Sabine HENZLER

What Sabine HENZLER has said (5)

• “Good morning, chair. Honourable members, it's a pleasure for the first time to be able to present the sights and the facilities of the Joint research Centre. You have already seen in the course of this year several projects, but I have the pleasure now to give you a bit of an overview of what we are and very briefly say what we intend to do and how we do. The Joint Research Centre is the Commission Science Service, where we do direct research. So with scientists and with laboratories, and we do science for policy in basically all policy fields and in a multidisciplinary approach. And that around the whole policy cycle, from the impact assessment through the legislative proposals to the implementation and monitoring of the of the proposals. And in that sense, we are a key partner for the policy and for the commissioners in delivering what commissioner, what president von der Leyen asked them to do? That is, um, proposing, um, making sure that all proposals are evidence based. Now, about the Joint Research Center. Um, we you have had the different, um, building projects this year on the different sites. And we have we are based on six sites. Um, you see them here on this slide. And we are based in five EU countries. Um, with the exception of Brussels and Sevilla, um, we have on each side extensive research infrastructure, including nuclear facilities. And that means that we pay particular attention to compliance with national laws. And we are very closely monitored by the national nuclear authorities. So our activities and our premises are really different from most of the commission buildings.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Von der Leyen · EU research funding
• “And from what you have heard from my colleagues from AIB and oil, you see here, I brought some examples for you of the type of laboratories that we have and that we manage on all our sites except Brussels and except Sevilla, but all other sites have these kind of facilities for our sites. We have long term lease agreements with the member states for all sites, not for Brussels, where the building is managed by EIB, and not for Sevilla, where there is currently a rented building. And we have discussed here in this committee sometime ago the proposal for a new building, and you have given kindly your agreement to go ahead with this proposal. The JRC is responsible for all utilities and most of the basic services on the sites. So we have three generation plants in order to generate energy, to generate heating, to generate cooling. And this is what we do ourselves. We are also responsible for health, safety and security of our sites and of the personnel. And we are an employer. We are considered the employer under the national law. In total, the JRC manages 251 hectares of land. We have 251 buildings with a total area of 282,000m². Out of this, um, property. Uh, two thirds are in escrow, and only, um, 23% are office space. So most of the, uh, surface is really other, um, infrastructure. Like, for example, our, um, our laboratories we have currently for this year, we have four ongoing projects and we have submitted them to you already. Um, up to now, we had an early information for the Gael side for the Citizens Forum, and we had three prior approvals the wing, a nuclear building in Karlsruhe, the Sevilla, our new office building there, and now today the patent integrated security entrance.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Size of EU budget · Discharge of EU institutions and agencies
• “Um, and so on the basis of that, uh, we we really prioritize the funding sources for our building infrastructure comes from external assigned revenue. Here we have two sources for that competitive activities. Activities that we do for third parties, um, and for which we get paid. Uh, and the other funding source is um, uh, third country contributions from their association to European Union programs to Horizon Europe and to Euratom. Notably, we generally do not use voted budget for our building activities. Um, we only use the voted budget for recurrent expenditure, for example, for the running cost of our buildings. Over the last years, we have had very high pressure on our budget and on our investment capacity due to the 20% cuts in the euro term budget, uh, due to the inflation that was beyond the envisaged 2%, due to the high energy prices, and also due to the late association of major contributors to the Horizon Europe and the European programme. We have tried to mitigate and we have mitigated the effect of this through an even stronger prioritization. You haven't seen us here in the last mandate. Um, so we have had a bit of backlog in in terms of investments. We have postponed some investments and we also are downscaling some investments where we can. So with that chair, I would like to thank you very much for the possibility to be able to speak about the Joint Research Center's building policy. And I'd also like to thank the committee for their support for our project. Thank you very much.”
  Size of EU budget · EU research funding · Conditions to access EU budget
• “We still have one outstanding project for this year. Um, and we have um, Submitted an early information in 2015, so some time ago we are currently re-evaluating that project. It is for a research facility for food security and quality in Gale, but we are reevaluating it because we might consider to renovate it rather than to build a new building. Upcoming projects. And that is in the working document that has been submitted. Um, are smaller refurbishments on our site and also a new prefabricated building of 860m² for childcare facilities on our site. The proposal for that building is under the threshold to be notified to the budgetary authorities, but we intend to do this by the end of 2025 because the current building is really in a, um, um, outdated stage. So although the JSE is different and as you can see, we are different. Uh, our building program is in line with the commission's building policy, in particular as concerns the environmental and energy efficiency standards. Um, we plan and finance our investment very thoroughly. We have limited financial resources, and that means that we need to really scrutinize and prioritize our investments, um, in a in a very in-depth way. Uh, we have a corporate investment plan for all sites. Um, and we do the planning according to the Moscow, um, uh, method. That means must have, should have, could have and wouldn't have.”
  Energy efficiency · Energy performance of buildings · EU policy on sustainability criteria in public funding
• “Yes. Thank you. Chair. Maybe just in terms of energy savings and and also the participation to the best initiatives. The Joint Research Center also participates to these initiatives where possible. And we have been, um, able to avoid spending about €4 million, um, for the period 2022 to April 2022 to March 23rd, for example. Um. However, given that the energy prices in the meantime have also gone up. Overall, the energy bill has not significantly, um, changed. Um, also for the Joint Research Center. Uh, given our laboratories infrastructure and the fact that we have nuclear facilities, we have to ensure the heating, the cooling, the ventilation, which is, of course energy intensive and therefore our energy savings have to be carefully considered. Thank you. Chair.”
  Energy efficiency · Energy performance of buildings