27 Amendments of Marta ANDREASEN related to 2010/2142(DEC)
Amendment 6 #
Proposal for a decision on discharge to Commission
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ..............Postpones its decision on granting the Commission discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2009;
Amendment 24 #
Proposal for a decision on the closure of the accounts of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2009, Section III – Commission
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ..............Postpones its decision on the closure of the accounts of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2009;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas not only the Commission but also the Member States have to be held accountable for the fact that the Court of Auditors has, thus far, not been able to issue an unqualified Statement of Assurance, but principally the Commission, which, according to Article 317 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, implements the Union budget on its own responsibility,
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the ‘accountability’ process is instrumental to good management, improving delivery and analysis, allowing for changes to be made to management and strategy and for better use being made of scarce resources and whereas, as observed by the Council, an accurate and accountable use of the EU resources is one of the essential means to reinforce the trust of European citizens ; takes the view that the Council failed to understand that such an accountable use is a precondition of support for the Union, which is declining,
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas there is a need to move away from the current ‘culture of entitlements’ and to take decisive measures towards implementing a culture of accountability at both national and European level and to address both compliance and performance issues in order to reinforce the legitimacy of the Union,
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that, while the Court of Auditors states that the annual accounts of the Union present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Union as of 31 December 2009 and the results of operations and cash flows, the Court of Auditors' opinion is subject to continued and serious reservations as to the weaknesses in the Commission's accounting systems;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. InvitUrges the Commission to eliminate the risk of misstatements in the accounts in the future by dealing with the weaknesses identified by the Court of Auditors without delay;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that while Article 317 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that the Commission implements the Union budget on its own responsibility, in the present understanding of ‘shared management’ most of the management functions are carried out by national bodies not directly accountable at Union level and over which the Commission has no authority; takes the view therefore that these bodies are meant to be directly accountable at Union level to the Commission;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes the Court of Auditors' opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts according to which payments for the policy groups ‘Agriculture and natural resources’, ‘Cohesion’, Research, energy and transport‘, ’External Aid, development and enlargement' and ‘Education and citizenship’ are materially affected by error and that the supervisory and control systems are only ‘partially effective’ in preventing or detecting and correcting the reimbursement of overstated or ineligible costs (Statement of Assurance, paragraph X);
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes further that while the Court of Auditors' audit results show a very marginaln increase in its estimate of the most likely error rate concerning the payments for the policy group ‘Agriculture and natural resources’ and a significant decrease in its estimate of the most likely error rate concerning the payments for the policy group ‘Cohesion’, an erratic error rate indicates the need to be extremely cautious, as the Court of Auditors has warned about considering this as a trend;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Regrets that the Commission uses secondary legislation as an instrument to reducescape its responsibility and underlines that ‘shared management’ is not the same as ‘shared responsibilities’;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes with concern that under the present system, which does not include fines, the Member States seem to have limited interest in developing efficient control systems that could result in a reduction of their share of Union spending;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Accordingly, does not fullycannot agree with the Commission's statement that financial corrections represent ‘a strong incentive for Member States to improve their management and control systems and thus to prevent or detect and recover irregular payments to final beneficiaries’ (Annual Accounts of the European Union, financial Year 2009, Note 6, page 100);
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Invites the Commission to identify weaknesses in present management and control systems as well as to analyse the cost and benefits of various possible changes; underlines that where it is difficult to obtain a sufficiently high level of compliance with scheme rules, a number of options such as: simplification of the rules, re-designing the programme, tightening controls, tolerating a higher level of non-compliance or terminating the programme, are possible;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Regrets the fact that the Commission useshas come up with the notion of ‘tolerable risk of error’ exclusively as a basis to decide what level of irregular use of funds should be considered as acceptable ex-post; takes the view that a forward-looking approach to a possible introduction of a ‘tolerable risk of error’ would include in the Financial Regulation a requirement for the Commission to match spending proposals with an assessment of the irregularity risksto justify high and longstanding error rates; is of the view that there should be zero tolerance to error;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Notes that ‘internal audit’ in the Commission is carried out by the horizontal IAS and the vertical Internal Audit Capabilities (IAC) in each Directorate-General; believes that this model can only be efficient if the work carried out by the IAC is reliable; notes, howeconsiders, moreover, that an IAS audit of the IAC audit results could be perceived as a policing activity and would harm the relationship between the IAS and the IACthe IAC lacks the necessary independence for the IAS to rely on its work;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 a (new)
Paragraph 49 a (new)
49a. Points to an increase in overall costs where teachers appointed by Member States were absent for long periods and had to be replaced by part-time teachers; expects schools to be able to provide figures of these extra costs;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Notes that, since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Ordinary Legislative Procedure applies to the Staff Regulations; invites the Commission to modernise the Staff Regulations and to adapt the working conditions for the institutions' staff in such a way that Union's institutions will continue to be attractive places to work and pursue a career in; is worried that the number of candidates from certain Member States has already decreased dramatically and believes that possibilities for personal and professional development shall play a major role in this modernisation process; points out that since the last reform of the Staff Regulations, in 2004, very few officials have made use of the whistle-blowing articles 22a and 22b; suggests a review so that staff are encouraged to come forward with facts which give rise to a presumption of the existence of possible illegal activity or indications of conduct relating to the discharge of professional duties which may constitute a serious failure to comply with the obligations of officials of the Union;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. WelcomNotes the fact that the Commission has succeeded in bringing, according to the Court of Auditors, the Commission has apparently reduced the error rate down to around 2 % in recent years, and that in 2009 it rose to between 2-5 %;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Takes the view that the Court of Auditors' conclusions on the regularity of 2009 transactions do not call into question the overall trend in recent yearsCalls upon the Commission to take steps to ensure that the reduction in the error rate becomes a trend that is maintained year -on-year so as to ensure that the irregularities cease;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 59
Paragraph 59
59. Notes the Court of Auditors' conclusion that for the sixteenth year in a row the supervisory and control systems for Agriculture and natural resources were, at best, partially effective in ensuring the regularity of payments;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 61
Paragraph 61
61. Also notes with grave concern that the Court of Auditors found that the Annual Activity Report and the declaration given by the Director General for Agriculture provided only partially fair assessment of financial management in relation to the regularity of payments; notes that the two reservations expressed by the Director General merely concerned "expenditure for rural development measures under Axis 2 (improving the environment and the countryside) of the 2007-2013 programming period" and "serious deficiencies in the IACS in Bulgaria and Romania"1; ____________ 1 Annual Report of the Court of Auditors on the implementation of the budget concerning the financial year 2009, together with the institutions’ replies (OJ C 303, 9.11.2010, p. 1).
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62 – indent 2
Paragraph 62 – indent 2
– to take proactive measures to ensure that all the IACS databases provide a reliable and full audit trail for all modifications made, paying particular attention to those countries known to have a poor record,
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 88
Paragraph 88
88. InviNotes the Commission to ensure that the independent auditors who have incorrectly certified cost statements are made aware of the eligibility criteria for declared costs, to review the operation of the system for at there already exists extensive guidance on the audit requirements on FP7 for beneficiaries and external auditors extending to over 90 pages, and that this guidance has been revised several times, most recently in July 2010; invites the Commission to examine, in the light of the high error rate and the costs involved, whether certification of beneficiaries' costing methodologies, to reduce the backlog in recovering undue amounts paid and to impose sanctions where necessary, to further simplify the researches on the financial statements and certificates of methodology prepared by accountants engaged locally by beneficiaries who may have no experience of Union funding rulemethods andd to ensure full accountability for the proper use of Union moneyany value to the FP7, and instructs the Commission to examine alternative arrangements;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90
Paragraph 90
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 111 – indent 1
Paragraph 111 – indent 1
– to encourage beneficiaries to submit their cost calculation methodologylook at the existing arrangements for ex- ante cvertification, with a view to establishing how effective they are,
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 111 – indent 1 a (new)
Paragraph 111 – indent 1 a (new)
– to consider, in the light of experience, whether the use of certification by an external auditor appointed by the beneficiary is an effective control, and to look into alternative methods of verification,