What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Changed:8. Welcomes that in 2022 the Agency enhanced its operational and strategic cooperation with various stakeholders, such as the European justice and home affairs agencies (JHA), the Union's institutions, OLAF, EPPO, as well as judicial practitioner networks, third countries and international organisations; notes in particular the Agency’s cooperation with the Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) on a joint report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) supporting cross-border cooperation in criminal justice, with the Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) on 16 courses covering judicial cooperation and with the Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) on the SIRIUS project and the Europol’s ‘hit/no-hit’ system;system, with national authorities from 20 Member States, Europol, OLAF and EPPO on Operation SENTINAL targeting fraud against COVID-19 recovery funds; highlights the Agency’s contribution to the Commission’s initiatives in the area of justice digitalisation (SIS II, CMS, ECRIS-TCN, among other); notes that the Agency has been relying on an ever-growing network of Contact Points with the competent authorities in third countries, whereas in 2022, the Agency's total number of Contact Points grew to include Australia, Bahrain and Morocco; commends the expansion of the Agency’s cooperation on criminal matters at international level, in particular through the EuroMed Justice Programme with the South Partner Countries and an EU-funded project focusing on cross-border cooperation in criminal justice in the Western Balkans;

Added:9. Appreciates the transnational cooperation between judicial authorities facilitated by the Agency and the close cooperation with all actors in the criminal justice chain, which contributed to the arrest of more than 4 000 suspects, the seizure and or freezing of criminal assets worth almost EUR 3 billion and the seizure of drugs worth almost EUR 12 billion;

Changed:13.14. Notes the gender representation within the Agency for 2022, with 6 men (60 %) and 4 women (40 %) in senior and middle management, 16 men (64 %) and 9 women (36 %) in the Agency’s management board, and with 85 men (33 %) and 175 women (67 %) for the overall staff; calls on the Agency to ensure better gender balance at all levels of staff and to further encourage female candidates to apply for management positions, as well as applications from male candidates in external selections for the remainder of staff positions; acknowledges that the Agency is not responsible for the composition of its management board (hereinafter ‘the College’) as the National Members of the College are appointed directly by the respective Member States; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the College;

Changed:16.17. Notes that the Agency’s staff were primarily teleworking until March 2022; notes that, as of April 2022, all staff returned to the Agency's premises; notes in this context that the Agency put in place transitional measures regarding work in the office and teleworking and organised workshops to help staff to mentally adapt to the return to the office after continually teleworking for two years; notes also that the results of the Agency's 2023 Staff Survey indicate that the welfare measures taken by the Agency in 2022 effectively alleviated the impact that extended teleworking had on staff; notes, in particular, that 96 % of respondents were positive about being able to coordinate with team members despite working from different locations;

Added:18. Notes with satisfaction that as of 31 December 2022, the Agency has employed staff from 26 Member States; notes that the most represented nationalities among the Agency’s staff were the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Romania; recalls the importance of geographical balance and encourages the Agency to continue to take the necessary measures to have a balanced and fair geographical representation;

Changed:17.19. Recalls the observation from the Court's report for 2020 that a framework contract for vehicle leasing with a single economic operator was not appropriate for the nature of the services required and the contract awarded as the outcome of the procedure, as well as all the related payments, were irregular; notes from the Court’s report that in 2022 the Agency irregularly paid EUR 59 281 under this contract and the observation is still open; recommendscalls on the Agency to examine the possibility of putting an end to that framework contract and launching a new procedure with reopening of competition as considered appropriate by the Court in the case of vehicles leasing;

Changed:23.25. Notes with concern the significant increase in the number and value of non-compliance events in 2022 (43 events of value EUR 294 000) compared with 2021 (33 events of value EUR 18 000), whereas such events were mainly linked to issues such as an invoice being higher than the legal commitment, the budgetary commitment taking place after the legal commitment was assigned or the absence of a purchase order or specific contract; notes the Agency explaining that that increase is linked to the difficulties encountered in budgetary and financial management in 2022, due to the introduction of SUMMA; hopescalls thaton the Agency willto address these observations and explore models so that these kind of increase willsituations no longer occur in the future;