On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section VII – Committee of the Regions

PR_DEC_Other

1. PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section VII – Committee of the Regions

(2023/2136(DEC))

– having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022,

– having regard to the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2022 (COM(2023)0391 – C90255/2023),

– having regard to the Committee of the Regions’ annual activity report for 2022 and its report on budgetary and financial management for the financial year 2022 (0000/2023),

– having regard to the Court of Auditors’ annual report on the implementation of the budget concerning the financial year 2022, together with the institutions’ replies,

– having regard to the statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions provided by the Court of Auditors for the financial year 2022, pursuant to Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Article 314(10) and Articles 317, 318 and 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, and in particular Articles 59, 118, 260, 261 and 262 thereof,

– having regard to Rule 100 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A90000/2024),

1. Grants the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the of the Committee of the Regions for the financial year 2022 / Postpones its decision on granting the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Committee of the Regions for the financial year 2022;

2. Sets out its observations in the resolution below;

3. Instructs its President to forward this decision and the resolution forming an integral part of it to the Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, and to arrange for their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (L series).

2. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

with observations forming an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section VII – Committee of the Regions

(2023/2136(DEC))

– having regard to its decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section VII – Committee of the Regions,

– having regard to Rule 100 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A90000/2024),

A. whereas in the context of the discharge procedure, the discharge authority wishes to stress the particular importance of further strengthening the democratic legitimacy of the Union institutions by improving transparency and accountability, and implementing the concept of performance-based budgeting and good governance of human resources;

B. whereas the Committee of the Regions (the ‘Committee’) is a political assembly of 329 members elected in the regions, cities, villages and municipalities of the 27 Member States of the Union, operating as a consultative body for the Union institutions, with the mission of contributing to the Union policy shaping and decision making process from the point of view of the local and regional authorities and at the same time contributing to make the Union more effective and closer to the citizens;

C. whereas the consultation of the Committee by the Commission or the Council is mandatory in certain cases, while the Committee may also adopt opinions on its own initiative and enjoys a wide area for referral, as set out in the Treaties, allowing it to be consulted by Parliament;

D. whereas the Committee’s activities are defined on the basis of its overall political strategy as set out in its resolution of 2 July 2020 on its priorities for 2020-2025, and whereas the Committee adopted three political priorities for the 2020-2025 mandate, accompanied by three communication campaigns: Bringing Europe closer to people, Building resilient regional and local communities, and Promoting cohesion as a fundamental value of the EU;

E. whereas the local and regional administrations account for one third of public spending, half of public investment and one fourth of tax revenues and, in many Member States, hold competencies in key areas such as education, economic development and cohesion, environment, social protection, health and services of general interest, hence the coordination of local, regional, national and European levels increases the legitimacy of legislation, improves ownership and pursues more effectively the benefit of citizens;

F. whereas the Committee pursues its political goal to strengthen its involvement in the entire Union political and legislative cycle while makings more tangible the connection with Union citizens that use the Committee’s members as powerful multipliers in their communities and in their national associations of local and regional authorities;

G. whereas the over 400 national and regional programmes in place for the delivery of Union cohesion policy in the 2021-2027 programming period will make available approximately EUR 380 billion, under different funds, to tackle the economic, social and environmental challenges that regions and cities in the Union are facing;

H. whereas, as an Union institution within the meaning of the Financial Regulation, the Committee is required to adopt its own annual accounts, prepared in accordance with the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer (European Union Accounting Rules) and based on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, which are ultimately consolidated into those of the Union;

1. Notes that the budget of the Committee falls under MFF heading 7 ‘European public administration’, which amounted to a total of EUR 11,6 billion in 2022, i.e. 5,9 % of Union budget spending; notes that, in 2022, the budget of the Committee represented 0,95 % of MFF heading 7 appropriations;

2. Notes that the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) in its Annual Report for the financial year 2022 examined a sample of 60 transactions under Administration, the same number as were examined in 2021; further notes that the Court writes that administrative expenditure comprises expenditure on human resources, including expenditure on pensions, which in 2022 accounted for about 70 % of the total administrative expenditure, and expenditure on buildings, equipment, energy, communications and information technology and that its work over many years indicates that, overall, this spending is low risk;

