What changed

1. Grants the European Data Protection Supervisor discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2024 / Postpones its decision on granting the European Data Protection Supervisor discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2024;

8. Notes from the Questionnaire that the EDPS’ overall missions budget decreased by 17,86 % from EUR 323 421 in 2023 to EUR 265 630 in 2024 due to a decrease in travel and related costs as a result of increased participation in remote/hybrid meetings; notes, from the Annual Report, that the number of staff missions also decreased, from 246 in 2023 to 218 in 2024; notes that, as part of that budget, an amount of EUR 38 418 was dedicated for 23 missions of the Supervisor in 2024 which increased from EUR 33 000 for 24 missions in 2023, mainly due to the location of important meetings and events that the Supervisor was required to attend, including several missions in the United States and Mexico in 2024; notes with concern that, concerningregarding missions to the country of origin of high ranking officials, in 2024 the Supervisor took only 3 missions to Poland in 2024 (out of the total of 23), while the EDPS’ Secretary-General (SG) conducted 159 missions,missions nineto Spain (out of whichthe weretotal toof Spain,15); instresses 2024;that the EDPS still does not provide information about the number of missions funded by organisers or other third parties, thus reducing transparency regarding EDPS mission expenses;

13. Notes the increased role of the EDPS in new legislative acts, including Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, under which EDPS becomes the competent authority for the Union institutions, agencies, offices and bodies, and under which the EDPS has been delegated further tasks; notes that on 1 October 2024, to address its new supervisory tasks, the EDPS established an AI unit which in 2024 was composed of two staff reassigned internally; notes from the Questionnaire that, as of 2025, for that unit the EDPS has a budget that covers two permanent posts and five contract agentsagents, for which recruitment procedures have taken place; notes however from the Questionnaire the EDPS’ view that those resources remain insufficient to cover those new tasks, in particular the supervision of AI systems in the area of border control, migration, justice and law enforcement or the establishment of an AI regulatory sandbox for EUIBAs, as provided for in Article 57(3) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689; further notes from the EDPS’ follow-up report to Parliament’s resolution on the implementation of the EDPS’ budget for 20222023 (the ‘Follow-up Report’) that, also due to budgetary constraints, the EDPS could not launch the feasibility study on artificial intelligence in 2024; reminds that the EDPS should abide by the competences of its mandate with a collaborative approach with the Union institutions and agencies in order to avoid costly legal procedures; recalls that, in its 2023 discharge resolution, Parliament already warned that the progressive expansion of the EDPS’ mandate risked outpacing its available resources; underlines the importance of providing the EDPS with adequate financial and human resources to effectively supervise AI systems in high-stakes areas;

16. Urges the EDPS to reflect on its KPIs and to ensure that they cover complaint handling as well as setting targets for handling complaints and inquiries, which would be similar to the practice of the European Ombudsman;

19.20. Notes from the Annual Report and the Follow-up Report the EDPS’ special attention regarding processing of children’s data, in particular in law enforcement contexts; notes that one of the audits carried out by the EDPS in 2024 was on the processing of children’s personal data in research projects managed by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Spain, in particular with regard to child-robot interaction; notes with satisfaction that in October 2024, the EDPS attended the G7 DPAs Roundtable in Rome, on the occasion of which the DPAs issued a “Statement‘Statement on AI and Children”Children’ urging action to safeguard children’s privacy and ensure AI fosters trust while protecting the most vulnerable; recalls that the EDPS carried out thea annualdedicated inspection on Europol’s processing of data about minors under 15 marked as suspects; appreciates that the EDPS found that the general process for the assessment of information provided by partners on minors (including minors under 15 years old) is clear and well developed; notes that the EDPS inspection report asks Europol to conductcontinue conducting its own assessment on the lawfulness of data received and raises concerns onunderlined whetherthat Europol meets theneeds thresholdto ofassess ‘strict proportionality’necessity’ for the processing of data on minors suspected of minor infractions;crimes;

