Activities of Gheorghe FALCĂ related to 2023/2129(DEC)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section III – Commission and executive agencies
Amendments (31)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the findings of the European Court of Auditors (‘the Court’) that the consolidated accounts of the EU for 2022 present fairly, in all material respects, the EU’s financial position; regrets that the level of error for budget expenditure increased from 3 % to 4.2 %; notes that, in line with the Court’s assessment, the errors are both material and pervasive this level of error stems mainly from the heading ‘Cohesion, resilience and values’; notes that, in line with the Court’s assessment, the errors are both material and pervasive; notes that, according to the ECA, the higher error rates correlate with more complicated rules;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that the implementation of the 2022 budget was still partly impacted by the late adoption of the MFF Regulation and heavily affected by Russia’s invasion of, high inflation rate, higher interest payments of NGEU related to overall higher interest rates due to high inflation, and heavily affected by illegal, unjustified Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the need to provide complex humanitarian and financial support;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Notes that the final budget for commitment appropriations of EUR 182.2 bln. was above the MFF ceiling of EUR 179.8 bln.: this was made possible by the use of special instruments, such as the Flexibility Instrument, the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve, for amounts over and above the ceilings of the 7-year financial framework (maximum EUR 21.1 bln. in 2018 prices for the 7-year MFF);
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Highlights that, within the RRF, some milestones and targets lacked clarity or did not cover all key implementation stages of the measure; calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the utilisation of the RRF funding and implementation of the national plans as well as the control in order to ensure the best usage and value added of those funds, especially in the transport and tourism sector;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Welcomes that Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia obtained the observer status in the Regional Steering Committee of the Transport Community Treaty (TCT) in November 2022;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2 d. Welcomes the substantive contribution of DG MOVE to the subsequent packages of the sanctions against Russia and Belarus: in aviation, they covered both flights with Russian owned, operated or controlled aircraft in the EU airspace and the export of aviation goods to or support to the use of such goods by Russia, in order to undermine Russia’s international connectivity and cripple Russia’s aviation industry;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2 e. Salutes the initiative of the European Air Traffic Management Voluntary Solidarity Fund for Ukraine and Moldova under the responsibility of Eurocontrol, aiming to sustain staff/training costs and any other costs to ensure operational readiness when air traffic recovers; furthermore, welcomes another Eurocontrol solidarity mechanism to assist the front-line states struggling with the effects of a sharp drop in air traffic; points out that the Eurocontrol Member States decided to establish two specific funds: one in the form of a donation to Ukraine and Moldova of EUR 46.5 mln. and one in the form of a loan of EUR 46.1 mln. to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 f (new)
Paragraph 2 f (new)
2 f. Commends the Commission’s legislative proposals in the field of transport to help Ukraine during the unjustified illegal war of Russian aggression such as the proposal for a Regulation regarding Ukrainian driving licences including the driving licence for professional drivers;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. HighlighRegrets the decrease, compared to 2021, in funding for calls for proposals under the CEF Transport 2022 funding instrument on projects targeting new, upgraded and improved European transport infrastructure; takes notice that the CEF Transport 2022 calls that were launched during the 3rd quarter of 2022 opened additional funding possibilities with an extra EUR 6 bln. of EU co-funding; stresses that a sufficiently high CEF Transport budget line is key to ensuring implementation of the TEN-T network, including the enlargement in the Eastern region to provide connection to the Eastern partners such as Ukraine, greening of European transport, increased military mobility and offsetting the unprecedently high inflation rates;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Commends the legislative work of DG MOVE to contribute to the climate goals of the Union, such as Fuel EU Maritime, AFIR or Refuel Aviation; regrets however that the proposals of the Greening Transport Package, such as the Weights and Dimensions or the Combined Transport, are delayed;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Commends the dedicated calls within CEF Transport 2022 launched to support the projects aiming at improving transport infrastructure along the Solidarity Lanes and at Border Crossing Points (BCPs) between the EU and Ukraine and Moldova; stresses that continued help and support to Ukraine is of uttermost importance;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Stresses that it is crucial that mobility and transport are available, interconnected, efficient and affordable for all as mobility is a right of European citizens and that all EU transport policies are designed in accordance with this essential principle; stresses that nobody can be left behind, that rural and