3. Notes that, as part of its audit for 2022, the Court, examined the supervisory and control systems of the Committee, in particular the implementation of internal control standards, risk management and the functioning of key controls defined in the Financial Regulation, including ex ante and ex post controls on payments;

4. Notes that 14 (23 %) of the 60 transactions contained errors but that the Court, based on the five errors which were quantified, estimates the level of error to be below the materiality threshold;

5. Notes with satisfaction that the Court, in its Annual Report for the financial year 2022, states that it did not identify any specific issues concerning the Committee;

Budgetary and financial management

6. Notes that, in 2022, the final adopted budget for the Committee amounted to EUR 109 976 858, including Amending Budget 5/2022, representing an overall increase of 3,03 % compared to 2021; notes that the appropriations on budget line 1004 for ‘travel and subsistence allowances, attendance at meetings and associated expenditure’ increased from EUR 4 244 488 to EUR 8 158 838, i.e. by 92 %, between 2021 and 2022, owing to the resumption of travel after the COVID-19 pandemic; notes that, otherwise, the distribution of appropriations across budget lines in the 2022 budget remained comparable to previous years’ distribution;

7. Notes that the missions’ budget for 2022 amounted to EUR 419,657, compared to EUR 169 856 in 2021, i.e. an increase of 147 %, which can be explained by the number of online meetings in 2021 and at the beginning of 2022 due to the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the increase in travel prices in 2022; notes that the allowance for the President for travel and meeting expenses, which are financed from the general missions’ budget, increased from EUR 49 852 to EUR 71 810, i.e. an increase of 44 %, between 2021 and 2022; welcomes the guidance towards a more cost effective, purposeful and sustainable mission policy that was circulated in June 2022 with a view to reducing the Committee’s staff missions to a minimum;

8. Notes that the budget implementation rate was 99,2 % in 2022, which is slightly higher than in 2021, when the budget implementation rate was 98,9 %;

9. Notes that the average time for payment in 2022 was 17,87 days, which is higher than in 2021 when it was 16,11 days; notes that, at the same time, the percentage of electronic invoicing increased from 32 % to 68 %; remarks that there is no correlation between the two figures and calls on the Committee to complete the digitalisation of the payment workflow aiming to improve its efficiency and timeliness;

10. Notes that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine created budgetary pressure for the Committee, including through rising inflation and salary adjustments, strongly increasing energy costs and the cost of construction and raw materials notes further that the Committee mobilised its political support to Ukrainian local and regional authorities and organised activities in relation to the war in Ukraine, which had an impact on the budget for missions, studies and trainings;

11. Notes that the Committee’s own services organised 14 procurement tenders in 2022, including 11 negotiated procurement procedures for remote interpretation services in the Member States; notes that procurement procedures in the field of logistics were launched by the joint services that the Committee shares with the European Economic and Social Committee (the ‘EESC’);

Internal management, performance and internal control

12. Notes that the Committee contributes to the Union policy and decision making process from the perspective of the regional and local authorities within the Union and provides a framework to enhance cooperation between the local, regional, national and European levels and to bring Europe closer to its citizens; welcomes the relevance of the contribution of the Committee to important Union topics such as the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility as reflected in Parliament’s resolution of 23 June 2022 on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility;

13. Notes that the Committee pursues its mission through opinions, which refer to legislative proposals made by the Commission (referrals), own-initiative opinions, which call on the Union institutions to take action, and resolutions, which highlight the Committee’s position on specific topics; notes that, in 2022, the Committee adopted 55 opinions and 8 resolutions, which is slightly lower than in 2021, when the Committee adopted 60 opinions and 9 resolutions;

14. Notes positively that the Committee took concrete steps to strengthen its involvement in the entire Union political and legislative cycle in line with its prerogatives under the Treaties; welcomes, in particular, the cooperation agreement between Parliament and the Committee and the close cooperation between the Committee and several parliamentary committees, intergroups and Directorates-General; notes that, in 2022, the Committee organised 56 preparatory and follow-up meetings with Parliament for the rapporteurs of its opinions; notes further that 20 Committee rapporteurs intervened in Parliament’s committee meetings in 2022; congratulates the Committee for strengthening its involvement in legislative trilogues, notably by being granted access to trilogue documents;

