26 Amendments of Jean-Pierre AUDY related to 2013/2195(DEC)
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas, for the 19th time in succession, the Court of Auditors was unable to grant a positive statement of assurance regarding the legality and regularity of the payments underlying the accounts;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Heading 1
Heading 1
Agricultural and regional policy, subject to political reservation
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the CommissionMember States, in the context of shared management, to assume greater and more substantial responsibility for safeguarding the EU budget against financial losses;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 – point b
Paragraph 5 – point b
(b) continue to suspend payments and halt programmes, if legally possible, in cases where serious shortcomings have occurred,
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that, in the new programming period 2014-2020, net financial corrections canwill be imposed in the event of serious shortcomings in the implementation of cohesion policy;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that the application of net financial corrections in the field of agriculture does not yet constitute the anticipated progress, as (a) the Commission’s existing internal rules already stipulate that the duration of conformity procedures must not exceed two years and, (b) the so-called ‘new’ criteria and methodology for applying financial corrections mentioned in Annex I to the Communication refer explicitly to guidelines that will be based on the existing ones adopted by the Commission as long ago as 23 December 1997Notes that, in the new programming period 2014- 2020, net financial corrections can be imposed in the event of serious shortcomings in the implementation of cohesion, and (c) Member States fail to provide, quickly, simply and effectively, proof that the net financial correction envisaged by the Commission is not justified, the result being frequent delays in dealing with cases involving corrections;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Notes furthermore that the audit reports of the Member States, on which the Commission’s risk analysis is based, are themselves often faulty and therefore unreliable; notes furthermore that the Court of Auditors only recently confirmed that ‘(…) the European Commission cannot unquestioningly rely on the results of audits performed by the Member States in relation to EU regional funding appropriations’2; __________________ 2 Press release ECA/13/47 of the Court of Auditors on Special Report 16/2013 on the ‘single audit’, 18 December 2013.
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Heading 1 - Subheading 4
Heading 1 - Subheading 4
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls, therefore, pursuant to Article 287(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, for cooperation between national audit institutions and the Court of Auditors as regards shared- management controls to be stepped up;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Considers that, although the way in which the Commission addresses the deficiencies detected in the LPIS systems (excessivelyLPIS systems in order to calculate the financial corrections gives rise to loengthy conformity procedures leading to the flat-rate corrections with delayed, delays in the adoption of action plans and reservations in the annual activity reports) creates a financial risk to the budget of the European Union, it makes for real financial corrections, as called for by Parliament and the Court of Auditors, rather than flat-rate corrections which are open to challenge by the Member States and recipients; supports the Commission in its approach, and calls for the systems to be improved in any way possible, including the provision of training to staff, in order to enhance their effectiveness and rapidity;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Points out in particular that, despite decisions on flat-rate corrections, the errors detected in 2006 in France and Portugal were still not fully remedied in 2012; stresses that from 2006 to 2013 direct payments were made whose legality and regularity were not fully guaranteed and highlights that European tax-payers’ money has been wrongly paid to final beneficiaries without recovery;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls, in order to remedy shortcomings in LPIS systems, for conformity procedures to be shortened and action plans to be implemented promptly; calls, in the event of failure to comply with the deadlines, for net corrections to be maintermediate payments to be reduced proportionately or suspended in the action plans in the Member States concerned as part of the conformity clearance procedure;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Stresses that the guidelines for audits by the Commission itself ought to constitute a self-imposed obligation on the Commission; calls on the Commission already to present them as part of the 2013 budget discharge procedure; calls for clear indications, to this end, of the extent to which Member States and programmes which have attracted attention in the past have been subjected to a special audit approach and the extent to which net financial corrections can be accelerated; stresses that this approach should already be adopted in the impending delegated acts and implementing acts (February 2014);
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Points out that in addition to delivering one opinion on the reliability of the accounts, the Court of Auditors delivers three on the legality and regularity of the underlying operations; takes the view that this plethora of opinions makes it more difficult for Members of the European Parliament to assess the Commission's implementation of the budget;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Regards it as abnormal that the annual accounts should show net assets of -EUR 40,4 million, and wonders whether the amounts to be called from Member States for staff pensions, which are estimated at EUR 42,5 billion, should not be entered as assets, given that this clearly constitutes a commitment; notes the Commission accounting officer’s explanations to the effect that international public-sector accounting standards have been applied; calls for the Court of Auditors to state clearly its position on this matter; calls for a figure to be put on the risk of the above amount not being made available, in the light of the Member States’ financial positions; proposes that consideration should be given to setting up a Community pension fund in order to get these financial commitments vis-à-vis staff off the balance sheet;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)
Paragraph 39 a (new)
39a. Urges the Court of Auditors to assess the pertinence of an analysis based on the simple error rate and, in keeping with its independent status, to consider the materiality threshold1a; __________________ 1a European Parliament resolution of 4 February 2014 on the future role of the Court of Auditors. The procedure on the appointment of Court of Auditors' Members: European Parliament consultation (Texts adopted, P7_TA(2014)0060).
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 b (new)
Paragraph 39 b (new)
39b. Points out that, in accordance with international audit standards, the external auditor should set the materiality threshold for errors independently;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
42a. Emphasises that a distinction must be drawn between errors and fraud, and considers that, in the vast majority of cases, errors stem from administrative mistakes, many of which are linked to the complexity of European and national rules, which can be corrected;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Points out that the increases in the estimated error rate were greatest for the spending areas employment and social affairs, agriculture, market measures and direct support and regional policy energy and transport;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
Paragraph 64
64. Points out that, as the Commission quantifies the amount at risk at between 1.9 % (EUR 2.6 billion) and 2.6 % (EUR 3.5 billion) of total payments for the year, it acknowledges that the level of error in expenditure is likely to be material, especially since the Commission itself states that amounts at risk in a number of areas, in particular rural development, are likely to be underestimated; emphasises, however, that these amounts do not include the potential future financial corrections, which substantially reduce the final risk;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 71 a (new)
Paragraph 71 a (new)
71a. Calls on the Court of Auditors, pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 287(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to deliver an opinion on the independence of the national audit authorities with regard to shared management;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72 a (new)
Paragraph 72 a (new)
72a. Proposes that consideration be given to the possibility for national audit institutions, in their capacity as independent external auditors, and with due regard for international audit standards, to issue national audit certificates for the management of Union funds, which would be submitted to Member State governments with a view to being produced during the discharge process in accordance with an appropriate interinstitutional procedure to be introduced;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90
Paragraph 90
90. Is deeply concerned about the fact that the critical observations made in the annual report of the Court of Auditors for the financial year 2012 and the systematic weaknesses detected by the latter have already been reported by the Court in its previous reports, and in particular, as regards the eligibility of permanent pasture, since 2007; notes the Commission’s explanations and calls on the Commission and the Court of Auditors, in the context of the adversarial procedure, to reach agreement on the eligibility criteria for permanent pasture;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 118
Paragraph 118
118. Regrets that the Court found that the results of the conformity audits were not sufficiently taken into account for the financial clearance decision and agrees that it reduces the reliability, on account of differences in approach between the Court and the Commission on the issue of financial clearance, Parliament cannot assess with accuracy its impact on the legality and regularity of the underlying operations; notes that, according to the Court of Auditors, the results of the conformity audits were not sufficiently taken into account for the financial clearance decision; calls on the Commission and the Court of Auditors, in the context of the adversarial procedure, to reach agreement ofn thise financial clearance procedure;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 128
Paragraph 128
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 136
Paragraph 136
136. For this reason, reserves its position as regards the regularity of transactions and the effectiveness of systems in the common agricultural policy (direct payments and rural development); will lift this reservation only on the basis ofthe next Parliament will have to be very demanding vis-à-vis the Commissioners-designate, in particular those with responsibility for agriculture and auditing, who will be required to give a commitment to fully protect the budget of the European Union given by the relevant Commissioners-designate duringat the parliamentary hearing preceding their appointment as Members of the Commission in 2014 and on condition that convincing plans for doing so are presented, on the basis of convincing plans;