28 Amendments of Monica MACOVEI related to 2010/2143(DEC)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that, in its resolution of 5 May 2010, on discharge to Parliament for the financial year 2008, Parliament deplores the great number (88 out of 452) and significant proportion of outstanding actions in respect of the audit carried out by the Internal Auditor on the internal control framework; notes with satisfaction the replies by the Secretary-General to the discharge questionnaire according to which, in the opinion of the Directors General, considerable progress took place in the implementation of the action items adopted by them: by the end of 2010 they considered 51 actions to have been fully implemented (including all of the 4 critical actions), 31 actions to have been partially implemented, whilst for 6 actions most of the work still needed to be done; requests however that the assessment and validation by its Internal Auditor of these self- assessments be included in its forthcoming annual report; also requests the Secretary- General to report on a three-monthly basis to the Committee on Budgetary Control by 30 September 2011 on all outstanding actions;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recalls that DG ITEC was the most concerned, with 22 open actions; notes with satisfaction that, according to the Internal Auditor, the Directorate for Information Technology within DG ITEC, has implemented 19 of the 22 open actions and, in the process, has made significant progress in developing its control framework; encourages all its Directorates general concerned to continue their efforts to improve their respective management and control procedures, calls on the Internal Auditor to set stricter timetables on actions to be implemented;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that 2009 was the first year of implementation for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament and for the Statute for Accredited Parliamentary Assistants; observes a certain number of initial problems with the implementing measures for the Assistants' Statute, welcomes however the fact that a Temporary Evaluation Group, set up within the Bureau, on the Members' and Assistants' Statutes has proposed amendments to the implementing measures for the Members' Statute concerning (i) Members' travel, (ii) Members' sickness insurance and reimbursement of medical expenses, (iii) travel by assistants on mission, (iv) duration and renewal of assistants' contracts, (v) assistants' professional training, and (vi) rules concerning Members' trainees as well as other amendments to the Assistants' Statute, in particular on (i) use of the parliamentary assistance and general expenditure allowances, (ii) paying agents, and (iii) revision of the complaints and appeals procedure for Members; observes that, despite the amendments proposed by the Temporary Evaluation Group, various issues remained to be solved in 2010, including the unsuccessful search for a paying agent, the conflict with sickness expenditure and the employment of family members;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes the significant increase in the workload registered by the administration, relating to the entry into force of the new Statutes; notes with concern the more complicated procedure as regards accredited assistants' missions outside the three places of work and considers that, in spite of considerable increase in staffing, there are insufficient staff members in the Members' service and the services dealing with assistants and requests, therefore, the redeployment by the administration of additional staff in order to cope with the increased workload; requests, moreover, that an evaluation/assessment comprehensive evaluation covering changes in staff as well as the development of expenditure in all areas concerned be made and forwarded to its competent committees by 30 September 2011 on the experience gained of the implementation of the two Statutes following the first full year of their implementation, as well as on their financial implications for Parliament's budget;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Finds it astonishing that around 900 people work in Parliament's security services, most of them as external contract staff and also points to the steady increase in total security costs (somenotes that while overall security costs have increased by more than 30% since 2004 (up to EUR 43 000 000 in 2009), the costs for technical equipment for security have decreased by about 10% in the same time period; requests, in the light of recent security incidents, the overhaul of these services in order to increase their efficiency;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes in this respect the establishment, from 1 January 2010, of a new Directorate in charge of Security and requests the newly established Directorate to conduct an in-depth review of Parliament's security policy and to work on proposals to adopt security solutions for Parliament which are more technology- oriented and cheaper , resulting in considerable savings in terms of staff and budgetwould like to be informed on progress made;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Welcomes the more structured approach to ICT and the elaboration of a comprehensive strategy in this field; further welcomes the commitment by its administration in its answers to the questionnaire to launch a study on the possibility of replacement of external staff;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls therefore on DG ITEC to scrupulously implement the action plan agreed with the Internal Auditor and to aim to achieve an adequate mix of Parliament staff and