Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Harassment

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Changed111.148. Welcomes Parliament’s zero tolerance policy on harassment and the awareness-raising campaigns carried out; stresses that the Code of Appropriate Behaviour for Members of the European Parliament seeks to ensure that Members behave towards everyone working in Parliament with dignity, courtesy and respect and without prejudice or discrimination; recalls that in 2022, 56 MEPs participated in the training session; notes that, since November 2018, when the first sessions were offered, a total of 324 current MEPs (46%) had participated in the training session, plus 56 former Members whose mandate has ended; notes that in 2022, 106 members of staff and APAs had participated in anti-harassment training courses; notes with concern that cases of harassment are still occurring regardless of the activities being carried out to eliminate harassment in the work place;

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Added149. Recalls that in previous discharges the implementation of mandatory anti-harassment training courses for all Members and APAs, as well as staff, including persons in managerial roles in the different Directorates-General and political groups was requested; acknowledges that to help build a better working environment in the European Parliament and avoid any abuse of power, on 10 July 2023, the Bureau further approved a training concept on successful team management as well as harassment prevention; welcomes the Bureau’s efforts to make the anti-harassment training session mandatory for all members as well as Heads of Unit, Directors and Directors-General;

Added150. Highlights that there should be mandatory anti-harassment training for members, APAs and members of staff;

151. Highlights the fact that the Advisory Committee on Harassment and its Prevention in the Workplace received two complaints in 2022, lodged by two trainees; notes that in addition, one member of staff contacted the committee for consultation;

152. Highlights that the Advisory Committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members has a mandate to examine allegations of psychological or sexual harassment against Members from all categories of staff, including APAs, trainees, seconded national experts and political group staff; notes that with the aim of further reinforcing Parliament’s anti-harassment policies, on 20 November 2023, the Bureau adopted a number of additional amendments to the rules on the functioning of the advisory committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members;

153. Notes that, in 2022, 13 staff members (compared to 9 in 2021) sought the assistance of the institution pursuant to Article 24 of the Staff Regulations; remarks that 6 of the cases (compared to 5 in 2021) related to alleged harassment; highlights that none of the members of staff concerned were officials and that all six were APAs or former APAs;

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Added154. Considers that harassment of the parliamentary assistant by other parliamentary assistants or Parliament officials should also be taken into account;

Whistleblowers

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Changed115.155. Recalls that staff members of the Union institutions have an obligation to report any information pointing to corruption, fraud and other serious irregularities that they discover in the line of duty; notes that Parliament recorded one case of whistleblowing in 2022; welcomes the ongoing work in 2022 to update the Internal Rules Implementing Article 22(c) of the Staff Regulations of 4 December 2015 with more comprehensive and detailed internal rules; noteswelcome that a Bureau decision regarding the internal rules on whistleblowing was adopted on 20 November 2023 and will applyapplies from 1 December 2023; including provisions for the protection of whistleblowers, transmission of evidence to OLAF and, if appropriate, EPPO as well as deadlines for the handling of complaints; regrets, however, that these rules are still not aligned to Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

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Added156. Following Bureau Notice n° 18/2023 on the Internal rules on whistleblowing and the obligations placed upon APAs and staff members to report any violations, it is imperative that all services within the Parliament also be obligated to report any information they have of fraud, violations of financial rules, or any conduct that breaches the Parliament's ethical code. This obligation applies to all such information, regardless of its confidentiality, and should be reported to the relevant service within the Parliament;

Voluntary Pension Fund (VPF)

157. Notes that the actuarial deficit of the Voluntary Pension Fund (VPF) on 31 December 2021 amounted to EUR 379 million (compared to EUR 371.4 million on 31 December 2020); welcomes the amendments made by Parliament’s Bureau to Article 76 of the IMMS in relation to the Additional (Voluntary) Pension Scheme, which entered into force on 1 July 2023, aiming to reduce future pension obligations from EUR 362.7 million to an estimated EUR 139 million, and the actuarial deficit of the fund from EUR 310 million to an estimated EUR 86 million;