22.23. Recalls that in 2022 the EDPS brought an action for the annulment of two provisions of the amended Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilbeforeCouncil before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which was later rejected by the CJEU, but then appealed by the EDPS at the General Court ruling in case T-578/22, believing the issues raised should be addressed at the highest level; notes from the Follow-up Report that the EDPS is refraining from commenting on that appeal, as it is ongoing; recalls that bringing legal matters before the CJEU by the EDPS in its supervisory role should not be seen as affecting the loyal cooperation and good relations between the EDPS and the entities it supervises;supervises, but notes that it casts doubts on the EDPS’ position towards the role of Parliament and the Council as legislator;

24.25. Notes from the Questionnaire that the Commission’s Internal Audit Service (IAS) launched one audit in 2024, on governance for IT services provided by Parliament to the EDPS, which resulted in two recommendations currently being implemented by the EDPS; notes with regard to an audit from 2023 on the ‘methodology for the planning of EDPS audits’ that one of the two recommendations issued by the IAS has been addressed while implementation of the other recommendation (on the design of methodology to establish the EDPS audit plan) has been postponed for when the new Supervisor will be appointed; calls on the EDPS to keep the discharge authority informed on the progress made in this matter;matter, noting that the EDPS should consult the entities audited by it regarding the feasibility and suitability of recommendations planned to be made, to ensure a swift, effective and resourceful implementation of the recommendations thereafter by the audited body;

25.26. Notes that, at the end of 2024, the EDPS had 137 members of staff, compared to 129 in 2023; notes that the EDPS employed 55 contract staff (CAs) under Article 3(b) of the Staff Regulations3b of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (50 CA in 2023), 9 temporary agents (TA) under Article 2(b)2, points (b) and 2(c)(c), (7 TAs in 2023) and used the services of 10 external services providers (EXT) working intra-muros in 2023 (12 EXT in 2022); invites the EDPS to reflect on the way to reduce the number of CAs in favour of permanent contracts to guaranteeensure talent retention and business continuity; notes that the EDPS had 23 nationalities from the Member States in 2024 (the same as in 2023) represented among its staff, which is, despitedespite, the over-representation of 5 nationalities and the underrepresentation of other nationalities, an excellent score for such a small institution; calls on the EDPS to continue its efforts towards a balanced geographical distribution of nationals from all Member States, with particular regard to the managerial level, including through its recruitment policy;

26.27. Notes a high occupancy rate of the establishment plan of 98,80 % (compared to 95,65 % in 2023) but also a high turnover rate of 12 % in 2024 (compared to 13 % in 2023); notes that most of the unfilled positions were a result of candidates being unsuitable; acknowledges the challenges identified in recruitment and selection procedures; notes with satisfaction from the Follow-up Report that the EDPS addressed these challenges by developing a comprehensive staff retention and talent attraction strategy which was adopted in the beginning of 2025, with short, medium and long-terms actions for retention of experienced staff, mitigation of turnover risks and improvement of the EDPS’ attractiveness as an employer; encourages the EDPS to continue improving recruitment procedures, while fully respecting the principles of merit, transparency and equal treatment;

30.31. Notes, from the Questionnaire, that the EDPS offers flexible and hybrid working arrangements, that are well-received by members of staff who can benefit inter alia from parental leave, time credits, part-time work or working from abroad for a limited number of days per year; notes that the next staff satisfaction survey, covering teleworking, was planned for 2025; considers that building infrastructure could be optimised, where appropriate, in order to reflect teleworking and hybrid working arrangements, with a view to reducing operational costs and ensuring a more efficient use of office space;

