14 Amendments of Pascal ARIMONT related to 2018/2038(INI)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas between 2007 and 2013, Greece’s GDP declined by 26% in real terms and while the recession came to an end in 2014, growth over the two years was less than 1%;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas employment rate fell from 66% of the population aged 20-64 in2007 to 53% in 2013, implying that only just over half of people of working age were employed, and while unemployment increased from 8.4% of the labour force to27.5% over the same period;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the Commission and the co-legislators acknowledged in 2015 that Greece has been affected by the crisis in a unique manner, which could have had a severe impact on both the finalisation of the operations under the 2000-2006 and the 2007-2013 oOperational pProgrammes and the start of the implementation of the 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas substantial amounts would have been recovered in case projects from the 2000-2006 and the 2007-2013 periods had failed to be completed;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 set out an additional initial pre- financing for the 2014-2020 programming period, of 3,5 %two instalments of 3.5 % each of the amount of support from the cohesion policy funds and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), as well as the application for the 2007-2013 programming period of a 100 % cofinancing rate to the eligible expenditure and the early release of the last 5 % of remaining EU payments, which should have been retained until the closure of the programmes;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas a ring-fenced account was put in place in October 2015 to which all funds allocated to the financing of EU financed projects were transferred in order to ensure that these funds were used solely for payments to beneficiaries and operations of the Operational Programmes;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes note of the report on the use of the amounts under Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 related to the 2007-2013 programming period which was due end of 2016; regrets that the report was submitted by the Greek authorities only in May 2017, but regrets the lack of proper communication between and not made available to the Parliament before December 2017; appreciates that the Commission anhad provided Parliament as, despite several requests, this report was not shared with Parliament until December 2017with an provisional assessment of the list of 181 priority projects which was established at the end of 2011 with the aim of identifying important and emblematic projects and which amounted to 11.5 billion EUR, equivalent to about 55 % of the total 2007 - 2013 ERDF, CF and ESF allocation to Greece;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Welcomes the fact that the funds paid by the EU under Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 significantly reduced the number of projects classified as incomplete; notes that compared to the 2000-2006 programming period where around 900 projects were not completed, for the 2007-2013 programming period currently 79 projects remain uncompleted and are expected to be completed with the use of national funds; notes with regard to the list of 181 priority projects that 118 projects were completed, 18 projects are to be completed with national funds by 31 March 2019 at the latest, 24 projects were phased into the 2014-2020 programming period and 21 projects have been cancelled;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the fact that the funds paid by the EU under Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 significantly reduced the number of projects classified as incomplete on the closure of the operational programmes, notably improving the absorption of structural funds; underlines thatUnderlines that the absorption of structural funds had notably improved and, at the end of March 2016, the payments rate in Greece for the 2007-2013 programming period was over 97 %4 and that according to the state of execution of total payments and ‘reste à liquider’ (RAL) for the programmes for 2007-2013 of 31 March 2018, Greece has no RAL under Heading 1b5 ; welcomes that Greece was the first Member State which had reached an 100 % absorption rate compared to the EU average of 96 %; _________________ 4 Commission Staff Working Document on ex post evaluations of the ERDF and Cohesion Fund 2007-2013. 5 State of execution of total payments and the level of the 'reste à liquider' (RAL) for Heading lb (programmes 2007-2013) - Designation of national authorities and state of execution of interim payments of 2014-2020 ESIF Operational Programmes (Status as of 31 March 2018).
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Acknowledges, however, that absorption rates provide only indicative information and that an emphasis on the absorption of funds should not be at the expense of effectiveness and quality of investments; considers that more data are needed to evaluate the sustainability of the projects which benefited from these provisionnotes that the specific measures are of a macroeconomic nature and their effects are difficult to be traced into individual projects;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Takes note of the mainly quantitative analysis of the report submitted by the Greek authorities on the use of the amounts under Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 related to the 2007-2013 programming period, but regrets the lack of a qualitative assessment in terms of increased competitiveness and productivity and sustainability; ; acknowledges that the effect of the specific measures cannot be separated from the overall impact of the ESIF funds in Greece, making an qualitative assessment difficult to carry out;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Appreciates that Greece showed, as at 31 March 2018, a 28 % implementation rate for the 2014-2020 programming period6 , and invites the Commissionmaking it rank amongst the top provide clear information on the situation as regardserformers compared to other Member States; welcomes the fact that as required the additional pre-financing, which should have been covered by payment applications by 31 December 2016, according to Article 134(1a) of the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR) as amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/1839; as entirely covered by intermediate payment requests for the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund, while regretting that it was not fully covered for the European Social Fund and not covered for the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund; _________________ 6 State of execution of total payments and the level of the 'reste à liquider' (RAL) for Heading lb (programmes 2007-2013) - Designation of national authorities and state of execution of interim payments of 2014-2020 ESIF Operational Programmes (Status as of 31 March 2018).
Amendment 55 #
15. Reminds the Greek authorities of the importance of ensuring proper communication and visibility of the projects which were financed following the adoption of Regulation 2015/1839investments under the ESI Funds;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. IWelcomes the preliminary assessment that in all probability the 2007-2013 programming period will be closed with no loss of funds; invites the Commission to inform Parliament on the results of the closure process of the 2007-2013 programming period, which are expected to be concluded in the first half of 2018 and which should also include an evaluation of the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 on specific measures for Greeces well as to provide an updated picture of the projects in 2019 after the deadline has expired to complete, with national funds, projects left uncompleted at the end of the programming period;