14 Amendments of Jan MULDER related to 2008/2186(DEC)
Amendment 4 #
Heading before paragraph -1 (new)
Requests to the Commission:
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the ECA's statement to the effect that the annual accounts of the European Communities present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Communities as of 31 December 2007, and the results of their operations and cash flows for the year then ended (Chapter 1, DAS, paragraph VII); calls the Commission nevertheless to pay due attention to the comments presented by the ECA in order to improve the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the basic accounting data;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Deplores the fact, nonetheless, that in extremely important Community spending areas (agricultural spending that does not come under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), cohesion, research, energy and transport, external actions, education and culture), the ECA notes, once again, that complicated or unclear legal requirements, firstly, result in a large number of errors at final- beneficiary level and, secondly, result in only partially effective monitoring and control systems and that that complexity is instrumental in preventing the ECA from issuing a positive DAS (Chapter 1, DAS, paragraphs X and XI); calls therefore on the Commission to conduct an analysis to determine the extent of, and possible solutions to, the problems; stresses therefore the need for simplification of the underlying rules and regulations in order to achieve a positive DAS;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the fact that annual summaries of audits by the Member States are being made available as from 2008, and the evaluation and declarations presented in the 2007 annual activity reports of the Structural Funds directorates-general, but; calls on the Commission to undertake efforts so that these annual summaries can be published together with the response of the Commission; observes with concern that, owing to disparities in presentation, the ECA considers that those annual summaries do not yet constitute a reliable appraisal of the operation and effectiveness of the control systems; welcomes in this light the revised Guidance Note of the Commission aimed at ensuring higher quality in the annual summaries for 2008;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. RegDeplorets also the fact that, to date, it has not received detailed information from the Commission on an assessment and comparative analysis of the initial annual summaries presented, and considers it of utmost importance that the quality of those annual summaries be reported on in order to ensure that value is added to the process by, among other things, identifying common problems, possible solutions and best practices and making this information available to all relevant parties, and to the public throughout the discharge process;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Considers that the annual summaries which Member States have to provide of available audits and declarations, pursuant to Article 44 of the IIA of 17 May 2006, ought to be a first step towards the introduction of national management declarations in all Member States; asks the Commission to declare what it has done in this respect taking into account previous discharge resolutions; calls on the Commission urgently to undertake all necessary efforts to upgrade the annual summaries so that they carry the same political weight as the national management declarations;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Calls on the Commission in addition, on the basis of the annual summaries received, to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each Member State's national system for the administration and control of Community funds, together with an estimate of the cost of national systems for the control of Community funds; reminds the Commission of its commitment to improve the quality of the annual summaries of the Member States in order to make them useful instruments to mitigate the risk of errors for the years to come; asks the Commission to live up to its commitment in this respect;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Calls on the Commission, having regard to the seriousness of the situation, to quickly organise an interinstitutional conference involving all stakeholders in Community fund management and control (representatives of the Member States in the Council at the highest level, of the Commission, of the ECA, of national audit bodies, of national parliaments with responsibility for oversight over Member State governments, of the European Parliament, etc. and all other relevant actors in the discharge process) so as to embark on a comprehensive debate on the current discharge procedure system, on which the DAS has been negative for 14 years, and to give thought to the reforms needed in order to obtain a positive DAS as soon as possible;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Takes the view that the conference should culminate in tangible proposals with regard to improving the management and control of Community spending and, indeed, for some aspects, a degree of harmonisation, and proposes that, during the forthcoming budgetary procedure, its Committee on Budgetsthe Parliament gives the Commission the resources needed to mount the study and the conference;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51a (new)
Paragraph 51a (new)
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53
Paragraph 53
53. Is concerned, however, at the ECA's criticisms of errors in interpreting the provisions of the regulations and at the finding that the cumulative effect of all such errors, over a number of years, will be significant if they are not corrected, and calls on the Commission to take the appropriate measures, consisting of at least simplifying the policy together with ensuring clearer and consistent control systems, to correct the errors as quickly as possible and to inform Parliament in late 2009 about the measures taken;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
Paragraph 64
64. Also reminds the Commission of the ECA's recommendation to make as much use of possible, without undermining the effectiveness of spending, of the scope for simplification provided for by the spending rules, and calls on it to launch a discussion exercise on new simplification measures that might be adopted, including computerisation of the system; welcomes in this light the Simplification Working Group set up by the Commission and expects the Commission to come forward with concrete proposals for the period 2007-2013 for simplification based on the outcome of the proceedings of the Simplification Working Group;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 104 a (new)
Paragraph 104 a (new)
104a. Takes note of the efforts made by the Commissioner in charge of enlargement in order to inform the Parliament about the situation in both Bulgaria and Romania and of his intention to maintain the competent committee of the Parliament constantly informed of developments on this issue;