Activities of Norica NICOLAI related to 2016/2097(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Annual Report 2015 on the Protection of the EU’s Financial Interests - Fight against fraud
Amendments (13)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Annual Report of the Commission and recalls that the goal of enhancing regional cohesion should always be accompanied by the protection of the EU’s financial interests; stresses that the fight against fraud is a joint responsibility of the Member States and the European Commission; notes that the fight against fraudulent or non-fraudulent irregularities also increases the general effectiveness of EU fund management;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to enhance the harmonisation of classification, detection and reporting of irregularities between Member States; stresses the importance of having a standard definition of errors in the Member States and of establishing the difference between errors and fraud; welcomes, however, the preventive and corrective measures taken by the Commission to avoid fraudulent or not fraudulent irregularities; stresses the need to step up efforts aimed at the early detection of errors and to set up a working group to correct irregularities;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Welcomes the Member States’ initiatives to adopt a joint anti-fraud strategy, and calls on the Commission to step up efforts to extend the strategy to all the Member States;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Appreciates the efforts made by the Member States to detect, evaluate and report irregularities and to implement effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures; stresses that action to combat fraud should not be an obstacle to development; calls on the Commission also to use technical assistance in order to help strengthen the technical and administrative capacity of managing authorities to ensure effective control systems able to reduce the risks of fraud; invites the Member States to identify ways of guaranteeing investments with a view to recovering losses caused by fraud;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recommends that steps be taken to improve the uptake of simplification measures for 2014-2020 with a view to the post-2020 regulatory framework for ESI Funds as a tool to reduce the risk of irregularities caused by errors; asks the Member States to remedy the problems linked to the late reporting of irregularities; stresses that the detection of minor errors should not lead to the suspension of funding programmes;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Points out that the bureaucratic burden and lack of consistency between EU and Member State legislation are contributing to the increase in the number of errors; regrets that strict rules and complex procedures are making financing from EU funds less attractive;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the need to conduct communication campaigns and take awareness-raising measures to inform citizens of the effectiveness of the anti- fraud measures put in place so as to avoid misconceptions regarding error rates and the number of frauds committed, also taking into account examples of communication best practices in the Member States; recommends improving transparency and facilitating access to information on irregularities; stresses the importance of a more efficient exchange of information between Member States.
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Expresses its concern regarding the ability of cooperation between all the control structures in Member States; calls on the Commission and Member States to support initiatives to strengthen the capacity of coordination between control structures, especially those that act in the first line of control in relationship with the beneficiaries.
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Considers disturbing the poor communication between Member States and OLAF; Invites the Commission and Member States to promote initiatives that lead to improved communication between public structures but also of civil society in EU Member States and OLAF; stresses that this is important for combating corruption in the Member States.
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Underlines the need to conduct campaigns to strengthen the public confidence in OLAF. Calls on the Commission and Member States to promote the actions of OLAF; stresses that this is important to strength OLAF capacity to cope with the increased number of investigations in order to combat fraud in the EU.
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Recommends to improve transparency at all levels of management on projects implemented with external funds; highlights that this is important to protect the EU budget.
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Expresses its concern regarding the disparity between the information received by OLAF from the Member States, from public sources and private sources; calls on the European Commission to support initiatives aimed to increase the collection of public information and calls on Member States to increase the quality of data provided.
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Recalls that the simplification of procedures for the beneficiaries in order to access ESI funds is required; call on the European Commission to support initiatives to simplify these procedures; stresses that this is crucial for preventing irregularities as fraud and corruption.