Activities of Inés AYALA SENDER related to 2012/2064(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Court of Auditors (A7-0014/2014 - Inés Ayala Sender) (vote)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the future role of the Court of Auditors. The procedure on the appointment of Court of Auditors’ Members: European Parliament consultation PDF (191 KB) DOC (95 KB)
Amendments (24)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 3 July 2013 on the Integrated Internal Control Framework (2012/2291(INI)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that traditionally, the Court has fulfilleds its mission mainly by carrying out financial audits and independent evaluations of EU financial management and reporting, as well as providing advice on how such management and reporting could be improved upon to facilitate the EU public accountability process in terms of financial management, financial reporting, public scrutiny and reform;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets that the Court of Auditors was – –for the eighteenth timeyear in a row – unable to grant- the results of the Court's audit did not permit the Court to give a positive statement of assurance (DAS4) regarding the legality and regularity of payments; regrets, furthermore, in this context that after such an enormous and repetitive cycle and following the many efforts made, there has not been any change in this regard; highlights the fact that an error rate as such does not provide a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness of Union policies; __________________ 4 Abbreviation of the French term ‘Déclaration d'assurance’.
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. PRecalls that Article 287 TFEU provides that the Court shall provide the European Parliament and the Council with a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions; points out that in addition to delivering an opinion on the reliability of accounts, the Court of Auditors must delivers three opinions on the legality and regularity of underlying operations; takes the view that this excessive number ofese multiples opinions makes it more difficult for Members of Parliament to assess the Commission's implementation of the budget;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that the DAS is an annual indicator of a multiannual spending scheme, which makes it difficult fully to capture the cyclical nature and effect of multiannual arrangements, and therefore the realcomplete impact and effectiveness of the management and control systems can only be measured at the end of the spending period; considers, therefore, that the Court should be able to present to the discharge authority a summary report on the final performance of a programming period;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is of the opinion that the current DAS framework adds limited value and that an independentin order to provide additional value the DAS cshould be made on a cyclical basis and/or be delegated in part toinclude cyclical elements and, where possible, should make use of work carried out by the Commission, which holds power with respect to controls-monitoring devices based on discovery sampling, such as the DAS; notes that the Commission already carries out ‘mini DAS’ exercises which follow the methodology of the Court in detail;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Points out that thisa revisited and more efficient DAS approach would free up resources to allowfor the Court' to prioritise use its audits efforts in favour of a much more robust, efficient and effective role in assessing the systemic risk involved for the EU in adopting macro- and micro-xperience to provide additional guidance to policy makers and legislators, for example on the risks arising from the current economic and financial crisis, to EU financial mand prudential policies and activities, focusing on the effectiveness of the EU public and private sector financial architecture, taking into account the spill- over effects of the associated systemic risks; notes that this would allow the Court to signal an economic and financial crisisagement and accountability, of proposals to strengthen financial supervision and to increase the use of financial instruments outside the framework of the EU budget;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Acknowledges the historic, constructive role of the DAS exercise focuses on the concepts of legality and regularity as being useful indices of good financial practices on the part of the EUshows the way that EU funds have been used in accordance with the decisions of parliament, acting as legislator and budget authority; underlines, however, that at this point, and in the future, the Court should devote more resources to the examination of whether economy, effectiveness and efficiency have been achieved in the use of the public funds entrusted to the Commission;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Believes that the moment has arrived to revisit and ‘re-engineer’ the mandate of the Court to suit present circumstances, taking account of the EU's present and future pressing needs; is of the opinion that the Court should be involvedprovide detailed opinions in the preparation of the Commission's work programme, provi including advice as to the risks that may be encountered therein;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Highlights the fact that the Court’s mandate, as established under the Treaty, provides the reference framework for the Court to fulfil its role as the independent external audit body of the Union; notes that the mandate provides for significant flexibility to allow the Court to carry out its mission beyond the scope of the DAS; recalls that the mandate enables the Court to present the results of its performance audits in special reports which provide significant opportunity to add value by focusing on and investigating high-risk areas and addressing topics of high interest to stakeholders; notes, in addition, that these reports provide information to European citizens on the functioning of the Union and the use of European funds in many sectors, helping to bring Europe closer to citizens and to make it more transparent and easier to understand;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the fact that, since 2009, the Court has focused considerable efforts on developing its products and services as well as its annual report; believes, however, that greater effort should be made and more resources used to improve quality further, primarily with respect to the Court's performance audit work, which provides information on the EU budget results; considers that the Court should build upgo beyond the DAS model to determine whether results have been achieved and to explain how they have been achieved, so that lessons can be learned and applied in other contexts;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recommends, moreover, that the Court interveneprovides opinions in allkey legislative proposals put forward by the Commission, providing advice during the conception period as to the financial and other risks involved, and also assisting the Commission to further develop a new culture of performance, defining in their legislative proposals and in their management procedures a number of targets and key performance indicators which meet the requirements of the Court of Auditors in terms of relevance, comparability and reliability;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – point 1
