Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 35

Changed38.39. Notes that the Committee adopted new internal rules on data protection in 2022 containingthat contain restrictions of certain rights of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data in the context of activities and procedures carried out by the Committee; notes further that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) did not conduct any investigation or enquiry with respect to the processing of personal data by the Committee in 2022;

Change 36

Changed39.40. Notes that the Committee did not encounter any cyber-attacks in 2022; notes that the Committee and the CoR’sEESC’s new joint Directoratedirectorate for Innovationinnovation and Informationinformation Technologytechnology involvesis acomposed of three units, namely digital transformation, digital solutions and digital platforms; notes that the unit for digital platforms,platforms is responsible, inter alia, for cybersecurity; asks the Committee to inform the discharge authority on how the creation of this new structure contributed to enhancing the cybersecurity preparedness of its staff, in line with the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) cybersecurity framework and in cooperation with the computer emergency responseCybersecurity teamService for the Union’s institutions, bodies and agencies (CERT-EU); encourages the Committee to raise the cybersecurity awareness of their Members and staff, to carry out regular risk assessments of its IT infrastructure and to ensure regular audits and tests of its cyber defences;

Change 37

Changed40.41. Welcomes the efforts of the Committee to foster open source technology in its own systems, notably the main operational applications used for managing the political work of the Committee (‘Agora’(Agora and ‘Phoenix’);Phoenix); notes further that the Committee tracks the use of open source technologies in its annual IT portfolio so that they are applied to new applications;

Buildings

Change 38

Changed41.42. Notes that the Committee and the EESC lost 5 000 m² in office space following the take-over of the rental contract of the former EEAS building at Belliard 100 (B100), which took effect in September 2021, and the buildings exchange between the Committee and the EESC’s Belliard 68 (B68) and Trèves 74 (TRE74) and the Commission’s Van Maerlant 2 (VMA), which took effect in September 2022; notes that fitting-out works in the two newly acquired buildings were necessary to enable a denser use of the office space; welcomes the establishment, in 2022, of a joint task force on new ways of working to reflect on possible optimisation of the way work is organised and how office space is used,used while reducing the environmental footprint;

Change 39

Changed42.43. Notes that, in 2022, the overall Committee budget for the fitting-out of premises amounted to EUR 883 792; notes that the renovation works undertaken by the Committee and the EESC on the B100 and the VMA buildings integrated the use of smart technologies with a strong environmental component; asks the Committee to provide an update on the return on investment of those technological installations;installations, but advises caution nonetheless against entering long-term commitments on new office space before these measures are fully explored;

Change 40

Changed43.44. Notes that, in 2022, the building strategy of the Committee and the EESC focused on the geographical concentration of the buildings which was achieved by physically connecting all the buildings used by the Committee and the EESC to their main building (JDE); welcomes the new physical connection to Parliament’s buildings,buildings which became operational in November 2022, offering a more direct, easier and 125 m shorter pathway between the buildings of the Committee and the EESC and the buildings of Parliament;

45. Notes that the Committee and the EESC launched a multi-annual project related to the technical upgrade of the interpretation system for all conference rooms starting in 2022; notes that an amount of EUR 200 000 was earmarked by the Committee for this project in 2022;

46. Welcomes the commitment of the Committee and the EESC to systematically apply the ‘design for all’ principle to their infrastructure, ensuring accessibility of their building by design; notes that the Committee and the EESC took a range of different measures to ensure accessibility of their buildings for people with various kinds of disabilities;

Environment and sustainability

Change 41

Changed46.47. Welcomes the greensustainable practices and notably the paperless approach of the Committee and the EESC which contributed to reduce their environmental footprint in line with their digital strategy; notes that the ‘Phoenix’Phoenix application used to support the political work of the Committee was adapted in 2022 so as to generate the ‘carboncarbon reports’reports for travel and allow the Committee and the EESC to calculate their carbon balance; notes that the action plan resulting from the audit on the performance under the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) was implemented with actions in the fields of documentation, review of procedures, improvement of planning, risk management and supervision; congratulates the Committee and the EESC on having exceeded the EMAS objectives for 2021-20025, except the objectives related to gas consumption;

Change 42

Changed47.48. Notes that, in 2022, the total electricity production generated by solar panels on the buildings of the Committee and the EESC was approximately 15,5 MWh, representing 0,25 % of the total yearly consumption of the Committee and the EESC; notes that, as of 16 September 2022, only the JDE was equipped with solar panels; is aware that due to administrative procedures,procedures the Committee and the EESC will face a delay before being able to extend their solar panel installation;

Change 43

Changed48.49. Notes that the Committee put in place a sustainable mobility plan including a financial contribution to the public transport subscriptions of staff and awareness raising activities; notes that no new mobility staff survey was organised in 2022;2022 but one is foreseen for 2024; welcomes the fact that 76 % of the Committee staff uses eco-friendly means of transport for commuting purposes;

