Activities of Monika VANA related to 2021/2106(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2020 (Section III) – European Commission
Amendments (13)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that, the estimated level of error in spending on ‘Economic, social and territorial cohesion’ decreased from 4,4% in 2019 to 3,5% in 2020; welcomes the continuous improvement, but is disappointed that it has not proven possible to decrease the error rate below 2%; stresses that most of the irregularities identified by audit authorities and the Commission concern the same main categories: ineligible expenditure, public procurement, audit trail and State Aid;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas gender equality as enshrined in Article 82 TFEU is one of the values on which the Union is founded and the Union is committed to promote gender mainstreaming in all of its actions as laid down in Article 8 TFEU;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Points out the worrying conclusions of the “European Court of Auditors’ Special Report 26/2021:Regularity of spending in EU Cohesion policy”, which highlight that the European Commission’s own control system does not sufficiently compensate for the weaknesses in the work of Member state audit authorities when they check Cohesion spending; calls on the Commission to improve its audit work, audit documentation and review process, as well as to strengthen the main elements of the regularity information provided in the Annual Activity Reports by its Directorates-General;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges that high-risk expenditures are subject to complex rules and eligibility conditions; notes that the estimated level of error decreased from 4,9% in 2019 to 4,0% in 2020 and that six possible fraud cases, which were reported to OLAF in comparison to 2019’s nine, most frequently concerned suspicions of artificial creation of the necessary conditions for EU financing, declaration of costs not meeting the eligibility criteria, use of the grant for purposes other than allowed or procurement irregularities; recalls that the way funds are disbursed has an impact on the risk of errors and welcomes efforts to simplify requirements for project managers and management authorities under the 2021-2027 programming period;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses the importance of the role of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU, with a special focus on their cross-border dimension; regrets that five Member States are not currently participating in this enhanced cooperation and deplores any irregularities or partisan interventions in the appointment of the prosecutors in the participating Member States;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets that, in spite of the change in ESIF eligibility rules for COVID-19- related expenditure, and of the introduction of the possibility of 100 % EU financing (CRII and CRII+), the absorption rate of European Structural and Investment Funds , which increased from 12% in 2019 to 15% in 2020 , is slower than expected, with 45 % (EUR 209 billion) remaining to be absorbed; and that this amount constitutes the main part of the €303 billion of outstanding commitments at the end of 2020;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is concerned that the Court, in its Special report No 10/21 on gender mainstreaming in the EU budget (the ‘Court’s special report’)1 , found that the Commission has not adequately applied gender mainstreaming, made insufficient use of sexgender-disaggregated data and indicators, and published little information on the Union budget’s overall impact on gender equality; __________________ 1 https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocu ments/SR21_10/SR_Gender_mainstreamin g_EN.pdf
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Underlines that the gender perspective has to be integrated at all levels of the budgetary process in order to transform revenues and expenditures to achieving gender equality goals;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Takes note that the EU will be able to spend significantly more than in the previous programming period, with an overall allocation of EUR 1 824 billion from NextGenerationEU and the MFF; urges the Commission to limit the risk ofcalls, in this regard, on the Commission to further assess the control systems described by the Member States in their final Recovery and Resilience Plans; notes with concern the delayed start to the implementation of shared managed funds and: urges the Commission to ensure the sound financial management in the use of funds, including the respect for the rule of law and the fundamental rights, through the use of already existing instruments-such as the European Rule of Law Mechanism-to their full extent, not shying away from its prerogatives and duties as guardian of the EU treaties.
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Welcomes the commitment by the Commission to put in place a methodology to measure the relevant expenditure at programme level in the 2021-2027 MFF at the latest by the end of 2022; calls on the Commission to apply the new methodology to all EU funding programmes and for the implementation of gender budgeting in the mid-term review of the current Multiannual Financial Framework;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Points out the importance to consider the potential of all policy areas to contribute towards gender equality; notes in this regard that both the European Parliament’s own-initiative report on the gender dimension in cohesion policy and the “European Court of Auditors’ Special Report 10/2021: Gender mainstreaming in the EU budget: time to turn words into action”, assess the structural funds as a very important resource to support Member States to achieve progress in the field of gender equality.
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Stresses the importance of cohesion policy in promoting gender equality, as highlighted by the European Parliament's own-initiative report on the gender dimension in cohesion policy and by the “European Court of Auditors’ Special Report 10/2021: Gender mainstreaming in the EU budget: time to turn words into action”; points out the Court’s assessment that the EU’s budget cycle did not take gender equality adequately into account and the Commission had not yet lived up to its commitment to gender mainstreaming in the EU budget; reiterates therefore its call for the implementation of gender mainstreaming, including the implementation of gender budgeting, at all stages of the budgetary process
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the rule of law in the Union, and thus protect fundamental rights and equality, viaprotect and promote democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the Union taking into account that three dimensions are interlinked; calls on the Commission to enforce the rule of law conditionality mechanism for access to Union funds.