15. Welcomes the measures taken by the Committee throughout 2022 to optimise its resources and to improve cost-effectiveness while increasing the impact of its political work in the context of the ‘Going for IMPact’ programme and in particular the 43 simplification and digitalisation projects contributing to the modernisation of the Committee’s administration and to the digitalisation of workflows as part of the ‘Strategy on the simplification of Committee rules and procedures for the period 2020-2025’;

16. Welcomes the active involvement of the Committee in the works of the Conference on the Future of Europe (‘COFE’) with a delegation of 30 members, 12 of whom represented the European associations of local and regional authorities; notes that, following the work performed in 2021, in 2022 the Committee organised 14 meetings with COFE delegates and 9 preparatory meetings; notes that proposals contained in the final report of the COFE, issued on 9 May 2022, were taken up in the Committee’s project ‘Tapping into the regional and local authorities’ potential to strengthen the EU’, which was implemented throughout 2022;

17. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee reviewed and strengthened its internal control framework at the levels of planning and reporting, systems, financial verification and sensitive functions; congratulates the Committee for developing the dedicated ‘Convergence’ tool and platform for planning, reporting, risk assessment and business continuity; notes that the new sensitive posts policy entered into force on 1 January 2022 and was communicated to staff on 27 January 2022;

18. Notes that, until April 2022, all meetings were held online, whereas as of April 2022, statutory meetings were organised in physical presence, while other meetings could be organised remotely or in hybrid format; notes that, until the revision of the Committee’s Rules of Procedure in 2023, a flat-rate meeting allowance of EUR 200 for remote and hybrid meetings continued to be paid according to the rules in place since 2021; notes that as of July 2023, the remote meeting allowance was set at 50 % of the standard meeting allowance (i.e. currently 50 % of EUR 359, equalling EUR 179,50); considers that remote attendance is an important instrument for modern institutions, given that, inter alia, it reduces the costs of meetings and allows broader participation, especially during crisis situations, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic; nevertheless considers that an allowance for remote participation, despite being reduced, is difficult for the public to understand, even more so when taking into consideration the difference paid to the members of the Committee and the members of the EESC for attending meetings remotely; notes with satisfaction that the recommendations of the internal audit on the adequacy of the planning and management of allowances and reimbursements to members for attendances at meetings were satisfactorily implemented;

Human resources, equality and staff well-being

19. Notes that, at the end of 2022, the Committee had a total of 533 members of staff, compared to 547 in 2021 and 537 in 2020; notes that 56 contract agents and 89 temporary agents were employed by the Committee at the end of 2022, out of which 21 contract agents had an indefinite contract and 3 temporary agents were employed on a temporary position, including the President, with an indefinite contract in two cases and for a duration of 5 years in the case of the President; notes, in addition, that the Committee employed 8 interim agents and 14 external members of staff working on-site, excluding external service providers in the fields of logistics and IT; notes, in 2022, that the occupation rate of the posts in the establishment plan was 96 %;

20. Notes that a new pilot project on a hybrid working regime, aiming to align the HR framework to new ways of working, entered into force in April 2022, providing the possibility for Committee staff to organise their weekly and daily work with a high degree of flexibility and to telework up to 60 % of their working time; welcomes that the new regime allows for the possibility of a number of part-time formulas based on the statutory rights provided in the Staff Regulation; notes with satisfaction that 90,25 % of those that responded to the staff survey of December 2022 indicated their satisfaction with those flexible arrangements;

21. Notes that 16 cases of burnout were reported in the Committee in 2022; notes further that the Committee managed to reintegrate 15 staff members in 2022 after a long-term absence as a result burnout, thanks to a personalised follow-up of long-term sickness leave;

22. Notes that the Committee continued to raise awareness about the measures put in place to combat harassment in the workplace, in accordance with its Decision of 26 April 2021 on protecting dignity at work, managing conflict and combatting harassment, notably through dedicated guidance, internal communication and the organisation of several information sessions for staff and managers; notes that, in 2022, the Committee had to deal with a new allegation of psychological harassment by a member of staff of the EESC against a member of staff of the Committee, which is still under examination by both committees; calls on the Committee to report on the follow-up to those allegations, notably taking into account the inter-institutional perspective;

