46 Amendments of Monika HOHLMEIER related to 2011/0288(COD)
Amendment 19 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 a (new)
Recital 1 a (new)
(1a) Cutting red tape is one of the key objectives and main requirements of the CAP reform. By introducing realistic tolerance thresholds and de minimis limitations and striking a balance between trust and scrutiny, the future administrative burden on Member States and beneficiaries must be kept to a reasonable level. As part of this process of cutting red tape, due account must be taken of the administrative and other costs of checks at all levels and effective administrative and monitoring systems must be rewarded. The overriding objective must be to reduce administrative costs and to return the administrative burden on farmers and administrators to a reasonable level.
Amendment 20 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) In order to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of this Regulation, the power to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the accreditation of the paying agencies and coordinating bodies, the content of the Farm Advisory System, the measures to be financed by Union budget under public intervention and the valuation of the operations in connection with public intervention, the reductions and suspension of the reimbursements to the Member States, the compensation between expenditure and revenues under the Funds, the recovery of debts, the penalties applied to beneficiaries in case of non-compliance with the eligibility conditions, in respect of rules on securities, on the functioning of the integrated administration and control system, of the measures excluded from the scrutiny of transactions, the penalties applied under cross compliance, the rules on maintenance of permanent grassland, the rules on the operative event and the exchange rate to be used by the Member States not using the euro and in respect of the content of the common evaluation framework of the measures adopted under the CAP. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The Commission, when preparing and drawing-up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and Council.
Amendment 21 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9 a (new)
Recital 9 a (new)
(9a) The increasing demands made on certification bodies and paying agencies must not go hand in hand with a further increase in red tape in the Member States and, above all, those demands should be no more stringent than international auditing standards. As regards the scope and content of the certification process, a balanced cost-benefit ratio must be maintained and additional reporting requirements must bring a clear added value.
Amendment 22 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 36
Recital 36
(36) The recovery procedures used by the Member States may have the effect of delaying recovery for a number of years, with no guarantee that the outcome will actually be successful. The cost of implementing those procedures may also be out of proportion to the amounts which are or may be collected. This should also apply to the recovery of amounts unduly paid and interest which fall below a ceiling which is set very low. Here as well, a realistic cost-effectiveness ratio must be maintained. Consequently, Member States should be permitted to halt recovery procedures in certain cases.
Amendment 23 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 54
Recital 54
Amendment 24 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 55
Recital 55
Amendment 25 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 57
Recital 57
(57) The cross compliance system implies certain administrative constraints for both beneficiaries and national administrations since record keeping must be ensured, checks must be carried out and penalties have to be applied where necessary. Those penalties should be proportionate, effective and dissuasive. Such penalties should be without prejudice to other penalties laid down under other provisions of Union or national law. For the sake of consistency, it is appropriate to merge the relevant Union provisions into one single legal instrument. For farmers participating in the small farmers scheme referred to in Title V of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[DP], the efforts to be made under the cross compliance system may be considered as exceeding the benefit of keeping those farmers under that system. For reasons of simplification, those farmers should therefore be exempted from cross compliance and in particular from its control system and from the risk of cross compliance penalties. However, that exemption should be without prejudice to the obligation to respect the applicable provisions of the sectoral legislation and to the possibility to be checked and to be imposed penalties under that legislation.
Amendment 27 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 68
Recital 68
(68) Each measure under the CAP should be subject to monitoring and evaluation in order to improve its quality and demonstrate its achievements. In this context a list of indicators should be determined and the impact of the CAP policy assessed by the Commission in relation to policy objectives. The Commission should set up a framework for a common monitoring and evaluation ensuring among others that relevant data, including information from Member States is available on a timely manner. In so doing it should take into account the data needs and synergies between potential data sources and draw as far as possible on existing data sources. In addition, the monitoring and evaluation framework must take account of and properly reflect the structure of the CAP. The monitoring and evaluation framework for the second pillar cannot be applied to the first pillar, in particular because under the first pillar there is scope for generating synergies, given the comparably uniform nature of the measures. Proper account should be taken of this. Moreover, the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A Budget for Europe 2020 - Part II stated that the climate related expenditure in the overall Union budget should increase to at least 20%, with contribution from different policies. The Commission should therefore be able to assess the impact of the Union's support in the framework of the CAP to climate objectives.