external resources as well as an appropriate balance between internal application development and deliverables- based contracting; takes note of the lack of qualified candidates on EPSO lists in the field of IT security; supports also the suggestion to urgently organise separate AD7 competitions in this field;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Draws attention to the fact that, for Parliament, the increasing use of external companies for implementing IT projects, in addition to being financially detrimental, runs the risk that it will lose important parts of its know-how as well as its ability to manage and supervise projects delivered by external contractors; demands DG ITEC to provide information on the costs of externalising the computing centres in comparison to previous costs in its activity report for 2010;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Is concerned to see the continuing upward trend in the number of exceptional negotiated procedures and reiterates its call to the Secretary-General and the Authorising Officers by delegation to take effective and efficient measures in order to reverse that trend and to report to its competent committee by 30 September 2011 on the measures taken ; further urges its administration to continue the strict scrutiny of these procedures, in particular with respect to possible conflicts of interest, and to apply intensified and dissuasive sanctions for any irregularity found;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Notes that, currently, each Director- General (Authorising Officers by delegation) prepares his/her own Annual Activity Report, and that no overall Activity Report for the Institution as a whole is drafted and adopted; invites the Secretary-General to consider issuing a more readable, consolidated version (a summary) of the Annual Activity Reports for the 2010 discharge procedure, as is already the case with other institutions; takes the view that the report on budgetary and financial management is distinct from the suggested synthesis of annual activity reports;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)
Paragraph 39 a (new)
39a. Stresses that the value of procurement contracts amounts approximately to a third of Parliament's overall budget and that public procurement is the area most vulnerable to mismanagement, fraud and corruption; therefore repeats its request to regularly evaluate the procurement systems and in particular to perform internal controls of the contracts awarded in negotiated and restricted procedures;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 b (new)
Paragraph 39 b (new)
39b. Asks the Secretary-General to report whether the increase of the ceiling for low-value contracts from EUR 25 000 to EUR 60 000 in 2007 has facilitated access by small companies as intended without substantially weakening scrutiny of the procurement process; notes that these contracts made up only 0,76 % in value but 39,29 % in number of the total contracts awarded;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 – introductory part
Paragraph 41 – introductory part
41. Notes in particular the steady increase in 2009 (although at a slower pace than in 2008 as compared to 2007) in the number of exceptional negotiated procedures as shown in the following breakdown; expects that this trend will be substantially reversed in the coming years;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Notes with satisfaction the replies ofat, in 2009, Parliament's administration to the effect that, in 2009, a campaign was launched in order to verify whether the benefithas updated its information ofn the household allowance to personnel not having dependent children was still justified and that it now proceeds to a regular verification of the situation of its staff and that,and consequently recovered EUR 75 583 of incorrect or undue payments; urges the administration to complete the verification of all the information on social allowances and the necessary recoveries; in this respect, welcomes, that from 2010, this verification was automated (through use of a ‘'fiche électronique’') which makes at least an- annual verification of the staff personal and administrative data possible;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Recalls its request, in its resolution of 5 May 2010, that the Secretary-General contact the other EU institutions in order to establish a central database for the studies that they are conducting which iand to make these studies also available for consultation by the wider public; encourages its Secretary- General to follow up on this request, in particular by proposing to the Commission that that institution establish such a central database; requests to be duly informed of this initiative, expects, in the meantime, that the studies conducted by Parliament are published in full on Parliament's website;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55 a (new)
Paragraph 55 a (new)
55a. Is of the opinion that the internal audit reports should be made available, under specific conditions, to the Members of the Committee on Budgetary Control; urges the Chair of that committee to agree with the Secretary-General on those conditions;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
Paragraph 61
61. Stresses the fundamental importance of specific knowledge management, in particular in the work of the committees, and the need for permanent and up-to-date knowledge in their fields of operation; recalls the high number of newly elected Members in recent parliamentary terms; asks the Bureau to reflect on the possibility of providing further specific information and training for Members including specific measures for the new "Lisbon" Members and the future "observer" Members from Croatia;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
