5 Amendments of James NICHOLSON related to 2008/2242(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a . Stresses the importance of the Action Plan to strengthen supervision under shared management for structural actions adopted by the Commission on 19 February 2008, which is aimed at reducing errors in payment claims from Member States; is confident that this new Action Plan can significantly improve the situation, not least by assisting Member States to develop their ability to check the eligibility of project expenditure; notes that the first progress report relating to this Action Plan presents some positive initial results;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that the Commission has published a series of reports assessing the progress in Bulgaria and Romania of judicial reform and the fight against corruption under the Co-operation and Verification mechanisms and a separate report on the management of EU funds in Bulgaria, which highlight the need for sustained political commitment and implementation on the ground if the benchmarks set at the time of accession are to be met in full; notes also that specifically in the case of Bulgaria the Commission has provisionally suspended EU funding for one operational programme because of irregularities found through its control and auditing system; therefore calls upon these Member States to take urgent action to implement the concrete follow up measures put forward in these reports.
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Acknowledges that effective absorption of the Structural Funds has posed significant challenges, especially for the new Member States, as they are called upon to comply with strict and often complex requirements for their utilisation; welcomes, therefore, the efforts made by these Member States to improve their implementation capacity and invites them to step up that work so as to be able to show tangible results within an acceptable timeframe;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Considers that the complexity of the legislative framework governing Structural Funds programmes, especially as regards management and monitoring procedures, is responsible to some extent for irregularities on the part of Member States; urges, therefore, the Commission to intensify its efforts to further simplify the system;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Endorses the Commission's position that, where irregularities are detected, corrective action, including the suspension of payments and the recovery of undue or erroneous payments, will be taken, and that it will report to Parliament at least twice; recalls that the Commission should report four times a year on the measuprogress it takes in this respectachieved in the implementation of its Action Plan;