Changes from adopted text to adopted text

Removed61. Welcomes that the Council was able to reduce the consumption of energy in 2022 compared to previous years, also because of the policy adopted by all Union institutions to reduce the temperature in buildings to 19 degrees; encourages, nevertheless, the Council Secretariat to identify further initiatives to reduce energy consumption;

Removed62. Regrets that since the Council has not been replying to the questionnaire from Parliament, Parliament has no information about initiatives in Council during 2022 concerning improved access to their buildings for people with disabilities and other possible initiatives for people with disabilities;

RemovedEnvironment and sustainability

Removed63. Notes that it continues to be difficult to obtain updated and comprehensive information about any initiatives from the Council concerning the environment and sustainability and the development in general consumption, including the use of water, gas, electricity and paper; encourages the Council to report systematically on the environmental and sustainability elements of its work as part of its annual reporting; notes with satisfaction a few scattered initiatives mentioned in the annual reporting, such as buying four electrical cars and the encouragement to integrate clauses related to the environment in procurement procedures;

Removed64. Continues to call on the Council to establish a system, if it has not already been established, to encourage staff to use public transportation or other low emission transportation like bikes to reduce the carbon footprint of the Council;

Removed65. Notes that the annual accounts of the Council mention that, at the end of 2022, the Council was in possession of 773,4 Green Energy Certificates compared with 2 589,2 at the end of 2021, based on the energy produced by solar panels located on the roof of Council buildings; notes that the certificates are valued at EUR 65 each; continues to asks the Council to report back in more detail on the selling of such certificates on the open market and the intended use of the revenue generated;

RemovedInterinstitutional cooperation

Removed66. Stresses the need for Article 319 TFEU to be revised as part of a change of that Treaty in order to explicitly stipulate that Parliament, besides giving discharge to the Commission, also gives discharge to other Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies in respect of the implementation of their sections of the general budget or of their budgets;

RemovedCommunication

Removed67. Notes that 2022 was a record year with more than 24,5 million visits on the Council’s website, representing an increase of 16 % compared to 2020, and that the number of followers on Facebook increased by 8 %, whereas the number of followers on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and LinkedIn increased by 19 %, 17 % and 33 %, respectively;

Removed68. Encourages the Council to engage with the European Data Protection Supervisor with a view to utilise the two open-source social media platforms, EU Voice and EU Video, that were launched as a public pilot project to promote the use of free and open -source social networks; encourages the Council to use decentralised social network alternatives to very large online platforms, such as Mastodon.