What changed

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Foreignthe AffairsEnvironment, Public Health and Food Safety calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motionproposal for a resolution:decision:

1. Calls attention to the fact that the current year of audit is the one during which Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, the worldwide effects of which have dramatically increased pressure on many EU partners and increased the need for investments in sustainable development and humanitarian assistance; expresses satisfaction that the flexibility of the Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe of the Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI-GE) allowed the Union to quickly adapt to the extraordinary set of circumstances; urges, however, the Commission and the EEAS to take further measures to ensure that the cushion of the Instrument in the future is used more as intended, since its excessive early use has resulted in its being depleted very quickly and used beyond its core purpose of responding to emerging challenges and priorities; recalls Parliament’s standing position that new priorities should be financed with additional resources;

1. Is satisfied with the Commission's overall implementation of the budgetary headings for environment, climate action, public health and food safety in 2022;

2. Reiterates commitment to the goals of the NDICI-GE instrument namely eradicating poverty, combating climate change, addressing food insecurity and promoting sustainable human development; recalls that the EU and Member States' commitment to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.7% of the gross national income by 2030, allocating at least 20% under the Instrument to social inclusion and human development, including inequalities, gender equality, education and women’s empowerment;

2. Is satisfied with the work carried out by the five decentralised agencies which are under its remit, which carry out technical, scientific or managerial tasks that help the Union institutions elaborate and implement policies in the area of environment, climate action, public health and food safety, as well as with the way in which those agencies' budgets are implemented; stresses that, given the scale of current and upcoming challenges, adequate funding and staffing must be guaranteed for the agencies and the Commission Directorates-General ('DG') working in the areas of environment, climate action, public health and food safety;

3. Recalls that the rule of law, the EU’s fundamental values and the respect for human rights in recipient countries are embedded in the basic acts of IPA III and of NDICI-GE; calls on the Commission to modify assistance should threats to democracy, the rule of law, human rights of fundamental freedoms so require;

3. Highlights that the Commission is responsible for making sure that all EU countries properly apply EU law and thus calls on the Commission to ensure that there is sufficient staff capacity in DG Environment and other environmentally relevant services such as DG Sante and DG Clima, and of the environmental team within the Commission’s Legal Service to ensure the full enforcement of environmental legislation;

4. Stresses the need for the EFSD+ to support investments for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); highlights the importance of a holistic approach to human security; calls accordingly for full implementation of the EU Gender Action Plan III, operationalising the EU Global Health Strategy and Youth Action Plan in external action; emphasises the need to enhance the EU's efforts in promoting and protecting human rights, welcoming the mid-term review of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy; strongly supports the Council conclusions of May 4, 2023, on corruption as an obstacle to development;

Environment and Climate Action

5. Calls on the Commission to send clear signals to those candidate countries in which a backlash against rule of law standards - including limitations on the freedom of expression, the freedom of press, women’s and minority rights, the harassment of NGOs and human rights defenders - is jeopardising or delaying their accession to the EU; invites the Commission to examine the efficiency of the funds spent on the improvement of the state of the Rule of Law in the accession countries and report back to the AFET and CONT committees;

4. Notes that in 2022, DG Environment's budget reached EUR 567 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 470 million in payment appropriations and that it had 511 members of staff; points out that the appropriations administered directly by DG Environment had implementation rates above 99% at year-end;

6. Takes note of the European Court of Auditors’ Special Report regarding the programming which concluded that it was comprehensively designed, addressing a broad range of partner country needs and EU priorities; highlights the identified deficiencies in the methodologies used for allocating funding to countries and in the setup of the monitoring framework; recommends therefore that the Commission and the EEAS improve the methodology for allocating funding and the assessment of the impact of EU support, focus the scope of the programming process, simplify and consistently use the indicators in the multiannual indicative programmes; suggests, in the framework of the mid term evaluation of the Instrument that the nomenclature be revised introducing a higher level of detail for transparency, predictability, accountability, scrutiny, and to enhance the budgetary authority’s capacity to make choices reflecting political priorities; regrets the two different approaches applied by the Commission and EEAS within the Instrument for the allocation of funding to Neighbourhood and non-Neighbourhood countries and asks that they be standardised, comparable and transparent in order to facilitate the audit trail;

