On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2022

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SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) has declared the transactions underlying the annuals accounts of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for the financial year 2022 to be legal and regular in all material respects; notes the Court’s observation on recurrent high rates of carry-overs related to operational activities amounting to € 6,4 million (26 %) of available 2022 commitment appropriations to 2023; highlights the Court’s comment that recurrent high rates of carry overs contradict the budgetary principle of annularity and are indicative of structural issues in the budget process and implementation cycle; notes FRA’s reply stipulating that the specific frame in which FRA works, makes it difficult to commit Operational expenditure earlier in the year and it is difficult to fully avoid carry overs; stresses that FRA maintains a good budget implementation with an outturn higher than 99% in the last ten years;

2. Notes with satisfaction FRA’s assistance in identifying trend in the fields of anti-discrimination, artificial intelligence, its contribution to better law making and implementation by providing legislative and policy advice on matters such as children’s rights, victims’ rights, combatting terrorism, data protection, anti-racism, anti-semitism, ethnic minorities, LGBTIQ people and other vulnerable groups;

3. Recognizes the quick reaction of FRA to the Russian invasion of Ukraine including being one of the first EU agencies at the border, monitoring the situation, preparing a report, two bulletins, online survey; welcomes FRA’s timely response to emerging fundamental rights issues such as FRA’s general guidance in its report on ‘Establishing national independent mechanisms to monitor fundamental rights compliance at EU external borders’; providing assistance to EU Member States in setting up or strengthening national mechanisms to monitor fundamental rights compliance, ensuring safeguards to guarantee the independence of the mechansim; recalls that international law requires non-discriminatory treatment for all refugees;

4. Welcomes the FRA's continuous initiatives to foster synergies across EU agencies’ and its coordinating role in a range of initiatives with the network of JHA agencies including on data protection and gender-based violence; notes with appreciation the close cooperation with the European Border Coast Agency (Frontex), namely co-chairing the Frontex Consultative Forum and attending as fundamental rights expert at the Frontex Management Board meetings; welcomes the delivery of training sessions to European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), Frontex and European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) on fundamental rights and the use of IT systems in the area of borders and security; appreciates the participation in the work in the field of security with European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol); welcomes the cooperation with European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to prepare for fieldwork for the Violence against Women Survey II;

5. Notes with satisfaction that FRA largely exceeded its key performance indicator targets and maintained a high level of stakeholder satisfaction; welcomes the fact that in 2022, FRA produced 28 publications, 3 062 research outputs, 342 written or verbal inputs, as well as organised or co-organised 134 meetings and events and that 4 319 references were made to the FRA in the media; notes with satisfaction the increased social media engagement in 2022;

6. Welcomes the high level of satisfaction of stakeholders with the activities by the FRA to promote cooperation through the Fundamental Rights Platform in 2022; appreciates that FRA organised a range of events, including the fourth Fundamental Rights Dialogue with young people, as well as other workshops and webinars to prompting rights, values and freedoms;

7. Acknowledges the role of FRA in empowering the national human rights infrastructure, by cooperating and creating synergies with human rights institutions and the partnership with civil society institutions; notes its continuous guidance in the area of asylum and migration, with regular overviews adressed to Member States of migration-related fundamental rights concerns; welcomes the role of FRA in fostering a human rights-based narrative by developing effective communications, engaging in the development of new digital applications and tools, and bringing together human rights actors to promote European values and freedoms;

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted

23.1.2024

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

47

9

0

Members present for the final vote

Magdalena Adamowicz, Abir Al-Sahlani, Katarina Barley, Pietro Bartolo, Theresa Bielowski, Patrick Breyer, Saskia Bricmont, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Damien Carême, Patricia Chagnon, Lena Düpont, Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, Cornelia Ernst, Nicolaus Fest, Maria Grapini, Sylvie Guillaume, Andrzej Halicki, Evin Incir, Sophia in ‘t Veld, Patryk Jaki, Marina Kaljurand, Assita Kanko, Łukasz Kohut, Moritz Körner, Alice Kuhnke, Jeroen Lenaers, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Erik Marquardt, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Diana Riba i Giner, Isabel Santos, Birgit Sippel, Vincenzo Sofo, Tineke Strik, Jana Toom, Milan Uhrík, Tom Vandendriessche, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Elena Yoncheva, Javier Zarzalejos

Substitutes present for the final vote

Cyrus Engerer, José Gusmão, Beata Kempa, Leopoldo López Gil, Janina Ochojska, Anne-Sophie Pelletier, Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, Róża Thun und Hohenstein, Maria Walsh, Tomáš Zdechovský

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

Andrus Ansip, Hildegard Bentele, Maria da Graça Carvalho, Marisa Matias, Caroline Nagtegaal

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

The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he 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.

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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