55 Amendments of Jens GEIER related to 2011/2201(DEC)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Regrets that Regional policy was part of an error-prone group, which was the most error prone among the policy areas of Union expenditure, with 49 % of the 243 payments audited by the Court of Auditors affected by error; underlines that this level of error has been decreasing as compared to the error rates detected in the 2000-2006 programming period, and that only part of the errors will have a financial impact; calls on the Commission to achieve a trend that shows a consistent decrease in the error rate;
Amendment 4 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Grants the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 8 #
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Grants the Director of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets the deficiencies in the financial engineering instruments' implementation, namely in respect of the lack of compliance with regulatory requirements in making the contribution from the operational programmes to the funds implementing such instruments, as well as deficient reporting and verification requirements in force; calls on the Member States to comply with their reporting obligations;
Amendment 13 #
Proposal for a decision 3
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Grants the Director of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 18 #
Proposal for a decision 4
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. .......Grants the Director of the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 23 #
Proposal for a decision 5
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. .......Grants the Director of the European Research Council Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a decision 6
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Grants the Director of the Research Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 33 #
Proposal for a decision 7
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Grants the Director of the Trans- European Transport Network Executive Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a decision 8
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ......Approves the closure of the accounts of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is worried about this increase because it reverses the positive trend observed in the past few years; calls on the Commission to achieve a trend that shows a consistent decrease in the error rate as demanded in previous discharge reports;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 – introductory part
Paragraph 17 – introductory part
17. Believes that those observations awere rooted in a deficient legal basis for FEIs; is highly in 2010; is concerned that the rules applicable to FEIs do not set appropriate incentives to make effective and efficient use of FEIs; is also worried that they leave too much room for flexibility for Member States; welcomes, however, recent improvements in developing a legal basis for FEIs; highlights the following most important deficiencies of the legal basis which was at the time a Council Regulation:
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Is pleased that the recast of Articles 130 and 131 of the Rules of Procedure will make it possible to stipulate the duration of financial instruments; asks the Commission for a summary of the measures which might prevent risks to the EU budget arising from the FEIs;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 – indent 1 a (new)
Paragraph 19 – indent 1 a (new)
- providing a risk assessment considering different FEIs separately as well as taking into account the risk structure of the beneficiary of the FEIs;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 – indent 2
Paragraph 19 – indent 2
– completing the process of gathering information from Member States on issues not yet fully covered, such as the exact number and size of specific funds and relevant indicators on the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of FEIs; developing mechanisms to enforce the reporting obligations by Member States;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Deplores the fact that the Internal Auditor's overall opinion was not transmitted to Parliament; nNotes the observations made by the Court of Auditors concerning the Internal Auditor's overall opinion; believes that without a substantial revisit addressing the Court of Auditors' concerns, the usefulness of the overall opinion will remain limited;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Is deeply worried aboutNotes the Court of Auditors' observations with regard to the AARs and the Synthesis Report (Annual Report, points 1.17 - 1.25) and; believes, however, that there are reasons to question the faithful representation of the information presented in the Commission's AARs, the Commission's Synthesis Report and the Internal Auditor's overall opinion; recognises, however, that the calculation of a residual error rate is only one of the methods used by the Commission for estimating the amount at risk; calls on the Commission to provide consistent guidelines to be implemented by all Directorates-General;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – introductory part
Paragraph 33 – introductory part
33. Believes that the Commission should be a best practice model for governance arrangements Notes the Commission's Governance statement adopted on 30 May 2007, which covers the internal functioning of the Commission and explains the public sector; believes, therefore,way it is directed and controlled and the way it relates with its stakeholders; encourages the Commission couldto further improve its corporate governance arrangements in particular by:nd to inform the discharge authority of actions and measures taken;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – indent 1
Paragraph 33 – indent 1
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – indent 2 – introductory part
Paragraph 33 – indent 2 – introductory part
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – indent 1
Paragraph 34 – indent 1
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – indent 5
Paragraph 34 – indent 5
– providing in each AAR a complete and reliable explanation of the relationship between the residual risk or the residual error rate and the Court of Auditors' error rate; calls on the Commission, in close cooperation with the Court of Auditors, to explore possibilities to align its methodology of calculating the residual error rate with the Court of Auditors' most likely error rate methodology;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Welcomes in this context the Commission's analysis of the errors reported by the Court of Auditors for the financial years 2006-2009, which highlights for the first time that four the ERDF and Cohesion Fund three Member States (Spain, Italy, and the UK and Greece) have contributed 59 % to the cumulative quantifiable errors identified during this period and that for the ESF four Member States (Spain, Portugal, the UK and Germany) have contributed 67 8% to the cumulative quantifiable errors identified during this period in the area of Cohesion policy; notes that for ERDF and Cohesion Fund most errors found in Italy came from the regions Calabria, Campania and Puglia and that in Spain a small number of operational programmes in the regions Andalucía, Valencia and Castilla La Manche contributed 75 % to the errors detected in Spain; understands furthermore, that Spain and Italy have also contributed significantly to the error rate for the financial year 2010;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Recalls its repeated invitations to the Commission to present a proposal for the introduction of mandatory national management declarations (NMDs) issued, made public and duly audited by an independent auditorthe responsible audit authority, as part of the Commission's final and overall responsibility for the implementation of the Union budget; notes that NMDs should contain full information about the use of Union funds;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Is concerned, however, aboutNotes the Court of Auditors' observations that the Commission has substantially increased the use of pre- financings between 2005 and 2010 (Annual Report, point 1.28) an; is concerned that there is a lack of clearing of pre-financings (Annual Report, point 1.29 and point 86 of Opinion No 6/2010 of the Court of Auditors);
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Is also concerned about the influence pre- financings have had mainly in the policy areas ‘External aid, Development and Enlargement’ and ‘Research and Internal Policies’; notes ian this context that theincreased use of pre- financings and an overall error rates below 2 % in these two policy areas fell below 2 % also because of the increased use of; notes, furthermore, the Court of Auditor's conclusions that pre-financings whereas the Court of Auditors concludes tha free from material error but interim and final payments remain affected by a material level of error (Annual Report, points 5.35 and 6.48);
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 – introductory part
Paragraph 46 – introductory part
46. Believes that it is more efficient to prevent irregularities than to correct undue payments ex-post through recoveries; invites, therefore, the Commission to make it a priority action to reconsider the increased use ofcontrol and audit mechanisms used for pre- financing by:
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 – indent 1
Paragraph 46 – indent 1
– informing Parliament about the reasons why the Commission has made an increased use of pre-financings between 2005 and 2010 in direct management;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 – indent 2
Paragraph 46 – indent 2
– decreasadapting the level of pre-financings in the various programmes to a level absolutelythat will ensure the necessary float for the beneficiary to start the project, while also safeguarding the financial interests of the Union;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Notes that a high level of outstanding commitments might indicate difficulties experienced by Member States in absorbing the amounts commitallocated;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 55
Paragraph 55
55. Recalls that the revenue of the Union budget consists of different sources such as traditional own resources (custom duties and suga; reiterates that without prejudice to other lrevies), value added tax resources and gross national income (GNI)enue, the budget shall be financed wholly from own resources; notes that, in particular gross national income (GNI) resources accounting for 73 % of total revenue derive from the national budgets of the Member States88 ;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 56
Paragraph 56
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
Paragraph 57
57. Notes that GNI resources coming from these six 'Member States in difficulties' account for roughly 6 % of total GNI resources for the financial year 201089 ;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
Paragraph 58
58. Notes, furthermore, that the co- financing rates for Member States in difficulties were increased for the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), the Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund and the European Fisheries Fund; believes that this measure increases the risk of errorexpects higher co-financing rates to allow higher investments particularly in Member States in difficulties; emphasizes in this context the Commission's increased control and supervisory responsibility;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 – indent 2
Paragraph 59 – indent 2
– to establish appropriate arrangements for accountability and full transparency for the permanent crisis mechanism in line with international audit standards and in close cooperation with the discharge authority,
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59 – indent 4
Paragraph 59 – indent 4
– to clarify the responsibility and the reporting arrangements and to involveof all actors whose liabilities will be involved in the establishment of the mechanism,
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 73 a (new)
Paragraph 73 a (new)
73a. Calls on the Court of Auditors to present error rates for the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund, energy and transport separately and not on an aggregate basis;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74
Paragraph 74
74. Deplores the fact that, year after year, non-respect of public procurement rules account for a large proportion of the errors; sees the wider implications and considers this to be an indication that the functioning of the internal market is at stake; calls on the Commission to pursue the on- going reform of public procurement in close cooperation with the Court of Auditors taking due account of these worrying results and to follow up on infringements rigorously as the Court of Auditors has also identified cases of incorrect transposition of Union Directives into national public procurement law (Annual Report, point 4.27);
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 80
Paragraph 80
80. Notes that for 2010 the Commission has made more use of interruptions as DG REGIO has interrupted 49 payment deadlines (see AAR of DG REGIO, page 42-44) and DG EMPL has interrupted 14 payment deadlines (see AAR of DG EMPL, page 50); notes furthermore that the Commission did not suspend any payments either for the ERDF or for the Cohesion Fund in 2010, while suspending six payments of the ESF;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81
Paragraph 81
81. Deplores the fact that the error rate in Cohesion, and in particular in Regional Policy, has increased despite the increased use of interruptions and despite the fact that the Commission has identified the Member States and the regions which contribute most to the error rate; views this as an indication that interruptions are not effective in convincing Member States to remedy weaknesses and to correct errors;reminds the Commission of its action plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of structural actions1; calls on the Commission to analyse the weaknesses in the Member States and regions affected most by high error rates and comply with its supervisory role by enforcing measures as stated in the action plan; __________________ 1 COM(2008)0097.
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83
Paragraph 83
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84
Paragraph 84
84. Wishes to highlight the important difference between a financial correction implemented by a Member States which does not result in a net reduction and financial corrections which are implemented by the Commission by means of recovery orders which result in a net reduction; believes that financial corrections implemented by acalls on the Commission to increase Member State have a ‘virtual character’ with little sanctionings' responsibility to implement their control mechanisms more effectively; welcomes the improvements made to Note 6 of the annual accounts of the European Union and invites the Commission to continue to improve the information provided, for example by comparing the financial corrections and recoveries to the corresponding amounts of payments;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 88 – indent 1
Paragraph 88 – indent 1
– making net reductions the rule rather than the exception and abolishing the possibility to replace ineligible projects by other possiblyabolishing the possibility to declare retrospective projects;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 88 – indent 4 a (new)
Paragraph 88 – indent 4 a (new)
- opening legal actions if Member States persistently do not respect their obligations under Article 258 TFEU;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 102
Paragraph 102
102. Recalls that the main risks linked to budget support (risk to effectiveness of the aid as well as risks of fraud and corruption) also do not materialise in the Statement of Assurance audit; invites the Commission to rigorously monitor those risks; considers however sectoral budget support an effective measure for long-term capacity building; calls on the Commission to introduce budget support only under rigorous and well-defined conditions;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 105 a (new)
Paragraph 105 a (new)
105a. Notes that the Heads of Union Delegations, where they are the only EEAS staff in a delegation, may not delegate their powers as authorizing officers, even on a temporary basis for the Union Delegation's administrative expenditure when they are absent; notes furthermore that this could create practical difficulties for business continuity and additional risks in the Union Delegation; asks the Commission therefore to allow on a temporary basis the Head of Union Delegation to delegate its power as authorizing officer;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 105 b (new)
Paragraph 105 b (new)
105b. Calls on the Commission to allow a Deputy Head of Delegation, usually coming from a Member State, where one exists, to deputize for the Head of Delegation in his absence for all matters except the implementation of operational expenditure managed by the Union Delegation, which can only be sub- delegated to Commission staff;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106
Paragraph 106
106. Notes the Court of Auditors' observations presented in example 5.3 of the Annual Report; is highly concerned about the ‘flexible interpretation of eligibility for co-financed actions’ or ‘notional approach’ with United Nations organisations which bears the risk of double financing of the same cost; believes that this also has a reducing effect on the Court of Auditors' error rate; is also deeply worried about the ‘extended eligibility criteria’ applicable under the Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement with the United Nations Agencies (FAFA) and the Framework Partnership Agreements with the Commission's implementing partners which also bear the risk of financing the same cost twice; calls strongly on the Commission to discontinue both practices; expects UN agencies to grant intergovernmental donor organisations similar rights to access internal audit reports as are granted to UN Member States; notes in this context that further progress is needed in order to improve reporting on the use of Union funds by providing information about results rather than actions;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106 a (new)
Paragraph 106 a (new)
106a. Recalls the earthquake in Haiti and its disastrous consequences; deplores the difficulties noted in combining humanitarian aid and development aid (linking relief, rehabilitation and development); considers that the Commission should limit its humanitarian aid and direct its efforts and funding to rehabilitation and development;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106 b (new)
Paragraph 106 b (new)
106b. Deplores the insufficient coordination between the Union Delegation and the ECHO representation; supports a reinforced coordination between all Union actors; urges therefore the Commission to ensure better coherence and complementarity between humanitarian aid and development aid both at a policy level and in practice;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106 c (new)
Paragraph 106 c (new)
106c Deplores the lack of sustainability of projects and stresses that projects should principally aim at creating employment and sustainable growth which would allow the Haitian State to increase its own revenues in order to depend less on foreign assistance; requests therefore the Commission to provide Parliament with a list of projects which have been carried out during the last 15 years in Haiti with a detailed assessment of their current situation in order to see how sustainable they are since;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 106 d (new)
Paragraph 106 d (new)
106d. Points to the lack of visibility of the Union aid in Haiti; takes the view that in order to enhance visibility not only the flag, but also the name of the European Union should appear in PR documents rather than only that of the Commission or of DG ECHO, which are much less identifiable to average Haitian citizens;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 113
Paragraph 113
113. Believes that a balance has to be struck between facilitating payments and controlling the eligibility of cost declared; is of the opinion that prevention is better than the cure; calls thereforecalls on the Commission to modify its ex ante control strategy on a risk based approach to address better specific risks of the cost statement and - in the case of a high risk - to extend the ex ante control procedures to checks carried out on the spot;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the Union more than ever needs a strong, independent and efficient external auditorCourt of Auditors fulfils its role as an independent audit body of the European Union in accordance with Article 285 of the TFEU,
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas independent states - not regions - are members of the Union and whereas Member States, even if their structure is federal, bear responsibility to the outside world and the Union,