5. Notes the fact that the share of payments executed by DG Environment that exceeded legal deadlines increased in 2022 (3,93% compared to 1,51% in 2021);

7. Emphasises the significance of meeting all spending and program-related targets outlined in the NDICI-GE instrument and calls for comprehensive information to be provided on the progress achieved; expresses regret over the significant shortfalls in reaching the Instrument's 30% climate target, in contributing to the 10% biodiversity target in the MFF for 2026 and 2027, and in ensuring that the EU's global financial commitments under the UN framework are fulfilled, in particular as regards the contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund; highlights the increasing pressure climate change puts on food production and access, particularly in vulnerable regions, impacting food security and nutrition; reminds that biodiversity is key in combating climate change, and its loss undermines progress on approximately 80% of the assessed targets for the SDGs; calls on the Commission for a detailed plan outlining how it intends to meet spending and gender targets by the end of the MFF;

6. Notes that in 2022, DG Climate Action managed EUR 33,80 million under the title “Climate action” of the Union budget whilst EUR 2 897,4 million was available for the innovation fund; notes also that the DG had 310 members of staff at the end of the year; considers that this number should grow, in view of the increasing volume of tasks related, inter alia, to the Union's path towards climate neutrality by 2050;

8. Reiterates its call on the Commission to implement the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors Special Report 01/2022 in order to ensure an effective impact of EU financial assistance in support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans, in particular by developing guidelines on the application of the provisions on modulation and conditionality under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) III;

7. Notes that preliminary estimates (based on commitment appropriations) of the climate contribution of the main programmes show that 34,8% of the EU budget in 2022 was dedicated to climate action, in line with the Interinstitutional Agreement plans for at least 30 % of 2021-27 MFF to be used for this purpose;

9. Encourages further mobilisation of the European Peace Facility in response to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, which sends a clear signal of a paradigm shift for EU foreign and security policy; notes the Special Report of the European Court of Auditors which recommends sequencing of existing EU defence planning and cooperation tools to assess how to further develop planning for EU defence funding;

8. Notes the changes made to the Commission’s climate-tracking methodology in 2022 in response to the concerns expressed about the Court's finding in Special Report 09/2022, stating that the reported spending was not always relevant to climate action, that the amount reported as having been spent for that purpose had been overstated by at least EUR 72 billion, meaning that only around 13% of the 2014-2020 budget was spent on climate related purposes; is of the opinion that this fact serves as a warning; urges the Commission to distinguish between climate mitigation and climate adaptation in the tracking methodology by breaking monitoring and reporting category into climate adaptation and climate mitigation;

10. Welcomes the Commission’s revised Code of Practice on Disinformation, adopted in 2022; calls for the established Task Force which meets on a regular basis to monitor and adapt the commitments in view of technological, societal, market and legislative developments; stresses the need for the EU to increase the visibility of its actions through a better, more strategic communication of its external actions towards its own citizens and beyond;

9. Underlines the importance of proper scrutiny of climate and biodiversity expenditure in the EU budget, and holds the Commission accountable for the implementation of a robust and reliable methodology, in line with the commitments undertaken in the MFF agreement and paragraph 16d of the IIA of 16 December 2020; calls on the Commission to avoid misleading approximation of the spending contribution to climate and biodiversity objectives, lack of explicit targets, as well as only partial coverage of potential negative or unclear climate and biodiversity impacts; Acknowledges that there are the interventions with common benefits but underlines the need to avoid double counting;

11. Commends the Commission’s adoption of the EUR 25 million assistance program “EU4Belarus: Supporting societal resilience and human capital development” which further strengthens the resilience and capacity of the Belarusian people to promote democratic changes in Belarus at the time of political crisis;

10. Calls on the Commission to provide Parliament with an annual report setting out in detail the contribution of each budget item to the climate mainstreaming and the biodiversity targets, in order to facilitate their monitoring; calls further on the Commission to report whether any budget item fails to respect the "do no significant harm" criterion as referred to in the Taxonomy Regulation;