remote regions need to be better connected, furthermore, transport and mobility have to be accessible for persons with reduced mobility and persons with disabilities;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Welcomes the start of implementation of the New Urban Mobility Framework in 2022 to improve urban mobility; however, notes with concern that this Framework does not recognise that all modes of transport have their role to play and every citizen have the right to choose the mode of transport according to their preferences and needs;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Calls on the Commission to ensure that there is additional advisory support to the national authorities of the Member States in order to navigate simultaneous funding due to absorbing funds from several instruments at the same time, namely closing the remaining ESIF programmes from the 2014-2020 MFF, while the implementation of the 2021- 2027 shared-management funds under the CPR has also begun, albeit with a delay; notes at the same time that most of the Member States have reached the implementation phase of NGEU financing; notes that, alongside all this, they need to pursue measures introduced in connection with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, such as CARE and FAST-CARE, causing the Member States on losing funding;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4 d. Regrets that the late adoption of the legislation for the shared management funds from the 2021-2027 MFF and the parallel implementation of several instruments resulted in pressure on administrative resources leading to delays in approval of all partnership agreements with the Member States and of most of the programmes;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls for the preparation of the revision of the regulatory framework for: (a) rail, to remove the existing regulatory obstacles so that it can be a competitive alternative, with a particular emphasis on provisions on capacity management that are necessary to better suit the needs of freight services and to regulate technical and operational standards that are currently national; (b) both combined transport, enlarging its scope to intermodal transport, and road-only transport; notes that these revisions should aim to reduce the diverging implementation by the Member States, include provisions on the digitalisation of information flows, and reinforce the incentives for intermodal transport;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Stresses the importance of finalizing the core TEN-T network by 2030; calls on the Commission to provide the Member States with clear guidelines on how to perform the market study and how to draw up a terminal development plan, with particular regard to cross- border aspects and along the Core Network Corridors; stresses the importance of setting up a target implementation date within 12 months after entry into force of the new TEN-T regulation;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Takes notice ofWelcomes the adoption by the Commission of an amended proposal for the revised TEN-T Regulation in June 2022, which aims to strengthen the links with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, by extending four European Transport Corridors to these neighbouring countries; in this regard also welcomes the signature of the three grant agreements under the Connecting Europe Facility for Transport worth almost EUR 45 mln. to improve transport connections between Moldova and Romania along the TEN-T network, as the projects will modernise transport infrastructure at the road border crossing points Ungheni, Albița Leușeni, and Reni- Giurgiulești-Galați; notes that these investments will strengthen the EU- Ukraine Solidarity Lanes – the routes used since Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports to transport Ukraine's and Moldova's exports and imports;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Commends that on 11 November 2022, the European Commission, Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Bank Group published a Joint Declaration announcing the pooling of EUR 1 bln. for the Solidarity Lanes to enhance the capacity of these transport corridors;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Welcomes the Action Plan on Military Mobility 2.0, building on the success of the first action plan of 2018; highlights that the 2022 action plan broadens the scope of Military Mobility by addressing the threats and challenges stemming from the new security environment; points out that the identification of the gaps and bottlenecks in the physical transport infrastructure in the Member States, which might hamper short notice and large-scale deployments of military forces, will be assessed in 2023;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Highlights that at the heart of military mobility is the need to upgrade the dual use transport infrastructure along the military mobility network – comprising multi-modal transport routes connected by logistical hubs – so that it is capable of handling potentially heavy and large-scale military transports at short notice; points out that the EU Member States largely use the same transport infrastructure for both civilian and military movements and transportation; notes therefore that strengthening of the dual-use transport infrastructure across the trans-European transport (TEN-T) involves the development of multi-modal transport corridors and transport nodes; considers that, as a result, development of the dual-use transport infrastructure through co-funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding instrument continues to be an essential pillar of this Action Plan; points out that, in accordance with the Strategic Compass, the EU will continue strengthening the dual-use transport infrastructure across the trans-European transport network in order to promote rapid and seamless movement of military personnel, material and equipment for operational deployments and exercises, working in close cooperation with NATO and other partners;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7 c. Welcomes that the Commission accelerated the evaluation for the CEF 2021 Military Mobility call and anticipated by several months the 2022 Military Mobility funding opportunities; notes that this triggered the faster award of almost EUR 1 bln. of CEF funds to the key dual use infrastructural components, covering all transport modes and helping the deployment of the dual use infrastructure, for instance, improving technical parameters for railway bridges and tunnels, upgrading the airport infrastructure for civilian-military traffic, and adapting technical specifications for port infrastructures;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7 d. Welcomes the Commission’s engagement to redeploy funding envisaged for the short-term defence instrument; takes notice of the funding from the European Defence Fund and the proposal to enhance the Union’s strategic transport infrastructures to make them fit for military mobility; further calls on the Commission to ensure a clear commitment as well as to find and present solutions to sufficiently increase the military mobility budget line beyond the Flexibility Instrument, in order to strengthen European security and to include military mobility infrastructure within the TEN-T;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 e (new)
Paragraph 7 e (new)
7 e. Points out that continued and increasing public investment in providing large scale infrastructure, especially the TEN-T network, is key to providing interconnectivity, boosting of economic growth and benefitting fully from the opportunities of the Single Market;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 f (new)
Paragraph 7 f (new)
7 f. Highlights that connectivity is crucial for cohesion and even more so for the Member States at the periphery of the Single Market; therefore, believes that it is crucial for the EU to play a leading role in fostering a global level playing field in the aviation and maritime sectors;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 g (new)
Paragraph 7 g (new)
7 g. Calls for cross-border and multi- country projects and to simplify, accelerate and harmonise digitalisation and the regulatory process for infrastructure projects, especially for cross-border interconnections and bottlenecks;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 h (new)
Paragraph 7 h (new)
7 h. Welcomes the Commission’s willingness to explore the benefits and possibilities of such new transport modes, as Hyperloop;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 i (new)
Paragraph 7 i (new)
7 i. Underlines that funding of the TEN-T network revision shall well reflect and further focus on the extension of connection towards the Eastern Neighbourhood; in this regard insists on not delaying the acception of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area any longer to ensure seamless transport connection to the East;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls the Court’s Special Report 27/2021 “EU Support to tourism – Need for a fresh strategic orientation and a better funding approach”; recalls the Court’s recommendation to the Commission to set out a consolidated new strategy for the EU tourism ecosystem in cooperation with the Member States in order to develop an effective tourism agenda for 2030 and to apply selection procedures for ERDF- funded tourism investments to support this new strategic orientation; reiterates the Parliament’s request for the creation of a new budgetary line for tourism to support this sector, severely hit by the COVID-19 and now suffering from energy crisis, inflation and facing significant challenges connected to impacts of green and digital transitions in the transport and tourism sector; calls on the Commission to develop a new strategy for the tourism sector and a roadmap for smart and sustainable tourism backed up by budgetary means taking also into account that majority of the tourism industry consists of SMEs;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Calls for examples of relevant investments dedicated to the tourism sector related to the diversification of the tourism offer, extension of the tourism season, and development of high value added tourism products or targeting specific groups, innovative services and digitalisation;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Notes that all citizens of Romania and Bulgaria are discriminated against because they face delays, excessive bureaucratic burden and additional costs when travelling for the purposes of tourism, work, studying or doing business abroad, compared to their counterparts from the Schengen countries; emphasises that the veto on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area can lead to the anti-European sentiment in these countries and, in turn, to a decline in confidence in the EU project and its institutions; stresses that identity checks raise trade costs for goods by approximately 0.4 % to 0.9 % of the value of trade at every Schengen border, while even higher costs apply to trade in services; stresses that trade costs for the entire Schengen area amount to EUR 6.5- 13 bln. per year; underlines that the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area is essential, as an enlarged Schengen area without internal border controls will make the EU stronger; highlights that the current situation goes against one of the main European principles of free movement; urges in this regard the Commission to analyse all possible procedures to defend the right to free movement of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens;