What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Changed:2. Notes that the Agency ended the year with a fees and charges budgetary result of negative EUR 8,2 million (compared to EUR 11,2 million in 2021); observes as a consequence that the Agency’s accumulated fees and charges surplus was brought down from EUR 72,1 million to EUR 63,9 million; notes that the rate of cancelled appropriations relating to commitments carried over to 2022 was at 2,82%, below the 5 % ceiling set by the Commission;

Removed:7. Notes the Agency’s actions in response to the war in Ukraine, such as the publication of a Conflict Zone information Bulletin recommending operators to not overfly the areas with intense or heightened military activity, and the publication of Safety Information Bulletin on intermittent GNSS outages near Ukraine conflict areas; commends in this context that, after the trial phase of the initiative, the European Information Sharing and Cooperation Platform on Conflict Zones became operational with the objective to share information on threats to civil aviation arising from zones of conflict or armed insurgency; further highlights that illegal invasion of Ukraine has resulted in new safety issues and has strengthened pre-existing ones;

Added:7. Salutes digital transformation of the European skies, including enhanced mobility options and streamlined qualifications for Air Traffic Controllers licencing and training and ATM Ground Systems; calls for the amendment of SERA RT phraseologies for communication between pilots and air traffic controllers; stresses that digital transformation of the European skies comprises several individual components and building blocks that are critical solutions for the future airspace architecture and aim to support safety, efficiency, and environmental performance;

Removed:8. Acknowledges that the Agency complied with the sanctions and policies set by the Commission after the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and all cooperation activities with the Russian Federation were suspended, while the Agency focussed its attention on activities supporting Ukraine; welcomes in this context the fact that the Agency's Ramp Coordination team has supported the Commission in establishing a list of aircraft registrations that are used or controlled by Russian nationals, whereas the list was updated 38 times and covered more than a thousand aircraft in 2022;

Added:8. Highlights the importance of Single European Sky tackling the fragmentation of European airspace and aiming at improving ATM performance from the safety, capacity, cost-efficiency and environmental perspectives; welcomes the Agency’s work in Single European Sky 2+ reform in 2022, particularly in the harmonization of ATCOs through licensing and the certification by the Agency of ATM/ANS ground systems; commends that both reforms reduce cost and increase capacity for ATM, and provide significant added value for the Single European Sky 2+ package of initiative;

Changed:9.12. Commends the Agency for sharing resources on overlapping tasks and competences with other Agencies, including in the areas of human resources advisory services, digitalisation and tools, e-learning and surveys, as well as for the participation in inter-institutional and inter-agency calls for tender; notes that the Agency is collaborating closely with the European Environmental Agency for the elaboration of reports such as the European Aviation Environmental Report, with EUROCONTROLEurocontrol for mutual opportunities in aviation related learning solutions and with European Union Agency for Railways through a Memorandum a Cooperation signed in 2022 that establishes a regular structured dialogue and enhances the sharing of information, knowledge and experience in various cooperation areas; welcomes that the Agency has strategic partnerships on the sharing of resources and information with almost all of the national competent aviation authorities in its Member States;

Removed:10. Recalls that in 2020 the corporate transformation programme "Destination: Future-proof" was put in place to reduce costs, improve efficiency and address the Agency’s key ‘drivers’; notes that that programme, formally concluded in 2022, has delivered on key changes that include, among other, a simplified rulemaking procedure, pre-application services for innovative technologies and an improved corporate programming process, as well as a gain of 12 % in productivity (when comparing 2022 to 2019 outputs) equivalent to a reduction in the Agency’s overhead of 36 FTEs; welcomes the fact that the programme approach for achieving efficiency as well as the infrastructure to initiate new initiatives has been established so that the Agency can continue to improve processes and digitalise;

Added:13. Welcomes that the Agency has established a number of partnerships with other Union bodies to improve efficiency and coherence, including the European Environment Agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, the SESAR3 Joint Undertaking; welcomes the cooperation on learning solutions with several agencies on issues of common interest in the fields of human resources advisory services, digitalisation and tools, e-learning and surveys, including the European Medicines Agency, the European Securities Market Authority, the European Food Safety Authority and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office;

Added:14. Recalls that in 2020, the corporate transformation programme "Destination: Future-proof" was put in place to reduce costs, improve efficiency and address the Agency’s key ‘drivers’; notes that that programme, formally concluded in 2022, has delivered on key changes that include, among other, a simplified rulemaking procedure, pre-application services for innovative technologies and an improved corporate programming process, as well as a gain of 12 % in productivity (when comparing 2022 to 2019 outputs) equivalent to a reduction in the Agency’s overhead of 36 full time equivalents; welcomes the fact that the programme approach for achieving efficiency, as well as the infrastructure to initiate new initiatives has been established so that the Agency can continue to improve processes and digitalise;

Changed:14.18. Notes that the Agency made significant investments on reinforcing technical capabilities during 2022 and on offering career progression opportunities with a renewed competence policy; notes in this context that in 2022 the Agency successfully recruited over 60 newcomers, onboardeddeployed the third generation of Junior Qualification Programme (JQP), offered internal career development opportunities to over 70 staff members and delivered 98%98 % of planned technical trainings to staff; commends the Agency’s very low turnover rate (0,1 %) in 2022;

Changed:15.19. Observes with concern the lack of gender balance within the Agency’s senior and middle management members, with 17 out of 22 (77 %) being menmen, and within the Agency’s management board, with 59 out of 79 (75 %) being men; further notes the gender balance within the Agency’s overall staff, with 525 out of 757 (69 %) being men; takes note that the Agency is systematically monitoring the gender distribution among applicants and actively reaches out for female candidates, by publishing the positions in the right forums, explicitly encouraging applications from female candidates, and drafting positions with precise information as it may affect work-life balance; calls on the Agency to continue its efforts towards gender balance at management and overall staff level through concrete actions that attract applications from women for posts offered by the Agency; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Agency’s management board;

Removed:16. Notes from the Agency’s report with regard to the follow-up measures taken in light of the discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency's for the financial year 2021 (hereinafter The ‘Agency's Report’), that, based on its competency management and strategic workforce planning programme, the Agency identified a stable staffing scenario 2022+ with significant external resource investments in technical and corporate expertise areas both for traditional tasks and emerging domains based on the Agency’s mid-term strategic priorities, including e.g. new technologies, cybersecurity, safety assessment, flight test and research;

Added:20. Welcomes that the Agency maintained focus on gender balance, geographical balance and diversity; recalls the importance to develop a long term human resources policy on work-life balance and the offer of specific training possibilities for career development, home office, right to disconnect, the enhancement of a geographical balance to have an appropriate representation from all Member States, and the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities, as well as the promotion of their equal treatment and their opportunities;

Added:21. Notes from the Agency’s report with regard to the follow-up measures taken in light of the discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Agency's for the financial year 2021 (he ‘Agency's report’), that, based on its competency management and strategic workforce planning programme, the Agency identified a stable staffing scenario 2022+ with significant external resource investments in technical and corporate expertise areas both for traditional tasks and emerging domains based on the Agency’s mid-term strategic priorities, including e.g. new technologies, cybersecurity, safety assessment, flight test and research;

Changed:18.23. Recalls from the Court's annual report on Union agencies for 2021 the observation regarding the Agency’s non-compliance with Article 16 of the Union’s Staff Regulations; notes from the Court’s report that that observation remained open; notes however from the Agency’s Reportreport that the Agency has in the meantime formally established a Joint Committee, in addition to having revised its procedures to address weaknesses identified by the Court;

Changed:20.25. Notes from the Court's observations that the Agency, after having launched a tendering procedure for events management services, modified the price of the tender without following the provisions of the Article 151 of the Financialfinancial Regulations;regulation; observes that following complaint from the bidder, the Agency carried out a second evaluation that led to excluding the bidder on the grounds that it “did not meet the requirements set in the tender specifications“, however without specifying which requirements had not been met; notes the Court’s conclusion that the bidder’s exclusion was not properly justified; calls on the Agency to take the necessary actions to guarantee that in future procurement procedures any correction in price or exclusion of the tenderers are justified according to the applicable legal basis;

Changed:21.26. Acknowledges the Agency’s existing system for the prevention and mitigation of conflicts of interest which includes an annual exercise during which staff is asked to review and update (if necessary) any change in their situation that could lead to an actual or potential conflict of interests; notes that in 2022, from all declarations of interest submitted by staff in various contexts (annual declaration, new recruits, post-employment or outside activities/CCP)activities/ leave on personal grounds) and assessed by the Agency in line with the applicable procedure, 4 cases were referred on for opinion to the Agency’s Ethical Committee; welcomes the fact that in 2022 there were no confirmed cases of conflicts of interest and all cases where a risk of an actual or potential conflict of interest was identified could be mitigated via specific measures put in place, for example cooling-off, lobby-bans, non-involvements in certain assignments;

Removed:26. Notes from the Agency’s Report that in 2022 the Agency performed a comprehensive usability study involving tree testing and one-to-one user interview; notes that the study has provided qualitative insights that, in combination with the quantitative insights, are expected to improve EASA Pro, EASA Light and communities on the Agency's website; commends the Agency for having put in place a project to make EASA Light (a dedicated area of the Agency’s website which explains its activities in a simple non-technical English) available in all Union languages;

Added:31. Salutes the focus of the Agency to integrate Ukraine as a candidate country into the Union system;

Added:32. Notes from the Agency’s report that in 2022 the Agency performed a comprehensive usability study involving tree testing and one-to-one user interview; notes that the study has provided qualitative insights that, in combination with the quantitative insights, are expected to improve EASA Pro, EASA Light and communities on the Agency's website; commends the Agency for having put in place a project to make EASA Light (a dedicated area of the Agency’s website which explains its activities in a simple non-technical English) available in all official languages of the Union;