4 Amendments of Pascal ARIMONT related to 2015/2128(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Annual Report as the first by this Commission; stresses that EU funds must be properly managed and used as efficiently as possible, the protection of the EU’s financial interests is at the core of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; notes that through a number of measure and that the Union and the Member States must together take responsibility for protecting the EU’s financial interests and for fighting against fraud; notes that through a number of measures and taking up last year’s recommendations the Commission and the Member States have increased their effectiveness in fighting the overall rate of fraudulent or non-fraudulent irregularities in order to ensure that EU funds are protected from fraud; notes a total of 1 649 cases of irregularities reported as fraudulent, this being 2 % more than in 2013 and representing EUR 538 million in EU funds;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes, on the one hand, that once again that 306 irregularities reported as fraudulent and 4 977 irregularities reported as non-fraudulent were cohesion -policy isrelated; notes the area with the highest number of irregularities reported as fraudulent, and, on the other hand, that the largest proportion of such irregularities in this policy area concern the European Regional Development Fundat in comparison with 2013, there has been a drop of 5% in the number of cases reported as fraudulent, but the related amounts have increased by 76%, and there has been an increase of 7% in the number of cases reported as non- fraudulent, with the related amounts increasing by 33%;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that measures to detectthe statistical data in this Annual Report still only gives an approximate indication of the impact of irregularities continue to vary between Member States, mainly on account of differing definitions of irregularities the EU budget; believes that the inaccuracy stems from different approaches between and within Member States to the detection, classification and transmission of irregularities; takes the view that further harmonisation is necessary and welcomes the Commission Delegated Regulation of 8 July 2015 on the reporting of irregularities to supplement the common provisions; stresses that it is imperative to strike a balance between the common interest in providing accurate data for analysis on one hand, and the administrative burden on the Member States on the other; welcomes the preventive and corrective measures taken by the Commission to avoid fraudulent irregularities, including by interrupting 193 payments under the cohesion policy;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that non-fraudulent irregularities are often caused by insufficient knowledge of the rules, complex requirements and regulations and believes that simplification of the rules and procedures will decrease the number of non-fraudulent irregularities; Appreciates the Commission’s decision to carry out a mid-term assessment in 2018 in order to establish whether the new regulatory architecture for the cohesion policy prevents fraud and reduces the risk of irregularities; calls on the Council to endorse the proposal for a directive on the fight against fraud to the EU’s financial interests by means of criminal law.