32.33. Notes from the Questionnaire the EDPS’ reply whereby the EDPS has no access to medical files of its staff and is not in the position to know the root cause of absences, as they are validated by the Medical Service of the Commission; notes that the EDPS only has access to aggregated data such as the number of sick-leave days and whether they are accompanied by a medical certificate; notes that the increase from 2023 to 2024 in the number of sick leave days, i.e. from 1 680,50 to 1 946 (+15,80 %) outpaced the increase in the number of staff from 129 to 137 (i.e. +6,20 %); notes that the average duration of sickness per person also increased, from 14,7 days in 2023 to 18,30 in 2024, and that the sick leave rate increased from 3,60 % in 2023 to 3,9 % in 2024; is worried by the current situation and continues to request a clearer evaluation of staff wellbeing to identify possible recurrent causes of burnout, cases of which should be reported yearly to the discharge authority as every other institution; requests that the EDPS, in cooperation with the Commission’s Medical Service, perform a targeted assessment of the root causes of this increase, with a specific focus on preventing burnout;

34.35. Notes that the EDPS has set up a framework to prevent conflicts of interest at the level of senior management and staff through codes of conduct, awareness raising and declarations of absence of conflicts of interest and confidentiality (DOICs); notes that all staff joining the EDPS have to sign a DOIC; notes that in 2024 no cases of conflicts of interest or whistleblowing were registered at the EDPS; notes with concern that one case of alleged fraud was reported in the EDPS in 2024, which the Commission’s disciplinary office (IDOC) investigated; notes in this case that IDOC closed the inquiry in 2025 with the recommendation made to the EDPS to initiate disciplinary proceedings in accordance with the Staff Regulations; invites the EDPS to keep the discharge authority informed on final outcome of that matter;matter, as well as related to any potential measures taken to strengthen internal anti-fraud controls;

36.37. Welcomes the overall high level of transparency achieved by the EDPS concerning its activities, including as regards the publication of the agenda and the declaration of interests of the Supervisor and of the SG; notes with satisfaction from the Questionnaire that, following an internal assessment on transparency measures performed in 2023-2024, the EDPS adopted a decision in 2025 whereby the Supervisor, the SG and the EDPS staff holding managerial responsibilities will meet interest representatives only if registered in the Union’s Transparency Register; welcomes that with that decision the EDPS is part of the Union’s Transparency Register, whose Management Board was duly notified; recommends that the EDPS publish a list of all meetings held with interest representatives on its website to further enhance public accountability and transparency;

39. Emphasises the role of the EDPS in supervising the personal data processing operations of EUIBAs; expresses concern about the time it takes the EDPS to handle complaints; recalls the European Ombudsman’s Decision of 7 November 2024 in case 1888/2023/TM, in which the European Ombudsman found that six years for the EDPS to complete its assessment of a complaint does not constitute a reasonable timeframe and that the EDPS’s approach constituted maladministration; notes that the European Ombudsman found that the EDPS also failed to keep the complainant informed on the progress of the case;

43. Notes that the EDPS’ limited internal IT staffing is partly compensated by IT services provided by Parliament and the Commission under SLAs and a chargeback mechanism; recalls that Parliament already identified, in its 2023 discharge resolution, structural gaps between such interinstitutional IT services and the specific operational needs of the EDPS; stresses that, while this model can generate economies of scale, it may reduce cost predictability and the direct control of small institutions over the evolution of IT-related expenditure, and underlines the importance of taking these structural cost pressures into account in future budgetary planning;

44. Highlights the EDPS’ work on open-source, Union-based collaborative cloud solutions, notably the Nextcloud project and its migration towards a Commission-managed data centre, with a view to strengthening data sovereignty and reducing dependencies on non-Union providers; invites the EDPS to provide the discharge authority with an assessment of the project’s total cost of ownership, security benefits and scalability for other Union institutions;

48.52. Notes that the EDPS has not joined the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS); notes that, with a view to becoming EMAS certified, the EDPS established in 2024 a cross-unit working group whose objectives are to map existing measures already implemented by Parliament, develop carbon reducing strategies and propose innovative solutions; invitescalls on the EDPS to set a clear timeline for achieving EMAS certification and to keep the discharge authority updated on the progress made in this matter;