Paragraph 16 – point 1
· provision of support and advice through the issue of comprehensive opinions to the Commission, Parliament and the Council on the preparation and discussion of the Union's programme and new draft legislative proposals;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Is of the opinion that while the Treaty of Lisbon re-affirmed the legal framework and independence of the Court in promoting public accountability, thereby tasking it with the important role of holding the Commission to account; notes that, without prejudice to its independence, Parliament and the Council should also play an influentialmportant role in the definition of the Court’s annual and multiannual strategy plan, so that its work is consistent with priority and topical EU issues while responding to the needs of Parliament and the Council for information and expertise in exercising their powers of control, which will result in greater effectiveness and efficiency in their work and in a stronger democratic dimension to this control;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Believes that preparatory tripartite meetings between Parliament, the Council and the Court could form a basis upon which to establishshould inform the Court's annual work programme; stresses that such structured preparatory dialogue could greatly assist in ensuring the effective and democratic accountability to citizens of the public funds put at stake to meet EU objectives;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes, furthermore, that the added value of the Court is directly linked to the use made of its work by Parliament and other stakeholders in the accountability process; insistbelieves, therefore, that the Court's annual work programme be aligned with the political priorities of the legislators andriorities imposed by the legislative programme and in any case expects that the Court takes into account all the European Parliament's requests; the annual work programme will be presented, in this connection where relevant, to Parliament's special committees;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Emphasises that the Court should be at the forefront in defining a model reformworking method whereby national SAIs and the Court step up the coordinateion of their resources to evaluate the expenditure and performance of the EU budget, avoiding duplication of control work and sharing control information, which results inidentifying risk areas, conducting joint audits or involving SAIs more closely in ECA audit missions, which results in the development of common working methods and greater effectiveness at each control level; notes that the sharing of audit and control data and of best practices between the Court and the SAIs is key to improving the targeting of audit and control efforts;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Notes that the Court of Auditors should administer its audit reports and related findings while implementing measures to protect the rights and legal interests of the citizens and organizations who take part in the audit proceedings; encourages the Court to create favourable conditions for the actual realization of the auditee's rights, namely the right to a hearing, by designing and establishing a detailed system of procedural guarantees;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Stresses the importance of including European programmes when planning the controls carried out by SAIs, paying particular attention to shared management, with national parliaments having a key role to play in this context in being able to ask their respective SAIs to carry out audits on European funds and programmes; notes that by institutionalising and regularising this control, its results could be presented once a year to the national parliament and this could be done at the same time as the European Court of Auditor’s annual presentation in each Member State;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Regrets that even if the Court is to bnominate a permanent Member of the ESM audit board, the annual audit report of the board will be made available neither to Parliament nor to the general public; believes that broad reflection on the EU's public accountability and the audit structure of the Union as a whole, which includes the instruments for financial assistance, is unavoidable; believes that the Court should play a central role in such discussion;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – introductory part
Paragraph 33 – introductory part
33. Adopts the following principles, selection criteria and procedures for delivering its opinion on the candidates for membership of the Management Board of the Court of Auditors:
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – point c
Paragraph 33 – point c
(c) in the Committee on Budgetary Control, hearings will be public and the discussions will be relayed via video. AtFollowing the public hearings, discussion will be kept to a minimumheld in camera, so as to prevent candidates from being subjected to to personal criticism in public;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point a
Paragraph 34 – point a
a) high-level professional experience acquired in public finance – national or regional courts of auditors or other public control authorities – or in management or management auditing, as well as proper knowledge of the governance of the European institutions;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point b
Paragraph 34 – point b
(b) where necessary, proof of prior discharge ofrelevant, proof that the applicant´s from management duties previously carried out;and financial duties have been carried out without negative or qualified audit opinion or evaluation