Interinstitutional cooperation

Change 44

Changed49.50. Welcomes the budgetary and administrative savings achieved through interinstitutional cooperation, in particular the close cooperation established at administrative level with the EESC with which the Committee shares premises and joint services in the areas of translation, infrastructure, logistics and IT, while maintaining its full institutional autonomy; notes that, on 1 October 2022, a joint Directoratedirectorate for Innovationinnovation and Informationinformation Technologytechnology was created as part of the new cooperation agreement signed between the Committee and the EESC in 2022; notes further that 470 staff members of staff and EUR 55 million were pooled together by the Committee and the EESC in 2022, excluding salary-related expenditure; calls on the Committee to pursue and expand that cooperation in other areas with a view to avoiding duplication and further rationalising the operating costs of services available in the premises shared by boththe committees;Committee and the EESC; invites the Committee and the EESC to explore the possibility of setting up a single administration for their joint services, keeping separate directorates or units for the services dealing with matters related to their specific and independent mandates;

51. Welcomes the Committee’s search for synergies by purchasing services from other institutions through service-level agreements and by participating in interinstitutional coordination bodies and interinstitutional procurement procedures;

Change 45

Added52. Calls on the Committee to keep explore synergies with other institutions both in terms of logistics, digital services, driver's service and other administrative tasks, as well as certain outreach and communication activities, particularly in Member States where the Committee's members have varied support networks and rely purely on the members’ own local staff;

53. Welcomes the willingness of the Committee to further develop its cooperation with other institutions, in particular Parliament, ahead of the 2024 European elections through a roadmap predicting a further intensification of cooperation and a bigger role for the Committee and local and regional authorities in that context; notes the review of the cooperation agreements with Parliament and the Commission, as decided by the Conference of Presidents in November 2022;

Change 46

Changed52.54. Notes that the Committee cooperates with the Commission (for an annual fee) for the handling of HR matters and the use of various IT platforms for financial management and HR; notes that the Committee holds its plenary sessions at the premises of Parliament and the Commission to compensate for the lack of capacity of its own conference rooms and that the Committee buys interpreting services from those two institutions; notes that the Committee has been looking into the possibilities of using distant interpretation facilities in view of the fast development of that sector;

Change 47

Changed53.55. Notes that the Committee promotes the visibility and impact of its work based on inter-institutional cooperation through targeted presentationpresentations of its reports to other institutions, e.g. presentations of 11 reports to Parliament in 2022, bilateral meetings at rapporteur level, political exchanges during formal events and conferences, targeted distribution of opinions and work in networks;

Communication

Change 48

Changed54.56. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee’s overall budget for communication was EUR 2,2 million, compared to EUR 2,1 million in 2021, i.e. an increase of 4 %; notes that, within that budget, approximately EUR 439 000 was used for events, EUR 795 000 for media and EUR 1 099 000 for digital communication; notes that the aim of the Committee’s communication is to raise the Committee’s institutional and political profile as the assembly of the Union’s regionsregions, cities, villages and citiesmunicipalities and the role of its members;

Change 49

Changed5557 Notes that the Committee continued to host the regular meetings of the directors- generaldirectors-general for communication of all Union institutions in 2022, focusing on the preparation of coordinated communication actions in the run up to the European elections in 2024; encourages the Committee to continue its support to the institutional communication campaign of Parliament for the European elections in 2024 through its local and regional networks;

Change 50

Changed56.58. Welcomes the data-driven communication strategy developed by the Committee to close the gap with Union citizens at local and regional levels using multiplication channels, such as the European networks of ‘EUregional counsellors’and local counsellors that had 2 037 registered members at the end of 2022 and the ‘youngprogramme for young elected politicians’politicians with 775 participants in events for young elected politicians in 2022, i.e. an increase of 15 % as compared to 2021; notes that the Committee also provided trainings and capacity building for local and regional authorities on citizen engagement and participatory democracy called ‘A new chapter for participatory democracy’; notes that, in November 2022, the Bureaubureau of the Committee invited every member to hold at least one dialogue in their constituency every year; notes that the Committee established synergies with the network of Europe Direct centres in the Member States for the organisation of local events;

Change 51

Changed57.59. Notes that the Committee continued to implement three communication campaigns in 2022 in line with the political priorities for the 2020-2025 mandate on Bringing Europe closer to people, Building resilient regional and local communities, and Promoting cohesion as a fundamental value of the EU;Union; welcomes the Committee’s efforts to extend its audience through digital communication and media outreach, with 18 890 media mentions in 2022, i.e. an increase of 20 % between 2020 and 2022;

Change 52

Changed58.60. Notes that, at the end of 2022, the Committee had 175 000 followers on its social media channels, i.e. 16 % more than in 2021, of which 54 800 followers (an increase of 8 %) on X (formerly Twitter), 58 100 (an increase of 6 %) on Facebook, 52 100 (an increase of 33 %) on LinkedIn and 10 500 (an increase of 67 %) on Instagram; notes that the Committee did not participate in the pilot project led by the EDPS that aimed at bringing Union institutions on EU-Voice and EU-Video, which are two free, open-source, social media networks, based on Mastodon software, allowing Union institutions to interact with the public by sharing texts, images, videos and podcasts; reiterates its call from the 2021 discharge to reconsider its participation in this pilot project that contributes to the Union’s strategy for data and digital sovereignty;

61. Notes that the Committee contributes to the open data portal of the Commission with datasets on members’ data and opinion data but also uses and promotes open data among local and regional authorities, thus endorsing greater transparency in its operations through freely accessible data in human and machine-readable formats and strengthening its link with citizens.