23. Notes that, at the end of 2022, the Committee was employing 56,8 % women and 43,2 % men, compared to 56,6 % women in 2021 and and 55,5 % women in 2020; notes with concerns that the distribution of women across grades and status follows the same trend as in previous years and regrets that, despite the appointment of a new female director in 2023 and some efforts to attract more women to management positions, the situation remains particularly unbalanced both at senior and middle management levels;

24 Notes that, in 2022, the Committee launched a new five-year diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan; encourages the Committee to pursue its efforts to reach the targets set out in that strategy and action plan, notably the gender equality target of 40 % of women in senior management positions by 2024; welcomes the awareness-raising and the targeted measures put in place to promote and enhance a more diverse and inclusive workplace at the level of staff representation and contact points across all Committee departments under the coordination of a dedicated diversity and inclusion coordinator;

25. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee was employing members of staff representing all Union nationalities and one member of staff of Ukrainian nationality; welcomes the Committee’s efforts to balance the geographical distribution among its staff, for instance by reaching out to a wider pool of potential candidates for permanent positions and by promoting expert and non-permanent positions through its networks at national, regional and local levels; welcomes the participation of the Committee in the interinstitutional taskforce on geographical balance aiming to share best practices and creating synergies among Union institutions;

26. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee ran, for the first time, apilot interinstitutional job shadowing scheme involving 3 Union institutions and 25 participants, aiming to increase the understanding of the working methods and processes of other institutions, reinforcing interinstitutional collaboration, promoting mobility and providing for a more flexible workforce; congratulates the Committee for launching this innovative interinstitutional initiative which was then scaled up and taken over by the European School of Administration as of 2023;

27. Notes that the Committee had 60 trainees in 2022 of whom 48 were remunerated trainees and 12 were study visitors receiving a social allowance in two cases; welcomes the new rules approved in 2022 in relation to the remuneration of trainees, whereby study visits can only be approved if either the trainee receives funding from another source or the traineeship is mandatory in the context of the trainee’s studies and whereby all types of trainees can request a social allowance in duly justified cases; welcomes that trainees’ working conditions are aligned to those of the staff under the new flexible working arrangements under which all trainees may telework from abroad one day per month of the traineeship;

Ethical framework and transparency

28. Welcomes the efforts of the Committee to enhance ethical awareness among its staff and the enforcement of ethics rules in different procedures, such as recruitment, and of ethical obligations and rights in different administrative positions, outside activities, training and leaving the service, as a follow-up to the internal audit on staff awareness of ethics; notes that the basic documents and rules underlying the ethical framework were published on the Committee’s intranet in order to raise staff awareness about ethics rules; notes further that 14 collective training courses were organised by the Committee specifically on ethics-related topics in 2022, reaching 107 staff members, and that 75 % of staff attended the general ethics training course throughout 2022;

29. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee continued the implementation of its 2020 code of conduct for members and, in that respect, intensified its efforts to collect missing financial declarations of members; notes that six alternate members appointed in January 2020 had still failed to submit their financial declarations by June 2023 and that, although none of those six members had attended any meeting of the Committee since their appointment, the Committee launched the enforcement procedure laid down in the members’ code of conduct;

30. Notes that the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) investigated three cases in 2022, among which one new case concerned outside gainful activities and two ongoing cases, closed the same year, concerned respectively undue payment of travel allowances and allegations of financial wrongdoings, harassment and mismanagement in a joint service of the Committee and the EESC; notes that the case concerning the payment of undue travel allowances was closed at the beginning of 2022 with the request of the Committee to reimburse the allowance received for ethical reasons in the absence of a legal basis to recover such amounts; asks the Committee to inform the discharge authority of any follow-up to this case in accordance with the statutory obligations of staff under the Staff Regulations, in particular because the case involved a member of the Committee who was, at the same time, an accredited parliamentary assistant, with Brussels being contractual place of work there was no need for travel expenses for meetings of the Committee taking place in Brussels; regrets that the member did not reimburse the disputed amounts and expects that OLAF’s request to impose disciplinary measures against the member, currently processed by the competent bodies of the Committee, will be followed up in due time; notes that the case concerning allegations of financial wrongdoings, harassment and mismanagement in a joint service gave rise to a conflict-management exercise involving the persons concerned, their hierarchy and the respective HR departments with a five-point action plan which was implemented throughout 2021 and 2022;

31. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee continued to implement transparency measures, such as the publication of members’ declarations of financial interest on its website, but did not formally join the EU Transparency Register set up by the interinstitutional agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on a mandatory transparency register; is aware that new transparency measures focusing on office-holding members and rapporteurs were adopted in 2023 by the Committee in line with the principles of the EU Transparency Register, but considers that transparency would be more effectively enforced through actually joining that Register; reiterates its call on the Committee in the 2021 discharge resolution to reconsider its participation in the EU Transparency Register;

32. Notes that, in 2022, the Committee did not detect any conflicts of interest, which would have required a follow-up by the administration; notes that the Committee did not adopt any new measures to prevent conflicts of interest and avoid revolving doors between the public and the private sector in 2022 and continued to rely on the rules in place and to promote them through ethics trainings;

33. Notes that no cases of whistleblowing were reported to the Committee in 2022; notes that the Committee did not adopt any new measures concerning whistleblowing in 2022 and continued to rely on the measures in place since 2015 and to promote them through ethics trainings;

34. Notes that the Committee did not adopt any internal anti-fraud strategy in 2022; reiterates its call on the Committee in the 2021 discharge resolution to launch an internal fraud risk analysis and to coordinate with the competent services of the Commission with a view to adopting an adequate internal anti-fraud strategy;

Digitalisation, cybersecurity and data protection

35. Notes that the combined IT budget of the Committee and the EESC amounted to EUR 11 712 000 in 2022, including a reinforcement of EUR 750 000 by an internal budget transfer during the year, compared to EUR 12 860 000 in 2021, i.e. a decrease of 9 %;

36. Notes that the Committee has a digital strategy aiming to provide IT services according to the best practices of IT management while optimising the use of human and financial resources; notes that the Committee worked on the adaptation and development of several strategic IT tools throughout 2022 aiming to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the political work of the Committee and of its administrative processes and workflows; notes that the main IT infrastructure project in 2022 concerned an adaptation of the network typology required for the new computer room in the Jacques Delors Building (JDE) in line with the hybrid cloud roadmap;

37. Notes that the Committee increased the amount of hybrid meetings in 2022 in order to adapt to hybrid work and to align its practices to the new guidance towards a more cost effective, purposeful and sustainable missions policy, which requires the Committee to optimise its way of working and replace as many staff missions as possible by video-conferencing; understands that this new way of working required a technical upgrade in terms of equipment for hybrid meeting rooms;

38. Notes that the Committee adopted new internal rules on data protection in 2022 containing 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;

39. Notes that the Committee did not encounter any cyber-attacks in 2022; notes that the Committee and the CoR’s new joint Directorate for Innovation and Information Technology involves a unit for digital platforms, 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 response team for the Union’s institutions, bodies and agencies (CERT-EU);

40. 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’ and ‘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

41. 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, while reducing the environmental footprint;

42. 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;

43. 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, 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 buildings of Parliament;

44. 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;

45. 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

46. Welcomes the green 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’ application used to support the political work of the Committee was adapted in 2022 so as to generate the ‘carbon 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;

47. 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, the Committee and the EESC will face a delay before being able to extend their solar panel installation;

48. 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;

Interinstitutional cooperation

49. 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 Directorate for Innovation and Information Technology was created as part of the new cooperation agreement signed between the Committee and the EESC in 2022; notes further that 470 staff members 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 both committees; 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;

50. 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;

51. 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;

52. 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 possibilities of using distant interpretation facilities in view of the fast development of that sector;

53. Notes that the Committee promotes the visibility and impact of its work based on inter-institutional cooperation through targeted presentation 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

54. 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 regions and cities and the role of its members;

55 Notes that the Committee continued to host the regular meetings of the directors- 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;

56. 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 ‘EU counsellors’ that had 2 037 registered members at the end of 2022 and the ‘young elected 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 Bureau 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;

57. 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; 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;

58. 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;

59. 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.