects the European Parliament, as budgetary authority to be given a significant oversight in this process, beyond a simple observer role, given the scrutiny role the European Parliament is entitled to through the NDICI-Global Europe, which is the main source of financing of the Global Gateway;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Regrets the Court's finding, in its Special Report 16/20214 , that EU agricultural funding destined for climate action has not contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; shares the Court's view that the new Common Agricultural Policy should have a greater focus on reducing agricultural emissions, and be more accountable and transparent about its contribution to climate mitigation; reiterates with strong concern that the Court concluded that the amount of 17,2 billion EUR reported by the Commission for the CAP’s contribution to climate and biodiversity objectives is overstated by 8,9 billion EUR; _________________ 4 Common Agricultural Policy and climate – Half of EU climate spending but farm emissions are not decreasing, 21 June 2021.
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Encourages the Court of Auditors to resume its preparation of special reports relating to development cooperation expenditure and to regularly cover development cooperation aspects in its special reports on horizontal issues in accordance with the Policy Coherence for Development principle set in article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU; calls on the European Court of Auditors to carry out regular reports on the implementation of the recently initiated Global Gateway and European Financial Architecture for Development (EFAD) which will be made public and lead to policy recommendations including on actions to betaken for improvements;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises the value of service deliveryCalls for an increase in the support to civil society organizations, given the shrinking space for and criminalisation of civil society in many developing countries; emphasises the value of service and support to local communities provided through local NGOs in developing countries; encourages the Commission to prioritise thatlocal NGOs whenever possible andin order to provide better capacity-building for local NGOs with potential to become important service delivererson the ground;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Regrets the missed opportunity to contribute to the fight against antimicrobial resistance when the Commission established the criteria for a reserved list for antimicrobials in a delegated act in September 2021, where the Commission significantly deviated from the WHO criteria for the designation of critically important antimicrobials for human use and the WHO guidelines on use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14 b. Regrets that despite of repeated calls from the BUDG, CONT and ENVI committees, the Commission has still not provided the detailed breakdown of the amounts of down payments and other subsidies paid by the Union to each pharmaceutical company involved in the development of COVID-19 vaccines; calls on the Commission to put in place transparent mechanisms for traceability of EU public investment; further calls on the Commission to start checking the regularity of the implementation of the vaccine advanced purchase agreements (APAs) and purchase agreements (PAs) in 2023 and not late 2024, as currently foreseen;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14 c. Notes that in 2021 DG SANTE was responsible for the budget implementation of the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) and that by the end of 2021 DG SANTE allocated more than 2,55 billion EUR as down-payments to the vaccine manufacturers in the context of COVID-19 vaccine procurement; notes with concern that based on the Court's 2021 audit, the Commission did not adequately verify whether the financial terms of its advance purchase agreements with manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccine doses had been respected for payments to the contractors;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Regrets the continued great difficulties faced by small local NGOs in accessing Union funding because of the highly demanding and cumbersome procedures involved; invites the Commission to fully use existing flexibilities, without taking unreasonable fiduciary risks,improve these procedures in order to make them more accessible for small local NGOs and to propose necessary changes to rules to this aim.
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14 d. Deplores that according the ECA special report 19/20221a, the EU joint negotiations team was not involved in the preliminary negotiations of the, to date, largest vaccine purchase agreement (1.8 billion doses) with Pfizer; notes with concern that all essential elements of the agreement presented to the steering board on 9 April 2021 were agreed upon during preliminary negotiations between the manufacturer and Commission President; _________________ 1a EU COVID-19 vaccine procurement – Sufficient doses secured after initial challenges, but performance of the process not sufficiently assessed, 12 September 2022.
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Regrets that the Commission’s decision on financing HERA heavily relied on the EU4Health Programme, cutting its budget by more than half with an EU4Health contribution of 2,795 billion EUR to HERA between 2021 and 2027); notes with concern that such reduction affected EU4Health’s capability of ambitious financing of other activities as foreseen by the Regulation (EU) 2021/522, including putting at risk actions under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the necessary support for creation of the European Health Data Space; deplores that by assigning such significant amounts to HERA, the Commission breached the agreed funding ceilings for minimum and maximum spending set in the EU4Health Regulation;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18 c. Notes with strong concern the close collaboration of Commission officials and industry within the activities of HERA; calls for strong transparency and conflict of interest rules to be put in place to ensure public trust in and commercial independence of HERA;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18 d (new)
Paragraph 18 d (new)
18 d. Urges the Commission to apply a high degree of transparency to all current and future joint procurement activities and related purchase agreements in the field of health; insists that its relevant DGs should put in place a solid and transparent EU public procurement framework, when funds from the EU budget are fully or partially involved, that would allow for comprehensive scrutiny by the Parliament, especially concerning major health crisis-related spending areas; in line with the overriding public interest stated in Regulation 1049/2001 and the need for ensure public trust; calls on the Commission to make fully available all concluded vaccine (advanced) purchase agreements for COVID-19;