Paragraph 62
62. Welcomes the establishment of a support system for the security of delegations outside the three places of work of which the main objective is to furnish Parliament's hierarchy with all the relevant information needed to provide assistance to delegation members in case of an emergency situation; points out the importance of the 24/7 Hotline, the post of Security Unit Duty Officer and appropriate security training and security briefings, as well as the creation of a future crisis cell; would like be informed on the total costs of this operation;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
Paragraph 64
64. Deplores the very long delay in the opening of the Visitors' Centre (originally foreseen for the 2009 European elections) and the poor planning and insufficient support in the start phase from the administration; notes the opening date that is currently envisaged of October- November 2011; reiterates its request for a detailed explanation of the specific reasons, including a detailed analysis of the procurement procedures, for such a considerable delay and the precise increase in the cost of the project;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65 a (new)
Paragraph 65 a (new)
65a. Would like to be informed about the total cost of the House of European History and requests the Secretary General to provide information on which measures will be taken to cope with the expected large increase of visitors for both projects in terms of parking space (busses, cars) and easy access to the Dalle;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74
Paragraph 74
74. Deplores the fact that the employment of family members as assistants is still permitted under the derogations to the Members' Statute adopted by the Bureau at its meeting of 23 November 2009; urges the administration to scrupulously assess the justification for the remaining cases of such employment;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
Paragraph 75
75. Stresses the need to further rationalise the missions between the three working places, justifying and monitoring them better in order to avoid unnecessary missions and costs, and in particular to take account of the forthcoming results of the Internal Audit Service's controls in the area of parliamentary assistance;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78
Paragraph 78
78. Is of the opinion that facilities within Parliament's buildingservices which are not required in connection with the Institution's activities but which are provided within Parliament's buildings by profit-orientated companies must be economically self- supporting and should not be financed directly or indirectly with subsidies from Parliament's budget; , any exceptions for imputed costs must be shown separately; in the budget and be duly motivated;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86
Paragraph 86
86. Notes that Parliament has a contract with only one travel agency and sees a certain risk that such a monopolistic situation might prevent Members and Parliament obtaining the best available prices; asks DG Finance to report on the development of prices charged by the new contractor as well as on complaints in connection to the transition from Carlsonwagonlit to BCD in its activity report for 2010; does not agree with the staff increase and additional payments of EUR 34 000 for 2010 shortly after the conclusion of the contract in December 2009; requires that, in future contracts, incentives be included to guarantee the lowest price for tickets;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 a (new)
Paragraph 86 a (new)
86a. Calls on the Secretary General to commission a study on reducing travel cost for Members and staff exploring, for example, the possibility of annual block bookings with airline companies instead of individual bookings and purchase of tickets or using tendering procedures for annual flight contracts; furthermore, calls for a system to be developed to use the collected airmiles on flights reimbursed by Parliament to further reduce costs;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 95
Paragraph 95
95. Stresses, moreover, the need for the parties and foundations to have a system of standard external auditing instead of the current free choice in the appointment of external auditors, as well as the need for the Parliament's administration to strictly apply accounting rules in particular on contributions in kind, carry-overs and reserves; welcomes, therefore, the recent decision by the Bureau that an external auditor for the parties and the foundation will be provided and paid for by Parliament;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 99
Paragraph 99
99. STakes note of the budgetary constraints many Member States face as a result of the financial and economic crisis and the need to critically review potential savings at all levels including at Union level; in light of this situation, stresses that real savings could be achieved if Parliament only had one seat; indeed, in the report of the Secretary- General on Parliament's preliminary draft estimates for 2011, the estimated annual cost arising from the geographical dispersion of Parliament has been estimated at around EUR 160 000 000, accounting for about 9% of Parliament's total budget; draws the attention to the fact that currently the decision to change this situation - and to make some EUR 160 000 000 of savings annually as well as to considerably lessen Parliament's carbon footprint - lies exclusively with the European Council (Member States);