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Changed117.158. Welcomes the latest decisions taken by the Bureau; recalls that the problem will still need to be addressed in the future;future as the fund is expected to exhaust its assets by 2027 at the latest; acknowledges that Parliament is not involved in the management of the VPF’s investment portfolio; but calls on the Fund’s manager to carry out a proper assessment of the potential reputational risk of its investments; notes that the legal assessment of the latest judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and their consequences for future Bureau decisions were also made available to the Members of the Bureau in order to allow them to take an informed decision; notes that there are ongoing appeals in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the matter will need to be addressed again after the judgments are handed down;

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Added159. Asks the administration and the Bureau to explore every legal option that would guarantee that no taxpayer money is used for any future bail-out of the VPF’s investment portfolio;

Annual report on contracts awarded

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Changed118.160. Recalls that the Financial Regulation specifies the information to be provided to the budgetary authority and to the public concerning the award of contracts by Parliament; notes that the Financial Regulation requires publication of contracts awarded with a value greater than EUR 15 000, a value that corresponds to the threshold above which a competitive tendering procedure becomes compulsory; notes that, of a total of 194 contracts awarded in 2022, 63 were based on an open procedure, with a value of EUR 359.3359,3 million, and 1 on a restricted procedure, with a value of EUR 460 000; notes that there 126 contracts were awarded by negotiated procedures, with a value of EUR 48 million;

▸8 unchanged paragraphs

161. Notes that the total amount of contracts awarded decreased in 2022 (194) compared to 2021 (221); notes the substantial reduction of the contracted amounts, which in 2022 reached EUR 410 million, compared to EUR 1 016 million in 2021;

162. Notes the following breakdown of contracts by type awarded in 2022 and 2021, including building contracts:

163. Notes the following breakdown of contracts awarded in 2022 and 2021 by type of procedure used, in terms of number and value:

Political groups (budget item 400)

164. Notes that, in 2022, the appropriations entered under budget item 400, attributed to the political groups and non-attached Members, were used as follows:

165. Welcomes the fact that independent external auditors for the political groups only issued unqualified opinions for the financial year 2022;

166. Recalls that these appropriations are intended to cover activities in connection with the Union’s political activities, and that political groups are responsible to Parliament for their use;

European political parties and European political foundations

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Changed125.167. Notes that, in 2022, the Authority gave European political parties and European political foundations the right to be heard as well as the opportunity for corrective measures in 9 cases; further notes that these were cases relating to reporting requirements, rules concerning revenue and joint activities; highlights that the Authority’s early scrutiny indicates that the immediately relevant corrective measures were implemented by the European political parties and foundations concerned in all these cases; takes note that the Authority will continue to monitor that corrective measures with a long-lasting effect will ensure sustained compliance in the areas concerned; welcomes the fact that no sanctions werehad to be adopted in 2022;

168. Welcomes the fact that in preparation for the 2024 European elections, the Authority is actively enhancing cooperation networks by exploring further partnerships in defence of democratic integrity;

169. Notes with concern that the Authority reports that it is facing constrained human resources; highlights that this issue is expected to become more pressing due to the evolving challenges in the run-up to the 2024 European elections, including, in particular ,the need to protect democratic integrity against novel forms of foreign interference, as well as the necessary administrative implementation of any new tasks that would arise for the Authority from the ongoing negotiations on a recast of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014;

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Changed128.170. Recalls the key role of a lively and resilient European democracy underpinned by pluralism of political parties at Union level; emphasises therefore that a level playing field has to be ensured and compliance has to be controlled with full respect for procedural rights; welcomes, in this respect, the essential work of the Authority, which independently and in close cooperation with Parliament ensurescomplianceensures compliance of European political parties and foundations with the legal framework, provides transparency to citizens and contributes to the integrity of Parliament elections;

171. Notes that, in 2022, the appropriations entered under budget item 402 were used as follows:

172. Notes that, in 2022, the appropriations entered under budget item 403 were used as follows: