28 Amendments of Jens GEIER related to 2012/2064(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
Citation 7 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 3 July 2013 on the Integrated Internal Control Framework (2012/2291(INI))
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that traditionally, the Court has fulfilled its mission mainly by carrying out financial, compliance and performance audits and independent evaluations of EU financial management and reporting, as well as providing advice on how such management and reporting could be improved upon to facilitate the EU public accountability process in terms of financial management, financial reporting, public scrutiny and reform;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is of the opinion that the Court should remain committed to independence, integrity, impartiality and professionalism, while building strong working relationships with its partners, namely the European Parliament, and including its responsible committee, but also consulting the specialised committees, in the accountability process of the EU institutions;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that Parliament and its elected Members should be particularly rigorous when examining the implementation of the EU budget and that the Court should remain committed to assisting Parliament and the Council in overseeing and contributing to the improvement of EU financial management, and in protecting the financial interests of citizensthe Union from programming stages through to the closing of accounts;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Regrets that the Court of Auditors was – for the eighteenth time in a row – unable to grant a positive statement of assurance (DAS4 ) regarding the legality and regularity of payments; regrets, furthermore, in this context that after such an enormous and repetitive cycle and following the many efforts made, there has not been any change in this regard; highlights the fact that an error rate as such does not provide a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness of Union policies; __________________ 4 Abbreviation of the French term ‘Déclaration d'assurance’.
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that the Commission and Court differ in their methodology regarding the evaluation of a process as erroneous and the weight to be attached to this degree of error; points out that the error rates detected by the Court are higher as a result of its changed methodology, while the material threshold remains at 2%; regards this as an additional obstacle to the Commission attaining a positive statement of assurance;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that Parliament has underlined the position of the Court of Auditors and the Commission in highlighting the fact that the single audit model does not work effectively; is of the opinion that under the current framework, the control costs borne by either the Court, the Member States or the Commissionthe control costs on all levels, including of the Court itself, should be made availabletransparent;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Deplores the fact that the commitment and efforts demonstrated by the Commission to reach a fully positive DAS have not yet provided resultsfully succeeded; points out in particular that, in its 20112 statement of assurance report, the Court again concluded that overall payments were materially affected by error and that the supervisory and control systems in place were, in general, only partially effective;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that the DAS is an annual indicator of a multiannual spending scheme, which makes it difficult to capture the cyclical nature and effect of multiannual arrangements, and therefore the real impact and effectiveness of the management and control systems can only be measured at the end of the spending period; underlines in this respect that financial corrections and recoveries are an important tool to protect the financial interests of the Union and to correct errors; considers, therefore, that the Court should be able to present to the discharge authority a summary report on the final performance of a programming period;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is therefore of the opinion that the current DAS framework adds limited value and that an independent DAS could be made on a cyclical basis and/or be del; underlines in this respect the importance of the report on the Integrated in part to the Commission, which holds power with respectInternal Control Framework (2012/2291(INI)) to recontrols-monitoring devices based on discovery sampling, such as the DAS; notes that the Commission already carries out ‘mini DAS’ exercises which follow the methodology of the Court in detailsider the concept of the DAS; encourages the Court to focus more resources on a multiannual consideration and on performance and output based audits;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Acknowledges the historic, constructive role of the DAS exercise that focuses on the concepts of legality and regularity as being useful indices of good financial practices on the part of the EU; underlines, however, that at this point, and in the future, the Court should devote more resources to the examination of whether economy, effectiveness and efficiency have been achieved in the use of the public funds entrusted to the Commission;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the fact that, since 2009, the Court has focused considerable efforts on developing its products and services as well as its annual report; believes, however, that greater effort should be made and more resources used to improve quality further, primarily with respect to the Court's performance audit work, which provides information on the EU budget results; considers that the Court should build upon the DAS model to determine whether results have been achieved and to explain how they have been achieved, so that lessons can be learned and applied in other contexts;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. RecommendWelcomes, moreover, that the Court intervenes in allprioritised legislative proposals put forward by the Commission, providing advice during the conception period as to the financial and other risks involved, and also assisting the Commission to develop a new culture of performance, defining in their legislative proposals and in their management procedures a number of targets and key performance indicators which meet the requirements of the Court of Audi; invites the Court to contribute to programme objectives and key performance indicators in terms of relevance, comparability and reliability in a constructive debate with the EU institutions;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – introductory part
Paragraph 16 – introductory part
16. Insists, therefore, that the Court's mandate, as set out under the Treaty, be fulfilled by means of the following priority actions, listed in order of importance and level of staff resources involved:
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Invites the Court to come forward with an estimation of additional resources needed to fulfil these tasks;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Notes that the Court undertakes the planning of its work programme on a multiannual and annual basis; notes that the multiannual plan allows for the Court's strategy to be defined and updated, and the annual plan sets out the specific tasks to be undertaken during the year in question; welcomes the fact that every year the Court presents the annual work programme to the Committee on Budgetary Controlresponsible committee, listing the priority audit tasks and the resources allocated for their implementing;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Is of the opinion that while the Treaty of Lisbon re-affirmed the legal framework and independence of the Court in promoting public accountability, thereby tasking it with the important role of holding the Commission to account; notes that Parliament and the Council should also play an influential role in the definition of the Court’s multiannual strategy planexpresses its satisfaction at the current level of cooperation with the Court and urges it also to discuss with the European Parliament its multiannual strategy prior to the adoption thereof;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Regrets that even if the Court is to be a permanent Mafter the ECA nominated a member of the ESM audit board, the annual audit report of the board will be made available neither to Parliament nor to the general public; believes that broad reflection on the EU's public accountability and the audit structure of the Union as a whole, which includes the instruments for financial assistance, is unavoidable; believes that the Court should play a central role in such discussion;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Supports the adaptation of the Court's governance structure, in particular regarding the selection and composition of high-level management, as a precondition to enhance its core mandate, and to seek a macro-prudential diagnostic role that renders the institution a stronger public independent systemic risk evaluation agencentity, evolving from an almost exclusive auditing and accounting agency into a broader accountability body;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Deplores the fact that some appointments have given rise to differences of opinion between Parliament and the Council; stresses that the Council’s decision to appoint Members of the Court of Auditors despite Parliament having previously given an unfavourable opinion is unacceptable; calls for the European Parliament, under the next amendment to the EU Treat, to be made responsible for the selection of ECA members on a proposal from the Council; takes the view that such a procedure would enhance the independence of ECA members vis-à-vis the Member States;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – point a
Paragraph 33 – point a
(a) a reasonable amount of time for consideration must be made available to Parliament so as to allow for candidates to be heard by the Committee on Budgetary Controlresponsible committee and to allow for a committee vote at a meeting afterfollowing the hearing;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 – point c
Paragraph 33 – point c
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point e a (new)
Paragraph 34 – point e a (new)
(ea) in view of the candidates' responses to the committee's questionnaire posed in advance of the hearing;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 – point g
Paragraph 34 – point g
(g) finally, further to its assessment of individual merit and good character, Parliament will ensure that a balance is maintained in thefavours a balanced composition of the Court as a whole in terms of gender representation among its Members;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 – point d
Paragraph 35 – point d
(d) pass on any information concerning nominations which it has received from Member States on the understanding that if it were to withhold information, Parliament would be obliged to conduct its own inquiries, thereby leading to inevitable delays in the nomination procedure;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 – point f
Paragraph 35 – point f
(f) avoid withdrawing and submitting new nominations which take into account new proposals made by Member States which are motivated exclusively by domestic political criteria;