Activities of Viola VON CRAMON-TAUBADEL related to 2021/2106(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2020, Section III – Commission and executive agencies
Amendments (35)
Amendment 2 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. GPostpones its decision on grantsing the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2020;
Amendment 9 #
Proposal for a decision 8
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ApprovPostpones the closure of the accounts of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2020;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Reiterates its deep concerns regarding the situation concerning the rule of law in a number of Member States, which is deeply worrying in its own right and may ultimately leads to serious losses for the Union budget and underlines its requests to the Commission to use all available tools to limit the risk of such losses. This should include the immediate and full application; regards Commission’s decision to refrain from triggering Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget, despite conditions to do so have been fulfilled, as financially irresponsible and politically opportune; notes in this regard the latest rulings by the Court of Justice in cases C- 156/21 and C-157/21 which confirmed full validity of this Regulation;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses that in its resolution on the Commission’s 2020 Rule of Law Report the Parliament already called on the Commission to take immediate action under the Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget(Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation) and to make full use of its existing investigation tools without further delay in order to address rule of law deficiencies in Member States that affect or seriously risk affecting the sound financial management of the Union budget; notes with deep concern that despite the recent ruling of the Court of Justice which confirmed the full validity of Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation, and numerous calls of the Parliament, the Commission did not yet apply the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation; stresses that not applying this conditionality mechanism goes against the letter and spirit of the Regulation upon which the Commission is bound to act; is of the opinion that the by not implementing the Rule of Law conditionality mechanism the Commission fails to perform its duty as Guardian of the Treaties which constitutes a basis strong enough to postpone the Commission’s discharge;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Urges the Commission to promptly use the means at its disposal, such as the use of suspension instruments; in this regard points to the fact that the Commission never applied Common Provisions Regulation’s provision to suspend funds in case of serious deficiencies in the functioning of control and management system in Hungary or Czech Republic where confirmed serious deficiencies in management and control systems exist, still, the Commission only threatened to interrupt payments;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Underlines that the fact that the Commission, after repeated demands from the Parliament to do so, still cannot present a list of the biggest recipients of Union funds under shared management, presents a major obstacle to both the assessment of EU expenditure related risks as well as the overall transparency of its spending; finds the answers and explanations on this issue offered to the Parliament by the Commission as inadequate and the Commission’s efforts to establish such a database inefficient and un-successful;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Regards the long lasting dispute on the Conflict of Interests between the Commission and Czech ex -Prime Minister Babis as in-efficient and unduly long; reiterates that no decisive action on Prime Minister Babis’ conflict of interest was taken and that the fact that in the end, the elections ended the his conflict of interests, doesn’t shy a positive picture on the Commission; points to the fact that Prime Minister Babis has meanwhile negotiated the MFF and Recovery Fund on behalf of the Czech Republic;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Is concernedStresses the serious risk that the amount of outstanding commitments (RAL) continued to rise at the end of 2020 reached a new record high of EUR 303,2 billion; acknowledges that a certain level of outstanding commitments is a natural consequence of the Union budget system with commitment appropriations and payment appropriations but underlines that an amount of outstanding commitments, which equals two full years of payment appropriations may constitute a risk for the smooth operation of the budget in the future; regards the regular annual increase of outstanding commitments, in the light of upcoming NextGenerationEU instrument and much increased EU spending a matter of priority for the Commission to prepare a detailed plan of actions on bringing the amount of outstanding commitments down; calls on the Commission to present such a plan to the Discharge authority;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Regrets that despite the gained experience from the previous MFF and the help and cooperation provided by the Commission through the technical assistance the cumulative absorption rate from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) at the end of 2020 continues to be approximately 7 % lower than under the previous 2007-2013 MFF; encourages the Commission to intensifycontinue its work with Members States including through technical assistance in order to increase the ability of Member States to make use of the funds allocated to them and to intensify the effort to increase the absorption rate of ESIF from both the 2013-2020 MFF and the new 2021-2027 MFF in order to avoid a further increase of total outstanding commitments, without compromising the quality of projects and the efforts made to avoid misuse and fraud of Union funds; asks the Commission to relaunch the taskforce for better implementation (TFBI) to increase the absorption rate and to develop best practices among the Member States;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the need to enlarge the areas where the Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES) is used beyond direct management and encouragerequests the Commission to use it for all Union funds including funds under shared management: notes that, the EDES has to be used systematically to ensure that companies and beneficial owners who have been convicted in relation to fraud, corruption or other serious economic criminal activities cannot benefit from Union funds;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Notes that both 2019 and 2020 Court annual reports attest “pervasive error in expenditure” and gives an adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of expenditure; recalls the repeated finding by the Court that control mechanisms of the Commission and Member States are simply not reliable enough;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. AskRequests the Commission to modify the spending rule N+3 years to the previous rule N+2 years in order to increase the budget execution and reduce the outstanding commitments;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Reiterates the need to simplify rules and proceduresbetter balance the simplification of rules and procedures with increased controls over the most repeated areas of irregular spending, develop compulsory training sessions and practical information for applicants, in particular new applicants, and improve the assistance and guidelines for SMEs, spin-offs, start-ups, administration and payment agencies and all others relevant stakeholders;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to continue promoting gender balance and a gender budgeting approach in the allocated fundsall areas of EU spending; calls on the Commission to urgently develop a gender mainstreaming methodology in close cooperation with the Parliament in order to integrate a gender equality perspective in all policy areas;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Reiterates the need to step up the efforts in the fight against fraud both at Union and Member State level, in close cooperation with the EPPO and OLAF; appreciates the remarkable efforts and stresses the role of the EPPO in the investigation and prosecution of fraud and other criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union; recalls the importance of providing EPPO and OLAF with sufficient financial and human resources;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Regrets that the Court for the year 2020 has again issued an adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of the expenditure side of the budget and at the same time acknowledgstresses that the level of error has remained stable at 2,7 % in 2020, which is the same as for the year 2019, in Court’s own words represents the minimal level of error due to the fact that the Court was not able to perform any on-the-spot checks due to the COVID-19 restrictions;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes that the Court audited 728 transactions in order to establish the estimated level of error, which was found to be 4,0 %with concern that based on audited 728 transactions checked by the Court, estimated level of error for high-risk expenditure, which is continues to be well above the materiality threshold, at 4,0 % while the estimated level of error is below the materiality threshold for low-risk expenditure;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Notes with growing concern that the Union balance sheet shows that the total liabilities at the end of 2020 were EUR 313.5 billion, an increase of EUR 62,0 billion or 24,7% compared to the previous year (EUR 251.5 billion);
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Notes that the annual absorption rate for EFSI funds in 2020 was 15 %, which is the same as the final year of the previous 2007-2013 MFF but that the cumulative absorption rate is still only 55 %, which is 7 % lower than at the end of 2013with a concern that there seems to be little progress in the cumulative absorption rate for EFSI funds, which is still only 55 % (7 % lower than at the end of the last year of the previous MFF), although the annual absorption rate in2020 was the same as the final year of the previous 2007-2013 MFF (15 %). Notes that this implies that 45 % of the total commitments under the EFSI funds for the period 2014-2020 equal to EUR 209 billion has still not been paid out and constitutes the main part of the total outstanding commitments (RAL) of EUR 303 billion;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28 a. Regrets with great concern that relaxation of applicable rules both at the EU and national level, especially in the field of public procurement led to numerous non-transparent procedures and that the controls over the legality of public spending, while at the moment of urgency often dismissed or carried out under severe limitations, were not sufficiently carried out at later stage as ex-post controls and audits;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Regrets that the COVID-19 pandemic made it much more difficult to carry out on-the-spot checks and audits, which implies that the estimated error rates for 2020 should be considered as minimum rates; underlines the need for more in- person audit visits in the coming period to ensure sound audit management;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33 a. Requests the Commission to identify additional possibilities to further strengthen the absorption capacities of the Member States by investing in the administrative capacities, trainings and digitalisation of fund management;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point a
