Activities of Inés AYALA SENDER related to 2015/2318(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Cost effectiveness of the 7th Research Programme (short presentation) ES
Reports (1)
REPORT on cost effectiveness of the 7th Research Programme PDF (498 KB) DOC (61 KB)
Amendments (32)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Is aware that FP7 serves beneficiaries from all the EU Member States, associate and candidate countries such as Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Turkey, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Faeroe Islands and Moldavia, and international cooperation partner countries;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – introductory part
Paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. Welcomes the fact thatNotes that despite the repeated error rate and delays in its implementation and closure, the ex-post evaluation of FP7, commissioned by DG RTD, and undertaken by a high- level expert group86, considered FP7 to have been a success; observes that the high- level group underlined in particular that FP7: _________________ 8Commitment evaluation of the 7th EU Framework Programme, November 2015 https://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/ pdf/fp7_final_evaluation_expert_group_r eport.pdfand Coherence, ex-post
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 – indent 6
Paragraph 3 – indent 6
– high threshold for newcomers; low average success rate for proposals and applicants of 19% and 22% respectively;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 – indent 6 a (new)
Paragraph 3 – indent 6 a (new)
– weak communication;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Questions why the director general of DG R&I issued again, as in previous years, a horizontal reservation concerning all cost claims under FP7 (EUR 1.47 billion); is of the opinion that horizontal reservations in general cannot be considered as an instrument of sound financial management; acknowledges however that certain parts of FP7 expenditure were not covered by a reserve where there was evidence that the risks (and so the residual error rates) were significantly lower than for all expenditure; within RTD this applies to expenditure by given joint undertakings; outside DG RTD this also applies to expenditure by the Research Executive Agency under the Marie Curie programme, and all expenditure from the European Research Council Executive Agency;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Is concerned that FP7, according to the Commissioner, will not be fully executed and evaluated before 2020, which could cause delays in future follow- up programmes; urges the Commission to publish the evaluation report as soon as possible and at the latest before it presents the post Horizon 2020 research programme.
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises with concern that the Court considers the supervisory and control systems for research and other internal policies to be ‘partially effective’;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to inform its competent committee in detail about the 10 transactions that accounted for 77% of the errors and the remedial measures taken;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes with concern that the RDI error percentage in discharge for recent financial years has always been higher than 5 %;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Deplores that in 10 out of 38 transactions subject to quantified error, the Court reported errors exceeding 20% of the examined items; these 10 cases (9 from the Seventh Research Framework Programme and one from the 2007-2013 Competitiveness and Innovation Programme) account for 77% of the overall estimated level of error for "Competitiveness for growth and jobs" in 2015;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Regrets that most of the quantified errors which the Court found (33 out of 38) concerned the reimbursement of ineligible personnel and indirect costs declared by beneficiaries and that almost all of the errors found by the Court in cost statements were due to beneficiaries misinterpreting the complex eligibility rules or incorrectly calculating their eligible costs which leads to the obvious conclusion that those rules need to be simplified;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. NotesDeplores the fact that the primary sources of error were incorrectly calculated personnel costs and ineligible direct and indirect costs;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – introductory part
Paragraph 9 – introductory part
9.Points to and is concerned about the findings of ECA Special Report no 2/2013, in which the Court concludes that the Commission’s processes are geared to ensuring that funding is invested in high- quality research; however, there has been less focus on efficiency;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. RecognisNotes that the implementation of research framework programmes was shared among different directorates- general, executive agencies, joint undertakings, so-called Article-185 bodies, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT);
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the factNotes in regard to FP7 2007-2013 that DG RTD had completed and closed, by the end of 2015, 3 035 grant agreements out of 4 950, and 1 915 projects, with EUR 1.6 billion still to be paid; DG RTD made 826 final payments in 2015;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. WelcomePoints in particular to the fact that indicators such as time-to-grant, time-to- inform and time-to pay showed a positive trend and were considered to be satisfactory (93-100 % compliance);
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. AcknowledgNotes that DG RTD undertook 1 550 audits, covering 1 404 beneficiaries and 58.7 % of the budget during the FP7 programming period;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Observes that DG RTD incurred costs of EUR 1.67 million or 0.35 % of the EUR 479.9 million paid to joint undertakings for supervising their activities; observes furthermore that DG RTD incurred costs of EUR 0.7 million or 0.78 % of the payments made to Article- 185 bodies for supervising their activities;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Takes noteNotes with concern that DG RTD estimated the overall detected error rate to be 4.35 %; at the same time, the directorate-general believed the residual error rate (at the end of the programme and after corrections) to be 2.88 %;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Notes with concern that by the end of 2015 the amount to be recovered was EUR 49.4 million, of which EUR 31.5 million was effectively collected, and that 40 % therefore was not recovered;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Is concerned that the annual activity report of DG R&I indicated that by the end of 2015 1915 FP7 projects worth EUR 1.63 billion were still not completed; this could delay the implementation of Horizon 2020.
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Underlines that the European Union should strive forNotes that establishing synergies between the research and innovation sector on the one hand, and the structural funds on the other, is in the European Union’s interest;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Regrets that the payment policy for researchers is applied with minor adjustments in the framework of the Horizon 2020 programme and thus it allows different payments for the same work within the same project based only on the nationality of the researcher, which stimulates the brain-drain of scientists from central and eastern Europe;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Notes with concern that only a limited number of territories are represented in the 20 most important Horizon 2020 projects, which are spread as follows; Netherlands 5, United Kingdom 4, Germany 3, France 2, Belgium 2, Sweden 1, Switzerland 1, Norway 1, Spain 1;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 b (new)
Paragraph 28 b (new)
28b. Notes with concern, given the repeated error level, that a decision has been made to cut substantially the number of H2020 audits;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Welcomes that the share of Horizon 2020 funds allocated to small and medium-sized enterprises increased from 19.4% in 2014 to 23.4% in 2015 and recommends that this trend should be proactively encouraged;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 b (new)
Paragraph 34 b (new)
34b. Considers it unacceptable that the DG R&I has not complied with its request that the Commission's directorates general should publish all their country specific recommendations in their annual activity reports; notes with concern that only a limited number of territories are represented in the 20 most important Horizon 2020 projects.
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 c (new)
Paragraph 34 c (new)
34c. Requests the Commission to take measures ensuring the same pay for researchers doing the same work within the same project and to provide a list, by nationality, of all the enterprises quoted on the stock-exchange and/or which show a profit in their annual statement of accounts and which receive funds from Horizon 2020.
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38 a (new)
Paragraph 38 a (new)
38a. Calls on DG RTD to present a proposal setting out possible ways of safeguarding the rights and obligations of the United Kingdom after Brexit actually takes place, taking account of the fact that there will be delays;
Amendment 63 #
39. Concludes that the Commission has – overall – managed the FP7 cost effectivelylearnt from the recommendations of the Court of Auditors and of the European Parliament how to make implementation of FP7 more efficient; repeats, however, its concern over delays and repeated error rates in its implementation;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41a. Calls on the Member States to make an extra effort in order to meet the target of 3 % of GDP being invested in research; considers this would boost excellence and innovation; calls on the Commission therefore to examine the possibility of proposing a Science Covenant at local, regional and national level, building on the dynamic already created by the Covenant of Mayors;