12. Underlines that the Union budget must continue to provide support to build peace and stability in the Middle East region, to combat hate and fundamentalism and to promote human rights; awaits the review the Commission is conducting on the use of Union funds; underlines the interlinkages between stability and sustainable development, particularly in fragile countries and regions;

11. Regrets the Court's finding, in its Special Report 16/20212 , that EU agricultural funding destined for climate action has not contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; shares the Court's view that the new Common Agricultural Policy should have a greater focus on reducing agricultural emissions, and be more accountable and transparent about its contribution to climate mitigation;

13. Notes the conclusion of the Commission’s internal review regarding the Union funds for Palestine, which concluded that the Commission controls and existing safeguards in place work well and found no evidence that money has been diverted for unintended purposes; calls on to the Commission to duly disburse the EU funds to Palestine, notably to Palestinian civil society, which plays a pivotal role in promoting human rights and secular values, as well as the fight against radicalisation;

12. Reiterates its strong concern that the reservation on significant security risks identified in the maintenance and the operation of the Union Registry system of the EU Emissions Trading System, as reported in AARs since 2010, is repeated in DG Climate Action’s 2022 AAR;

14. Underlines that the EU´s budget should be managed in compliance with the Treaties and EU acquis, including provisions related to fundamental rights compliance, transparency and accountability towards the European Parliament and EU citizens; regrets, against that backdrop, the modus operandi of the Commission in its management of the external migration budget lines, notably the absence of fundamental rights impact assessments prior to migration projects in third countries, absence of publicly available overviews of budgets and projects and the Commission´s systematic refusal to provide Parliament with budgetary migration related spending overviews per country and MOCADEM related documentation, despite several formal requests and commitments under the Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission: urges the Commission to significantly improve these practices with immediate effect, notably by performing ex ante human rights impact assessments before projects, creating a public overview of all migration related projects in third countries and systematically putting Parliament on equal footing with the Council in terms of the level of information provided;

Public health, food safety, animal health and welfare, and plant health

15. Stresses the importance of education and the critical need to denounce and eradicate all manifestations of hate speech and violent actions on both sides; underscores that the suspension of funding should not occur arbitrarily or without transparent and independent evidence of misuse; commends the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) for its indispensable humanitarian endeavours in Gaza and its pivotal role in delivering quality education, with a specific emphasis on fostering a human rights culture, even in challenging times;

13. Highlights the role DG Health and Food Safety continued to play in securing a coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic across the Member States during 2022; recognises the work on the creation of a European Health Union, on making HERA fully operational, on actions under the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, as well as on the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy;

16. Urges the Commission to enhance the Rule of Law conditionality based approach of IPA III funding, in order for the instrument to serve its’ purpose of effectively preparing accession countries to fulfil the conditions of becoming EU Member States, considers a particular emphasis on the Rule of Law and democracy related conditions to be of importance in this regard;

14. Notes that, in 2022, DG Health and Food Safety managed a budget in its policy areas of EUR 644,20 million (down from EU 1 162,42 million in 2021, mainly due to a decreased spending on emergency support within the Union) and it had 791 members of staff; notes that the implementation rates of commitments and payments increased to 92,43,% and 90,90%, respectively;

17. Highlights the importance of the Global Gateway strategy which can significantly contribute to initiatives on connectivity, green and digital cooperation and that it needs to be focused and clearly structured in order to deliver transformational impact in partner countries while promoting universal values and using resources in the best way possible; strongly supports leveraging the EU budget and private sector involvement for contributing to Agenda 2030; calls on the Commission to set a clear and transparent accountability mechanism for implementation of the strategy and to demonstrate clear rationale for the use of development finance for the projects branded under the Global Gateway strategy and its equal benefits to recipient countries’ public and private sectors;

15. Notes that, in 2022, DG Health and Food Safety presented an average residual error rate of 0,7%, which is below the materiality threshold of 2%;

18. Recognises the multiple roles that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) play; recalls the EU’s commitment to support CSOs in all external instruments and programmes and in all areas of cooperation, including through a flexible and tailor-made approach to funding in order to reach all types of CSOs; calls on the Commission to involve CSOs more systematically in the Global Gateway and Team Europe Initiatives;

Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA)

19. Regrets the fact that the CFSP budget for civilian CSDP missions has only marginally increased from the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 to the MFF 2021-2027 (from a starting point of approximately EUR 350 million per year), while at the same time the number and tasks of the missions have increased, the security environment has become more challenging, the cost of operations has increased, inflation has risen and the number of contracted personnel has increased, therefore limiting the potential for expanding the current missions’ mandates or possibly establishing new missions in response to urgent security needs; calls for a substantive increase of funding for the CFSP budget, while at the same time ensuring the efficient use of the funds allocated to the CSDP civilian missions, in order to make sure that they effectively respond to crisis situations and unforeseen events, and to actively identify where complementary projects and programmes could be funded from other relevant EU budgets, ensuring sound financial management and the careful prioritisation of existing resources;

16. Notes that HERA, following its establishment as an internal Commission service on 1 October 2021, increased its operations throughout 2022 and that its mission is to support the Commission’s priorities for public health, preparedness and crisis management in the sectors of health, research and innovation and industry; notes with concern the overlap of responsibilities and duplication of efforts between mandates of DG HERA with DG SANTE and the ECDC; calls on the Commission to ensure the added value of HERA as an integral part of the Commission and to prevent duplication of work and resources;

20. Calls also for the structure of the CFSP budget to be changed and for the generation of one budget line per civilian CSDP mission, in order to allow for better scrutiny and increased transparency.

17. Notes that in 2022, HERA had payments of EUR 438 million and increased its staff from 30 to 80 members; notes that HERA’s financial management is fully delegated to other entities; notes that a) DG INTPA paid EUR 430 million on behalf of HERA under the Emergency Support Instrument through a cross-subdelegation, and that b)100% of HERA EU4Health 2022 budget was implemented by the Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) for a total amount of EUR 275 million in commitment appropriation; c) HERA co-delegated EUR 580.5 million in commitment appropriations to DG ECHO under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism for the development of stockpiles of medical countermeasures to respond to large-scale Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies; d) Projects for approximately EUR 125 million, contributing to HERA objectives were earmarked for HERA by DG RTD under the Horizon Europe 2022 programme; remarks that HERA has entrusted partner DGs with the implementation of internal control processes to ensure the adequate management of the risks related to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions they are responsible for, taking into account the multiannual character of programmes and the nature of the payments concerned. Notes that the partner DGs bear the responsibility for the delegated appropriations and report on them in their own AAR;

18. Regrets that the Commission’s decision on financing HERA heavily relied on the EU4Health Programme, cutting its budget by more than half with an EU4Health contribution of 2,795 billion EUR to HERA between 2021 and 2027); notes with concern that such reduction affected EU4Health’s capability of ambitious financing of other activities as foreseen by the Regulation (EU) 2021/522, including putting at risks actions under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the necessary support for creation of the European Health Data Space; deplores that by assigning such significant amounts to HERA, the Commission breached the agreed funding ceilings for minimum and maximum spending set in the EU4Health Regulation;

19. Notes with strong concern the close collaboration of Commission officials and industry within the activities of HERA; calls for strong transparency and conflict of interest rules to be put in place to ensure public trust in and commercial independence of HERA. is concerned that by the end of 2022, HERA did not developed and implemented a Procedure for reporting exceptions and non-compliance events, and an Anti-Fraud Strategy;

20. Highlights that the Commission's “lessons learned” report on the COVID-19 pandemic did not examine the performance of the vaccine procurement process, beyond its overall outcome. Urges the Commission to apply a high degree of transparency to all current and future contracts under the joint procurement and related purchase agreements in the field of health; insists that its relevant DGs should put in place a solid and transparent EU public procurement framework, when funds from the EU budget are fully or partially involved, that would allow for comprehensive scrutiny by the Parliament, especially concerning major health crisis-related spending areas; in line with the overriding public interest stated in Regulation 1049/2001 and the need for ensure public trust; calls on the Commission to make fully available all concluded vaccine and therapeutics (advanced) purchase agreements for COVID-19;

