Activities of Dennis de JONG related to 2014/2139(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union agencies for the financial year 2013: performance, financial management and control PDF (185 KB) DOC (112 KB)
Amendments (11)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. Regrets in this regard, the lack of visibility and democratic accountability of the Agencies, as they are generally not well known with citizens and are vulnerable in respect of external influences from specialist lobbyists, in particular from those representing big businesses;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. Expresses its doubts about the geographical locations of Agencies, many of which are located far away from the other European institutions; is of the opinion that for the protection of the independence of the Agencies geographical distance is not necessary, nor is it in itself a safeguard against undesirable interferences from either the European Commission or Member States, but in all cases it brings with it additional travel costs, and it makes it more difficult to benefit from synergies, such as more centralised administrative and financial services shared by all or a number of Agencies;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Reminds that the reputational risk related to the agencies is high for the Union, as they are highly visible in the Member States and have significant influence on policy and decision making and programme implementation in areas of vital importance to the Union citizens;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes that the principle of 'value for money' also holds for Agencies and that they should demonstrate that their performance is effective, ensuring that the citizens are well informed of the results of the Agencies' activities; requests the Network to keep the discharge authority closely informed of the use and added value of the common set of principles and handbooks on performance measurement systems and frameworks, multi-annual and annual programming documents, key performance indicators, reporting and evaluating tools;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes from the Court’s summary that a high level of committed appropriations carried over remains the most frequent issue of the budgetary and financial management and that that issue concerned 24 agencies; acknowledges that, although a high level of carryovers is usually considered to be at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality, it often resulted from events which were, completely or partly, beyond the agencies’ control, or was justified by the multiannual nature of operations, procurement procedures or projects;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Takes note that thein seven cases, the Court of Auditors still noted a high level of cancellations of carryovers from previous years was noted by the Court only in seven cases; observes that such carryovers indicate that the appropriations carried over were made on the basis of over-estimated needs or were otherwise not justified; acknowledges from the Network that the level of cancellation is indicative of the extent to which the agencies have correctly anticipated their financial needs, and is a better indicator of a good budgetary planning than the level of carryovecalls upon the Network to do everything in its power to prevent future carryovers, in particular concentrating on those Agencies, that cancelled carryovers from previous years;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Regrets the fact that in the case of EIT and Frontex, the Court of Auditors still had to issue qualified opinions on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying their accounts; is concerned by the still high number (97) of comments by the Court of Auditors affecting 35 agencies; urges the Network to see to it that the agencies concerned take all necessary measures to follow up on the Court's observations;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Ascertains from the Network that most of the agencies have already implemented, although with great difficulty, the requested staff reduction of 5 % in their respective multiannual staff policy plans; regrets the fact that the Commission has created an additional redeployment pool of 5 % of the staff, thus effectively imposing additional cuts to the agencies’ establishment plans and going beyond the agreed 5 % targe and urges the Network to see to it that agencies have not yet done so, take the necessary measures to implement the staff reductions without further delays; welcomes the fact that the Commission has created an additional redeployment pool of 5 % of the staff and urges the Network to fully co-operate with the Commission in this respect;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Notes that the Guidelines are not legally binding on the Agencies and calls upon the Commission to examine how more binding agreements with the Agencies can be concluded to promote transparency and to avoid conflicts of interest;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. Notes, however, that seconded national experts, external and interim staff are not specifically mentioned in the guidelines and that especially in the case of so-called independent experts, there is still room for interpretation, for example, in the case of academics who have also undertaken research for individual companies or the business community at large; calls upon the Network to ensure a harmonised approach in this respect, which will also prevent any indirect conflicts of interest;