Paragraph 34 – point a
a. ensure the protection of the Union budget by making general and systematic use of digital and automatisedinteroperable systems for reporting, monitoring and audit;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point a a (new)
Paragraph 34 – point a a (new)
a a. carry out a series of ex-post on- the-spot checks and controls of national public procurements using EU funds and take note of the already carried out audits or media reports, pointing to a considerable risks to legality of these procedures;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point g
Paragraph 34 – point g
g. increase the administrative capacity of the Commission in relation to the and propose adequate budget lines for the Court, EPPO and OLAF in relation to the new upcoming tasks related to the NextGenerationEU instrument in order to protect Union finances;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Underlines that auditing the performance of the Union budget is equally as important as compliance auditing in order to get a comprehensive view of the legality of spending as well as the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the spending; points to the numerous recommendations issued by the Court as well as the Discharge authority that the Commission should pay much more attention to assessing the results, outcomes and impacts of its policies and programs (effectiveness) and don’t stop at presenting sheer numbers of funds spend or people involved in individual programs (efficiency);
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Notes with great concern that the Court found that in 2020, the Commission closed its verification cycle in respect of GNI data for own resources from the year 2010, a 10 year gap; highlights that as a result of the verification cycle closure, the Commission set a large number of GNI reservations in respect of specific compilation procedures in the Member States that called for improvement; remarks that this significantly increases budgetary uncertainty in the national budgets in relation to the GNI-based contribution; is concerned by the Court finding that the impact of globalisation on GNI is not properly addressed and the EU revenue could be affected as a result;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
Paragraph 65
65. Expresses its strong concern that the number and impact of the errors detected demonstrate that the controls in place do not yet sufficiently mitigate the high inherent risk of error in this area; is concerned that this concerns, in particular, managing authorities whose verifications are ineffective in preventing or detecting irregularities in expenditure declared by beneficiaries; notes with concern that the Court also considers that other errors are the result of decisions taken by managing authorities themselves;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78 – point c
Paragraph 78 – point c
c. make the use of IT tools such as EDES or Arachne systematic and mandatory for all Union funds including shared management and ensure better use of new technology in order to increase controls and protect the Union budget against fraud and misuses of funds;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78 – point j a (new)
Paragraph 78 – point j a (new)
j a. start presenting Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in its’ AARs based on the Social Progress Index (SPI), as the return of Cohesion funds has to be measured through social and environmental outcomes and not purely economic ones;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78 – point m a (new)
Paragraph 78 – point m a (new)
m a. continue its work on the Decent Work Worldwide strategy for a global just transition and sustainable recovery, making Europe a responsible global player in post-pandemic period;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83
Paragraph 83
83. Acknowledges that DG AGRI has calculated the risk at payment to be around 1,9% for CAP spending as a whole in 2020; notes with concern that the Court estimates the level of error at 2%, which represents an increase of 0,1% compared to 2019; regrets that the level of error in spending on ‘Natural resources’ is close to materiality;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84 a (new)
Paragraph 84 a (new)
84 a. Strongly regrets the fact that the Commission’s failure to gather reliable data on final CAP funds beneficiaries leaves many unresolved cases for recovery of funds by Member States; notes with concern that the use of reporting and monitoring tools, such as ARACHNE, is only being used optionally;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106
Paragraph 106
106. Notes with great concern that most indicators are either not on track or their progress is unclear; underlines that the sector approach was a strategic choice in order to improve IPA II’s performance; regrets that it could not be applied consistently; regrets that indirect management by beneficiary countries sometimes had an adverse effect on operational efficiency;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 108 – point k a (new)
Paragraph 108 – point k a (new)
k a. ensure that the new Rule of Law Conditionality is strictly applied to the new IPA III funds and Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans, as an indispensable part for distribution of funds in the 2021-2027 period;