Activities of Monica MACOVEI related to 2012/2285(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Annual Report 2011 on the protection of the EU’s Financial Interests - Fight against fraud PDF (256 KB) DOC (158 KB)
Amendments (16)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
Citation 11 a (new)
- having regard to its 2011 Resolution on the EU's efforts to combat corruption1, its Written Declaration 2/2010 on the Union's efforts in combating corruption2, and the 2011 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee "Fighting corruption in the EU"3,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Protection of the European Union's financial interests - Fight against fraud - Annual Report 20118 (‘the Commission's annual report’); regrets, however, that the report is limited to the data reported by the Member States in different ways and therefore does not indicate the actual scale of irregularities and fraud, and that consequently; points out that Member States use different definitions for similar types of offence and do not all collect similar and detailed statistical data following common criteria which makes it difficult to collect reliable and comparable statistics at EU level; regrets therefore that it is not possible to evaluate the actual overall scale of irregularities and fraud in individual Member States or to identify and discipline those Member States with the highest level of irregularities and fraud as has been repeatedly requested by Parliament;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the factNotes that, according to the Commission's annual report, in 2011 there was a significant decrease in irregularities reported as fraudulent1230 irregularities were reported as fraudulent and that their financial impact decreased by 37% in comparison with 2010 and amounted to EUR 404 million; acknowledges that cohesion policy and agriculture remain the two main areas suffering from the highest level of fraud with a respective estimated financial impact of EUR 204 million and EUR 77 million; questions, however, whether this decrease reflects the actual state of affairs in terms of fraudulent activities or is, rather, a sign that the supervisory and control systems in the Member States are deficient;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Emphasises that 233 investigative reports have been published on cases of fraud related to the misuse of EU funds over a period of 5 years within the 27 Member States with UK, Slovakia, Germany, Bulgaria, Spain Romania and Estonia being the Member States with the most active reporting 1; is of the opinion that investigative journalism proved to play a major role in exposing fraud impacting the Union's financial interests and represents a valuable source of information to be considered by OLAF and law enforcement or other relevant authorities in Member States;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Points out that the conviction rate in cases involving offences against the Union's budget varies considerably across the European Union from one Member State to another, ranging from 14 % to 80 %; underlines that harmonisation of the Member States' criminal law systems remains limited while judicial cooperation needs reinforcement; calls for ambitious European legislation together with better cooperation and coordination between all Member States in order to ensure severe sanction against fraudsters and deter fraudulent behaviours;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Acknowledges that the amount to be recovered following irregularities detected in 2011 reached EUR 321 million of which EUR 166 million has already been recovered by the Member States; notes in this respect that in 2011 the recovery rate for Traditional Own Resources improved to 52% in comparison with 46% in 2010;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recognises that the eEastern border represents a particularly problematicvulnerable geographical area in this context; welcomes the publication by the Commission of an action plan to fight against cigarette and alcohol smuggling along the EU Eastern border16 ; 1 The OLAF report 2011, table 6, p. 22
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Underlines that greater transparency allowing for proper scrutiny is key to detect fraud scheme; recalls that in previous years the Parliament urged the Commission to take action to ensure one- stop transparency of the beneficiaries of EU-funds; regrets that this measure has not been implemented; reiterates therefore its call to the Commission to design measures to increase the transparency of legal arrangements and a system where all beneficiaries of EU funds are published on the same website, independently of the administrator of the funds and based on standard categories of information to be provided by all Member States in at least one working language of the Union; calls on the Member States to cooperate with and provide to the Commission full and reliable information regarding the beneficiaries of the EU funds managed by Member States; invites the Commission to evaluate the system of 'shared management' and provide Parliament with a report as a matter of priority;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24 b. Notes that in 2011 the Commission decided financial corrections for a total amount of EUR 1 068 million and that financial corrections were implemented for EUR 822 million; notes with concern that in 2011 the recovery rate for Agriculture and rural development decreased to 77% in comparison with 85% in 2010;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. IRemains concerned that in the Commission'by the suspiciously low fraud rates reported by France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom, especially considering their size and financial support received; regrets that in its annual report ithe Commission did not offer a definitive answer to the question of whether the low suspected fraud rates reported by France, Germany, Spain and the UK are the result of non-compliance with reporting principles, or of the ability of the control systems put in place in these Member States to detect fraud; calls on the aforementioned Member States to provide detailed and thorough explanation on their low suspected fraud rates reported as soon as possible;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. WNotes that EUR 26 million have been recovered from the cases reported in 2011; welcomes the fact that the 2011 recovery rate in the area of pre-accession assistance has improved compared with the previous years; stresses, however, that the overall cumulative recovery rate (standing in excess of 60 %) is still unsatisfactory;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30a. Acknowledges that following OLAF's investigations EUR 691,4 million was recovered in 2011 of which EUR 389 million relates to a single case in the Calabria region of Italy under structural funds programmes for the financing of roadworks;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Regrets that between 2006 and 2011 Member States only took judicial actions following OLAF investigations in 46% of the cases; is of the opinion that this is insufficient and reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the effective and timely implementation of the recommendations made once cases have been investigated by OLAF;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33a. Welcomes that following the Parliament's request the Commission is currently developing a methodology to measure costs of corruption in public procurement concerning the Union's funds;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Welcomes the Commission's new Anti- Fraud Strategy17 and the Internal Action Plan 117anew for its implementation adopted in June 2011, which aims at improving the prevention and detection of fraud at EU level; 1 17anewcalls in this respect on the Commission to report on and evaluate the anti-fraud strategies established within each Directorate General; Or. en SEC(2011) 787 final