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point b
(b) a management declaration of assurance as to the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts, the proper functioning of the internal control systems as well as to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions and the respect of the principle of sound financial management;
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
The certification body shall be a public or private audit body designated by the Member State which shall provide an opinion on the management declaration of assurance covering the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the annual accounts of the paying agency, the proper functioning of its internal control system, the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, as well as the respect of the principle of sound financial management.
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15
Article 15
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 44
Article 44
When sectoral agricultural legislation requires Member States to submit, within a specific period of time, information on the numbers of checks carried out and their outcome and the Member States overrun that period, the Commission may suspend the monthly payments referred to in Article 18 or the interim payments referred to in Article 35 for which the relevant statistical information has not been sent in time, provided that the Commission has made all the information, forms and explanations they need to compile the relevant statistics available to the Member States in good time prior to the start of the reference period.
Amendment 51 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 56 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point a
Article 56 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point a
(a) if the costs already and likely to be incurred total more than the amount to be recovered, or this condition shall be deemed to have been met if the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary in the context of a single payment does not exceed EUR 300.
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – subpoint i (new)
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – subpoint i (new)
(i) if the financial impact of the errors (error rate) detected during the random on-the-spot checks was less than 2% in each of the two previous years, the Member States concerned may reduce the number of on-the-spot checks by up to 50%.
Amendment 56 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – subpoint ii (new)
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – subpoint ii (new)
(ii) if the financial impact of the errors (error rate) detected during the random on-the-spot checks was more than 5% in each of the two previous years, the Member States concerned shall increase the number of on-the-spot checks by up to 50%.
Amendment 57 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – subpoint iii (new)
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – subpoint iii (new)
(iii) if the financial impact of the errors (error rate) detected during the random on-the-spot checks was less than 1% in each of the two previous years, the Member States concerned may reduce the number of on-the-spot checks to 25% of the normal rate.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 65 – paragraph 3
Article 65 – paragraph 3
(3) The amounts concerned by the withdrawal referred to in paragraph 1 and by the penalties referred to in paragraph 2 shall be recovered in full, without prejudice to Article 56(3).
Amendment 59 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 73 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 73 – paragraph 3 a (new)
(3a) By derogation from paragraph 1, in the case of direct payments and multiannual area and animal-related rural development measures, a Member State may decide to dispense with the filing of annual payment applications, providing it introduces effective alternative procedures for implementing the proposed administrative controls and there are no changes compared to the original payment application.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 77 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 77 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) provisions required for a harmonised definition of the basis for calculation of aid, including rules on how to deal with certain cases where eligible areas contain landscape features or trees;.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 92 – paragraph 1
Article 92 – paragraph 1
Article 91 shall apply to beneficiaries receiving direct payments under Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[DP], payments under Articles 44 and 45 of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[sCMO] and and the annual premia under Articles 22(1)(a), 29 and 30, 31 and, in so far as it is concerned withe annugricultural paremia underas, Articles 22(1)(a) and (b), 29 to 32, 34 and 3532 and 34 of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[RD].
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 92 – paragraph 2
Article 92 – paragraph 2
However, Article 91 shall not apply to beneficiaries participating in the small farmers scheme referred to in Title V of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[DP] and to the beneficiaries receiving aid under Article 29(9) of Regulation (EU) No RD/xxx.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 93 – paragraph 3
Article 93 – paragraph 3
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 93 – paragraph 4
Article 93 – paragraph 4
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 110 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 110 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
A common monitoring and evaluation framework shall be established with a view to measuring the performance of the common agricultural policy. It shall include all instruments related to the monitoring and evaluation of common agricultural policy measures and in particular of the direct payments provided for in Regulation (EU) No DP/xxx, the market measures provided for in Regulation (EU) No CMO/xxx, the rural development measures provided for in Regulation (EU) No RD/xxx and of the application of the cross compliance provided for in this Regulation. In this process the Commission shall exploit synergies and rely as far as possible on already available data and data sources.
Amendment 69 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 110 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 110 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 70 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 110 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 110 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 110 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
Article 110 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, rules on the information to be sent by the Member States, as well as on the data needs and synergies between potential data sources. These implementing acts must not lead to any further increase in the administrative burden on Member States and the beneficiaries. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 112(3).
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 a (new)
Recital 1 a (new)
(1a) Cutting red tape is one of the key objectives and main requirements of the CAP reform. By introducing realistic tolerance threshholds and de minimis limitations and striking a balance between trust and scrutiny, the future administrative burden on Member States and beneficiaries must be kept to a reasonable level. As part of this process of cutting red tape, due account must be taken of the administrative and other costs of checks at all levels and effective administrative and monitoring systems must be rewarded. The overriding objective must be to reduce administrative costs and to return the administrative burden on farmers and administrators to a reasonable level.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9 a (new)
Recital 9 a (new)
(9a) The increasing demands made on certification bodies and paying agencies must not go hand in hand with a further increase in red tape in the Member States and, above all, those demands should be no more stringent than international auditing standards. As regards the scope and content of the certification process, a balanced cost-benefit ratio must be maintained and additional reporting requirements must bring clear value added.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 36
Recital 36
(36) The recovery procedures used by the Member States may have the effect of delaying recovery for a number of years, with no guarantee that the outcome will actually be successful. The cost of implementing those procedures may also be out of proportion to the amounts which are or may be collected. This should also apply to the recovery of amounts unduly paid and interest which fall below a ceiling which is set very low. Here as well, a realistic cost-effectiveness ratio must be maintained. Consequently, Member States should be permitted to halt recovery procedures in certain cases.
Amendment 161 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 57
Recital 57
(57) The cross compliance system implies certain administrative constraints for both beneficiaries and national administrations since record keeping must be ensured, checks must be carried out and penalties have to be applied where necessary. Those penalties should be proportionate, effective and dissuasive. Such penalties should be without prejudice to other penalties laid down under other provisions of Union or national law. For the sake of consistency, it is appropriate to merge the relevant Union provisions into one single legal instrument. For farmers participating in the small farmers scheme referred to in Title V of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[DP], the efforts to be made under the cross compliance system may be considered as exceeding the benefit of keeping those farmers under that system. For reasons of simplification, those farmers should therefore be exempted from cross compliance and in particular from its control system and from the risk of cross compliance penalties. However, that exemption should be without prejudice to the obligation to respect the applicable provisions of the sectoral legislation and to the possibility to be checked and to be imposed penalties under that legislation.
Amendment 171 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 68
Recital 68
(68) Each measure under the CAP should be subject to monitoring and evaluation in order to improve its quality and demonstrate its achievements. In this context a list of indicators should be determined and the impact of the CAP policy assessed by the Commission in relation to policy objectives. The Commission should set up a framework for a common monitoring and evaluation ensuring among others that relevant data, including information from Member States is available on a timely manner. In so doing it should take into account the data needs and synergies between potential data sources and draw as far as possible on existing data sources. In addition, the monitoring and evaluation framework must take account of and properly reflect the structure of the CAP. The monitoring and evaluation framework for the second pillar cannot be applied to the first pillar, in particular because under the first pillar there is scope for generating synergies, given the comparably uniform nature of the measures. Proper account should be taken of this. Moreover, the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A Budget for Europe 2020 - Part II stated that the climate related expenditure in the overall Union budget should increase to at least 20%, with contribution from different policies. The Commission should therefore be able to assess the impact of the Union's support in the framework of the CAP to climate objectives.
Amendment 188 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point b
(b) a management declaration of assurance as to the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts, the proper functioning of the internal control systems as well as to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions and the respect of the principle of sound financial management;
Amendment 207 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
The certification body shall be a public or private audit body designated by the Member State which shall provide an opinion on the management declaration of assurance covering the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the annual accounts of the paying agency, the proper functioning of its internal control system, the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, as well as the respect of the principle of sound financial management.
Amendment 352 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 44 – paragraph 1
Article 44 – paragraph 1
When sectoral agricultural legislation requires Member States to submit, within a specific period of time, information on the numbers of checks carried out and their outcome and the Member States overrun that period, the Commission may suspend the monthly payments referred to in Article 18 or the interim payments referred to in Article 35 for which the relevant statistical information has not been sent in time, provided that the Commission has made all the information, forms and explanations they need to compile the relevant statistics available to the Member States in good time prior to the start of the reference period.
Amendment 407 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 56 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point a
Article 56 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point a
(a) if the costs already and likely to be incurred total more than the amount to be recovered, or; this condition shall be deemed to have been met if the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary in the context of a single payment does not exceed EUR 300.
Amendment 435 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – point i (new)
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – point i (new)
(i) if the financial impact of the errors (error rate) detected during the random on-the-spot checks was less than 2% in each of the two previous years, Member States may reduce the number of on-the- spot checks by up to 50%.
Amendment 436 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – point ii (new)
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – point ii (new)
Amendment 437 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – point iii (new)
Article 64 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point b – point iii (new)
(iii) if the financial impact of the errors (error rate) detected during the random on-the-spot checks was less than 1% in each of the two previous years, the Member States concerned may reduce the number of on-the-spot checks to 25% of the normal rate.
Amendment 445 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 65 – paragraph 3
Article 65 – paragraph 3
(3) The amounts concerned by the withdrawal referred to in paragraph 1 and by the penalties referred to in paragraph 2 shall be recovered in full, without prejudice to Article 56, paragraph 3.
Amendment 480 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 73 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 73 – paragraph 3 a (new)
(3a) Notwithstanding paragraph 1, in the case of direct payments and multiannual area and animal-related rural development measures, a Member State may decide to dispense with the filing of annual payment applications, providing it introduces effective alternative procedures for implementing the proposed administrative controls and there are no changes compared to the original payment application.
Amendment 518 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 77 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 77 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) provisions required for a harmonised definition of the basis for calculation of aid, including rules on how to deal with certain cases where eligible areas contain landscape features or trees;
Amendment 548 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 92 – paragraph 1
Article 92 – paragraph 1
Article 91 shall apply to beneficiaries receiving direct payments under Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[DP], payments under Articles 44 and 45 of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[sCMO] and the annual premia under Articles 22(1)(a) and (b), 29 to 32 and the annual premia under Articles 22(1)(b), 29 and 30, 31 in so far as it is concerned with agricultural areas, 342 and 354 of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[RD].
Amendment 556 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 92 – paragraph 2
Article 92 – paragraph 2
However, Article 91 shall not apply to beneficiaries participating in the small farmers scheme referred to in Title V of Regulation (EU) No xxx/xxx[DP] and to the beneficiaries receiving aid under Article 29(9) of Regulation (EU) No RD/xxx.
Amendment 657 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 110 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 110 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
A common monitoring and evaluation framework shall be established with a view to measuring the performance of the common agricultural policy. It shall include all instruments related to the monitoring and evaluation of common agricultural policy measures and in particular of the direct payments provided for in Regulation (EU) No DP/xxx, the market measures provided for in Regulation (EU) No CMO/xxx, the rural development measures provided for in Regulation (EU) No RD/xxx and of the application of the cross compliance provided for in this Regulation. In this process the Commission shall exploit synergies and rely as far as possible on already available data and data sources.
Amendment 671 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 110 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
Article 110 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, rules on the information to be sent by the Member States, as well as on the data needs and synergies between potential data sources. These implementing acts must not lead to any further increase in the administrative burden on Member States and the beneficiaries. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 112(3).