15 Amendments of Ramón Luis VALCÁRCEL SISO related to 2015/2154(DEC)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes, that the Annual report of the Court of Auditors (‘the Court’) of 10 November 2015 on the implementation of the 2014 budget of the European Union found the most likely error rate in Cohesion Pspending on cohesion, social and territorial policy to be estimated at 5.7 %, which represents an in decrease as compared to 2013 (5.3 9%); expresses its concern at thise increase, which is especially significant as far as errors with financial implications and serious negative effects in the estimated error rate relating to the area of employment and social affairs (3.1 % in 2013 and 3.7 % in 2014) and demonstrates its satisfaction at the reduced rate in the area of regional and urban policy (from 7 % in 2013 to 6.1 % in 2014); stresses that breaches of the public procurement regulations continue to represent practically half onf the budget are concernedestimated rate of spending on cohesion, economic, social and territorial policy;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Welcomes the establishment, in 2013, of the Commission Action Plan aimed at improving implementation of the public procurement regulations in the Member States by means of preventative measures; hopes that action under this plan alongside compliance with the ex-ante conditions will improve the effective and efficient use of cohesion policy funds; calls on the Member States, furthermore, to introduce into national legislation, as soon as possible, the provisions included in the 2014 Public Procurement Directives;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considering that non-fraudulent irregularities result mainly from weak financial management and control systems, calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that appropriate, efficient and effective financial management and control systems are set up in accordance with the relevant rules of the regulatory framework, but adapted to the national regulatory situation;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Believes that coherent performance and delivery is crucial in the CAP which ensures safe and consistent production of our food, operates across the whole EU, with a positive effect at the social, environmental and economic impactslevel, covering production of crops and foodstuffs of all kinds;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that 2014 was a transitional year, involving significant payments for the last part of the 2007-2013 funding period and during which the final elements (the implementing and delegated acts) were put in place half way through the year for the CAP 2014-2020 funding period, and believes that the year 2015 should be considered as another transitional year, where special attention should be paid on new tools introduced under the reform such as greening;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that the implementation of Cohesion Policy in Member States involves, depending on their institutional system, substantial national procedures and rules, which constitute an additional layer and could, in turn, lead to irregularities; calls on the Commission to contribute to simplification of implementation at the level of Member States, while respecting their specific institutional characteristics, and advocates greater flexibility in the implementation of regulations, in order to adapt them to the needs of each Member State, rather than the other way around; regrets that Member State representatives were excluded from the high-level group of experts created to simplify the regulations for spending and monitoring European funds, which are, in fact, those who know their systems and can contribute to improving them;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Reminds the Commission that the risk of unintentional errors owing to complex regulation is in the end borne by the beneficiary; calls for a reasonable, proportional and effective policy on sanctions to support this approach, such as avoiding double sanctioning for the same error under both the payment scheme and cross-compliance;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Calls for establishing instruments that will make it possible to distinguish between error and fraud, while ensuring that farmers are still able to deliver the vital food production which is at the heart of the policy; believes that continuing to tackle complexity and that streamlining the CAP is one of the key elements for attracting new entrants to agriculture and also for retaining them and their skills so as to ensure a thriving EU agricultural sector in the future;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that administrative capacity is essential for regular and efficient use of European Structural and Investment Funds and calls on the Commission and Member States to reinforce the exchange of knowledge and good practices; welcomes, therefore, the new ‘Taiex Regio Peer 2 Peer’ tool presented by the Commission to facilitate peer-to-peer sharing between the management, certification and audit authorities of the Member States, which are intended to help the Member States with improving their administrative capacities when managing the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund, and with the verification of management.
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes the agreement between Commission and Court7 that rural development expenditure is governed by complex rules and eligibility conditions, partly due to the ambitious nature of the policy, notes furthermore that simplification and preventive measures are included in the 2014-2020 rules and calls for that simplification to be delivered at Member State level in the new Rural Development programmes as an important means of reducing error rates; __________________ 7 ECA Annual Report 2014 - Para 7.10
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Expects the Commission to urgently make full use of the process of simplification of the CAP, especially with regard to the burdensome and complex regulations governing cross-compliance and greening which ultimately impacts upon farmers across Europe; stresses that the simplification process should focus on alleviating the administrative burden and should not put at risk the principles and rules agreed under the last CAP reform, which should be kept unchanged; considers that such a simplification should not imply a revision of the CAP expenditure for the period 2013-2020;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Notes that the impact of the Russian import ban on agricultural products, which struck mid-way through 2014, is a major challenge and advocates eliminating the unearned advantagefor a strong support of the sectors affected by the ban as well as an effective control to avoid misuse of EU funds;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Reminds that the objectives of the 2007-2013 programme period (viable food productiStresses that during the current programme period the EU should focus on, enhanced farming the viability and promoting food chain organisation) are still important goals, and that the focus is to be put on quality schemes, short supply chains, social cooperatives,of the agricultural sector and promoting a better balance in the food chain; supporting quality schemes, short supply chains and producers organisations would also boost local markets strictly in rural areas in new RDPs, and involving reasonable environmental expenditure;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Wishes to be informed about any improvements in terms of compliance, and particularly any feasibility work done on support payments being made conditional on compliance with environmental, animal welfare and food safety rules;