21. Is of the opinion, on the basis of the data available and the implementation report, that discharge can be granted to the Commission, despite certain caveats described above in respect of expenditure in the areas of environmental and climate policy, public health and food safety for the financial year 2022, provided that sufficient guarantees are given that the shortfalls described will be remedied in the coming period;

22. Recalls the Commission’s commitment to carry out a thorough review of the implementation of HERA’s operations by 2025 and to consider changing its structure and governance, including in order to transform it into a genuine agency with an autonomous budget.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The Chair in his capacity as rapporteur declares under herhis exclusive responsibility that shehe did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted

23.1.2024

24.1.2024

Result of final vote

0:

48

67

2

12

9

6

Members present for the final vote

Alexander Alexandrov Yordanov, Maria Arena, Petras Auštrevičius, Krzysztof Brejza, Reinhard Bütikofer, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Anna Fotyga, Michael Gahler, Giorgos Georgiou, Sunčana Glavak, Raphaël Glucksmann, Klemen Grošelj, Bernard Guetta, Márton Gyöngyösi, Dietmar Köster, Andrius Kubilius, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Miriam Lexmann, Nathalie Loiseau, Leopoldo López Gil, Antonio López-Istúriz White, Thierry Mariani, David McAllister, Vangelis Meimarakis, Francisco José Millán Mon, Alessandra Moretti, Javier Nart, Matjaž Nemec, Demetris Papadakis, Kostas Papadakis, Tonino Picula, Thijs Reuten, Nacho Sánchez Amor, Mounir Satouri, Jordi Solé, Tineke Strik, Dominik Tarczyński, Hermann Tertsch, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Thomas Waitz, Isabel Wiseler-Lima, Tomáš Zdechovský, Bernhard Zimniok, Željana Zovko

Catherine Amalric, Maria Arena, Hildegard Bentele, Michael Bloss, Delara Burkhardt, Pascal Canfin, Sara Cerdas, Mohammed Chahim, Maria Angela Danzì, Esther de Lange, Christian Doleschal, Bas Eickhout, Heléne Fritzon, Malte Gallée, Anja Hazekamp, Martin Hojsík, Jan Huitema, Karin Karlsbro, Petros Kokkalis, Peter Liese, Javi López, César Luena, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Lydie Massard, Liudas Mažylis, Marina Mesure, Silvia Modig, Dolors Montserrat, Alessandra Moretti, Ville Niinistö, Ljudmila Novak, Nikos Papandreou, Francesca Peppucci, Stanislav Polčák, Jessica Polfjärd, Erik Poulsen, Frédérique Ries, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Günther Sidl, Maria Spyraki, Edina Tóth, Achille Variati, Petar Vitanov, Mick Wallace, Emma Wiesner, Michal Wiezik

Substitutes present for the final vote

Attila Ara-Kovács, Adam Bielan, Özlem Demirel, Christophe Grudler, Arba Kokalari, Georgios Kyrtsos, Katrin Langensiepen, Karsten Lucke, Erik Marquardt, Juozas Olekas, Bert-Jan Ruissen, Christian Sagartz, Mick Wallace

Christophe Clergeau, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Martin Häusling, Ska Keller, Sara Matthieu, Manuela Ripa

Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote

Theresa Bielowski

Mazaly Aguilar, Katarina Barley, Sergio Berlato, Daniel Buda, Asger Christensen, Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé, Ana Collado Jiménez, Marie Dauchy, Matthias Ecke, Pietro Fiocchi, Gianna Gancia, Paola Ghidoni, Catherine Griset, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Peter Jahr, Billy Kelleher, Danilo Oscar Lancini, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Thierry Mariani, Nora Mebarek, Dace Melbārde, Nicola Procaccini, Maria Veronica Rossi, Silvia Sardone, Ivan Vilibor Sinčić, Sara Skyttedal, Michaela Šojdrová, Idoia Villanueva Ruiz, Alexandr Vondra, Veronika Vrecionová, Thomas Waitz, Jörgen Warborn, Stefania Zambelli

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION