37 Amendments of Manfred WEBER related to 2011/0276(COD)
Amendment 227 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) A performance framework should be defined for each programme with a view to monitoring progress towards the objectives and targets set for each programme over the course of the programming period. The Commission should undertake a performance review in cooperation with the Member States in 2017 and 2019. A performance reserve should be foreseen and allocated in 2019 where milestones set in the performance framework have been attained. Due to their diversity and multi- country character, there should be no performance reserve for 'European Territorial Cooperation' programmes. In cases where the shortfall in the achievement of milestones or targets is significant, the Commission should be able to suspend payments to the programme or, at the end of the programming period, apply financial corrections, in order to ensure that the Union budget is not used in a wasteful or inefficient way. Where these corrections or suspensions affect a Member State which is experiencing or is threatened with serious difficulties with regard to its financial stability, the Member State should be able to request that these funds are provided to it in a specific growth programme administered by the Commission. This should be carried out on the basis of the relevant programmes, having regard to priorities and with the maximum economic effectiveness. The purpose of this mechanism is to avoid further worsening of the economically constrained situation.
Amendment 238 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Establishing a closer link between cohesion policy and the economic governance of the Union will ensure that the effectiveness of expenditure under the CSF Funds is underpinned by sound economic policies and that the CSF Funds can, if necessary, be redirected to addressing the economic problems a country is facing. This process has to be gradual, starting with amendments to the Partnership Contract and to the programmes in support of Council recommendations to address macroeconomic imbalances and social and economic difficulties. Where, despite the enhanced use of CSF Funds, a Member State fails to take effective action in the context of the economic governance process, the Commission should have the right to suspend all or part of the payments and commitments. Decisions on suspensions should be proportionate and effective, taking into account the impact of the individual programmes for addressing the economic and social situation in the relevant Member State and previous amendments to the Partnership Contract. When deciding on suspensions, the Commission should also respect equality of treatment between Member States, taking into account in particular the impact of the suspension on the economy of the Member State concerned. The suspensions should be lifted and funds be made available again to the Member State concerned as soon as the Member State takes the necessary action. If a Member State fails to take appropriate actions within a period greater than three months, the Commission should be able to place the suspended payments and commitments in a programme administered and supervised by the Commission. This programme should prioritise maximising growth, for example by providing grants for economy-related infrastructure, to avoid causing further damage to the regional economy and the social situation.
Amendment 244 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 a (new)
Recital 19 a (new)
19a. The Commission should, at the request of the relevant Member State, be able to make an ad hoc decision on the rules and conditions applicable to this programme, in particular on the basis of the funds released due to corrections and suspensions relating to the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund;
Amendment 258 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) It is necessary to lay down specific rules regarding the amounts to be accepted as eligible expenditure at closure, to ensure that the amounts, including the management costs and fees, paid from the CSF Funds to financial instruments are effectively used for investments and payments to final recipients. It is also necessary to lay down specific rules regarding the reuse of resources attributable to the support from the CSF Funds, including the use of legacy resources after the closure of the programmes. These attributable and legacy resources, together with other available resources, e.g. from financial corrections, should be made available to Member States experiencing serious difficulties with regard to their financial stability and managed by the Commission, prioritising the most effective measures to stimulate growth.
Amendment 269 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 41
Recital 41
(41) To ensure the effectiveness, fairness and sustainable impact of the intervention of the CSF Funds, there should be provisions guaranteeing that investments in businesses and infrastructures are long- lasting and prevent the CSF Funds from being used to undue advantage. Experience has shown that a period of five10 years is an appropriate minimum period to be applied, except where State aid rules foresee a different period. It is appropriate to exclude actions supported by the ESF and those not entailing productive investment or investment in infrastructure from the general requirement of durability, unless such requirements are derived from applicable State aid rules, and to exclude contributions to or from financial instruments.
Amendment 270 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 41 a (new)
Recital 41 a (new)
Amendment 271 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 41 b (new)
Recital 41 b (new)
(41b) In the case of direct subsidies to undertakings, it should be recognised that cohesion policy funding, rather than influencing decisions by companies, particularly bigger companies, to open a plant in a given location, tends to be pocketed by companies which have already taken such decisions (deadweight effect). Support for large private undertakings should therefore be focussed on investment in research and development or provided, in more cases, indirectly through infrastructure financing;
Amendment 272 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 41 c (new)
Recital 41 c (new)
(41c) The Structural Funds Regulation should contain an explicit regulation excluding all EU financing for relocations within the Union and reducing the threshold for reviewing investments of this kind to EUR 25 million, thereby excluding large enterprises from receiving direct subsidies and limiting the duration of operation to 10 years;
Amendment 284 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 51
Recital 51
(51) In order to encourage financial discipline, it is appropriate to define the arrangements for decommitment of any part of the budget commitment in a programme, in particular where an amount may be excluded from decommitment, notably when delays in implementation result from circumstances which are independent of the party concerned, abnormal or unforeseeable and whose consequences cannot be avoided despite the diligence shown. If a Member State is in a difficult financial position, the Commission should, at the request of this Member State, be able to assume financial administration responsibility and set up a programme promoting economic growth in the relevant Member State.
Amendment 338 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 86 a (new)
Recital 86 a (new)
(86a) In the case of Member States experiencing or threatened by a difficult financial situation and already receiving support measures from the Union in the form of financial assistance, the Commission should be able to make available to the Member States corrected and/or recovered resources and/or interest earnings or other amounts recovered by the central funds management system, in accordance with Article 53a of the Financial Regulation, in a separate programme focussing on investments for growth, in particular grants for economy- related infrastructure works.
Amendment 339 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 86 b (new)
Recital 86 b (new)
(86b) In order to avoid exacerbating the financial situation of Member States already experiencing or threatened by a difficult financial situation, the Commission should, at the request of these Member States and under their management, be able to make available to these Member States recovered or suspended resources without delay and within the framework of a separate programme supporting specific growth stimulation measures (including grants for economy-related infrastructure works).
Amendment 438 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 5 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Part 2 – article 5 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. The Code of Good Conduct will define, a number of partnership criteria that will be part of the Partnership Contract and the Operational Programmes. These partnership criteria will cover following minimum specifications: (a) description of the partner institutions that from the formal partnership; (b) the cooperation procedure with the competent nation, regional and local institutions, ensuring binding voting rights in partnership decisions, including changes of the Operational Programme; (c) description of the formal consultation procedure of the partner institutions in the drafting of national guidance notes and supplementary implementing rules; (d) description of the stakeholders involved in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Operational Programmes; (e) transparency of the procedures and the relevant documents concerning the Development and Investment Partnership Contract and the Operational Programmes. These criteria shall be verified ex ante, as well as be subject to annual reporting by the Member States to the Commission.
Amendment 443 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Part 2 – article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. At least once a year, for each CSF Fund, the Commission shall consult the organisations which represent the partners at Union level on the implementation of support from the CSF Funds. (This shall be paragraph 5.)
Amendment 621 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 14 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
Part 2 – article 14 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
(ca) an integrated infrastructure development strategy for the regions, particularly with reference to the integrated use of the CPR Fund, the ‘Connecting Europe’ facility and the TEN Fund with particular consideration of cross-border connections and regional links to transnational transport axes;
Amendment 739 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 22 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Part 2 – article 22 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Member States that meet one of the conditions of Paragraph 1, Letters a, b, or c can, in order to stabilise their economic position and to avoid a disastrous loss of resources, request that the Commission should use an implementing measure to establish a special programme according to Article 53a of the Financial Regulation (centralised management) which ensures that suspended or withdrawn payments of the relevant Member State enable the objectives of Article 21(4) (greatest possible increase in the effects of the available resources on growth and competitiveness) to be achieved as quickly as possible;
Amendment 847 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 32 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Part 2 – article 32 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Financial instruments may be combined with grants, interest rate subsidies and guarantee fee subsidies. In this case, separate records must be maintained for each form of financing.
Amendment 850 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 32 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Part 2 – article 32 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 142 laying down detailed rules concerning the ex-ante assessment of financial instruments, the combination of support provided to final beneficiaries through grants, interest rate subsidies, guarantee fee subsidies and financial instruments, additional specific rules on eligibility of expenditure and rules specifying the types of activities which shall not be supported through financial instrumentslay down uniform conditions in implementing acts for the ex-ante assessment of financial instruments. These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the verification procedure referred to in Article 143(3).
Amendment 856 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 33 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
Part 2 – article 33 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 861 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 33 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2
Part 2 – article 33 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 1089 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 59 – paragraph 3 – point b
Part 2 – article 59 – paragraph 3 – point b
(b) the purchase of land not built on and land built on in the amount equivalent to that of land not built on and exceeding 10% of the total eligible expenditure for the operation concerned. In exceptional and duly justified cases, a higher percentage may be permitted for operations concerning environmental conservation;
Amendment 1104 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 61 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
Part 2 – article 61 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
An operation comprising investment in infrastructure or productive investment shall repay the contribution from the CSF Funds if within five10 years from the final payment to the beneficiary or within the period of time set out in the State aid rules, where applicable, it is subject to:
Amendment 1108 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 61 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Part 2 – article 61 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. When assessing projects valued in excess of EUR 25 million, the Commission should have all the necessary information to enable it to estimate whether the level of funding would lead to significant job losses at existing locations in the European Union, so as to ensure that Community funding is not used to support changes of location within the Union.
Amendment 1123 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 64 – paragraph 1
Part 2 – article 64 – paragraph 1
1. In accordance with [Article 56(3)] of the Financial Regulation, each body responsible for the management and control of expenditure under the CSF Funds shall be accredited by formal decision of an accrediting authority at ministerial level., provided that the Commission has been able to gain sufficient confidence in the administrative structures of the Member State in the last funding periods;
Amendment 1162 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 2 – article 75 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Part 2 – article 75 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. By 1 February30 June of the year following the end of the accounting period, the Member State shall submit to the Commission the following documents and information in accordance with [Article 56] of the Financial Regulation:
Amendment 1193 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 82 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b
Part 3 – article 82 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b
Amendment 1281 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 84 – paragraph 3
Part 3 – article 84 – paragraph 3
3. At least 215 % of the Structural Funds resources for less developed regions, 40% for transition regions and 525 % for more developed regions in each Member State shall be allocated to the ESF. For the purposes of this provision, the support to a Member State through the [Food for deprived people instrument] shall be considered as part of the share of Structural Funds allocated to the ESF.
Amendment 1286 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 84 – paragraph 3
Part 3 – article 84 – paragraph 3
3. At least 25 % of the Structural Funds resources for less developed regions, 40% for transition regions and 52% for more developed regions in each Member State shall be allocated to the ESF. For the purposes of this provision, the support to a Member State through the [Food for deprived people instrument] shall be considered as part of the share of Structural Funds allocated to the ESF.
Amendment 1314 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 84 – paragraph 8
Part 3 – article 84 – paragraph 8
8. Resources for the European territorial cooperation goal shall amount to 3,487 % of the global resources available for budgetary commitment from the Funds for the period 2014 to 2020 (i.e. a total of EUR 11 700 000 004xxx).
Amendment 1346 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 1
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 1
1. An operational programme shall consist of priority axes. A priority axis shall concern one Fund for aeach individual category of region — except in the case of the Cohesion Fund — and shall correspond, without prejudice to Article 52, to a thematic objective and comprise one or more investment priorities of that thematic objective, in accordance with the Fund-specific rules. For the ESF, a priority axis may combine investment priorities from different thematic objectives set out inIn duly justified circumstances, and if this is necessary in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness in a thematically coherent approach in pursuing the goals and provisions of the Union’s strategy for smart, sustainable and integrated growth, a priority axis may a) involve more than one regional category; b) combine one or more supplementary investment priorities from EFRE, KF and ESF under a single thematic objective; c) combine one or more supplementary investment priorities from different thematic objectives up to a limit of 20 % of the Union’s contribution to an operational programme; d) in the case of ESF, combine investment priorities from different thematic objectives from Article 9(8), (9)9, (10) and (11) in order to facilitatto enhance their contribution to other priority axes, in duly justified circumstances. . The Member States may combine two or more of the options described under points a to d.
Amendment 1384 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 2 – point c – point vi a (new)
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 2 – point c – point vi a (new)
vi a) the determination of areas in which cross-border infrastructural links and/or regional links are promoted;
Amendment 1404 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 2 – point g – point ii a (new)
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 2 – point g – point ii a (new)
ii a) the planned linking of Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund resources with other financial instruments, in particular the CEF;
Amendment 1408 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 2 – point h – point i a (new)
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 2 – point h – point i a (new)
i a) determination of the procedure for allotting funds also using competitive procedures;
Amendment 1417 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point ii a (new)
Part 3 – article 87 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point ii a (new)
ii a) a description of its contribution to subsidising infrastructure;
Amendment 1455 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 92 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Part 3 – article 92 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 1504 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 99 – paragraph 2
Part 3 – article 99 – paragraph 2
2. The relevant oOperational pProgrammes shall identifyoutline the selection procedure regarding the ITIs planned and shall set out the indicative financial allocation from each priority axis to each ITI.
Amendment 1647 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 3 – article 112 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Part 3 – article 112 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Member States shall prevent, detect and correct irregularities and shall recover amounts unduly paid, together with any interest on late payments. Incorrectly allocated funds (for example because expenditure is ineligible for funding or as a result of rounding or accounting errors) do not need to be returned and such cases will not be pursued provided the amount in question does not exceed EUR 250. The same applies to the relevant interest if the expected interest is not greater than EUR 250. These amounts may not be deducted from the expenses declared in the declarations of expenditure. They shall notify these irregularities to the Commission and shall keep the Commission informed of the progress of related administrative and legal proceedings.
Amendment 1804 #
Proposal for a regulation
Part 4 – article 142 – paragraph 1
Part 4 – article 142 – paragraph 1
1. The powers to adopt delegated acts are conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. Delegated acts shall not apply retrospectively