2012/2087(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

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2012/2087(DEC) Special report 3/2012 (2011 discharge): Structural Funds: Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems?

Progress: Procedure lapsed or withdrawn

Committee	Rapporteur	Shadows
AGRI
BUDG
CONT	GEIER Jens ( )	STAES Bart ( ), ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea ( ), SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo ( )
EMPL
PECH
REGI

Lead committee dossier:

CONT/7/09095

Legal Basis:

RoP 99

Subjects

Events

2012/09/20

EP - Committee report tabled for plenary

Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Jens GEIER (S&D, DE) on Special Report No 3/2012 (Discharge 2011) - Structural Funds - Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems?

Welcoming the Court of Auditors' report and its overall conclusion ( please refer to the summary of the report dated 26/04/2012 ), Members are pleased that the Commission systematically initiated corrective actions and that the actions requested were an appropriate response for the deficiencies in 90% of cases.

Members are concerned, however, in particular about the following observations:

corrective actions took 30 months on average and delays were mainly attributable to the Member States concerned; in only 67% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that financial corrections were accurate, in only 28% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that the Member States' management and control systems improved following corrective actions, which means that considerable effort will need to be undertaken in the closure process.

Members are also concerned about the Court of Auditors' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States’ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78% of cases. They are therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information.

Commission's action plan to strengthen its supervisory role under shared management of structural actions : Members remind the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditors' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge. They reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period. The report notes that the action plan of 2008 came only into force at the end of the programming period 2000-2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only. The Commission is called upon to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond.

Members b elieve that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’. They consider enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met.

The Commission is also called upon to: (i) make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control; (ii) provide information on the impact of those corrections on the overall error rate for the 2000-2006 programming period.

Single audit : Members reiterate the idea of a 'single audit' that was pronounced by the Court of Auditors in its Opinion No 2/2004 respecting the common principles and standards for the administration at all levels. They call on the Commission to continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle and to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits.

Conclusion : Members conclude by calling on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditors' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process. It is also called upon to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditors' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020.

Lastly, Members believe strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process.

Documents

A7-0276/2012

2012/09/17

EP - Vote in committee

2012/06/14

EP - Committee draft report

Documents

PE489.450

2012/05/10

EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament

2012/04/26

CofA - Non-legislative basic document

Details

PURPOSE : to present Special Report ( No 3/2012 ) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

CONTENT: the European Court of Auditors (ECA) audit was mainly carried out on the basis of a review of 40 programmes in which significant management and control deficiencies had been identified. It aimed at assessing whether the Commission dealt in a satisfactory way with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems.

To recall, the Structural Funds represent about one-third of the EU budget. During the 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 programming periods, EUR 475 billion were allocated to Structural Funds. Management of Structural Funds expenditure is shared between the Commission and the Member States. Member States prepare multi-annual programmes which are assessed and approved by the Commission and later implemented by the Member States.

The Commission has to ensure that Member States have smoothly functioning management and control systems so that EU funds are efficiently and correctly used. The Commission bears the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the EU budget.

In its special report, the Court concludes that the Commission takes appropriate corrective actions when deficiencies in Member States' systems are identified, but the process to implementation is lengthy . The Commission had some success in ensuring that financial corrections were correctly applied, but was less successful in obtaining assurance that its actions led to improvements in Member States’ management and control systems.

Court recommendations : the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions; giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates; disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks; ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

The ECA also recommends that the Commission, the Parliament and the Council reconsider, when discussing future plans for spending on Cohesion, whether any changes should be made to the arrangements regarding, on one hand, the reallocation of support from the Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds and, on the other, the possibilities for substitution of expenditure found to be ineligible.

Documents

N7-0060/2012

2012/04/25

EC - Non-legislative basic document published

Details

PURPOSE : to present Special Report ( No 3/2012 ) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

Court recommendations : the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

Documents

N7-0060/2012

2012/01/12

EP -

Documents

Committee report tabled for plenary: A7-0276/2012
Committee draft report: PE489.450
Non-legislative basic document: N7-0060/2012
Non-legislative basic document published: N7-0060/2012
Non-legislative basic document: N7-0060/2012
Committee draft report: PE489.450

Amendments	Dossier
19	2012/2087(DEC) 2012/07/13 CONT 19 amendments... Amendment 1 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Notes ~~however~~ that around 75 % of the requests based on annual reports as referred to in Article 13 of Commission Regulation (EC) 438/2001 (Article 13 reports) were not followed by financial corrections; calls on the Commission, therefore, to provide information on the reasons for the absence of financial corrections in this context (point 24); notes that the legal basis for the 2007-2013 period requires managing authorities to verify administratively all application for reimbursements by beneficiaries in accordance with Article 13(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006; Amendment 10 # Jean-Pierre AUDY Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management; recalls the action plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of structural actions which aimed at reducing the level of error in structural actions and thus to protect the EU budget; notes, however, that the action plan of 2008 came only into force after the programming period 2000- 2006; calls on the Commission therefore to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond; expects in this context from the Commission a considerable and steady decrease in error rates, in particular of programmes that are expected to have the highest error rates; proposes that the Court carry out a regular assessment of the technical and ethical quality of national audit authorities, with particular regard to their independence, and that it report its findings and conclusions to the European Parliament and the Council; Amendment 11 # Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Emphasises that speed is of the essence in the process of controls to ensure that the financial interests of European taxpayers are protected; calls on the Commission to prioritise the earliest possible scrutiny, assessment and follow-up action in its future management oversight of these funds; Amendment 12 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Believes that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’; underlines in this context the Court of Auditor's' remark that although management and control systems were effective at a certain time this does not necessarily mean that they continue to be effective, as systems, personnel and entities in charge of management of structural actions may change; calls on the Commission to endorse fully the Court of Auditor's' recommendations; considers enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met; Amendment 13 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Asks the Commission to make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control, that had already been certified as effective by the Commission; Amendment 14 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities in the current and upcoming periods; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's' recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation; Amendment 15 # Jean-Pierre AUDY Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities and to ensure that their independence is guaranteed; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation; Amendment 16 # Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities and that to achieve this end it is essential to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation; Amendment 17 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Calls on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditor's' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process; Amendment 18 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Calls on the Commission, furthermore, to take into account the lessons learned from the Court of Auditor's report and to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditor's' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020; Amendment 19 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Believes strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process; Amendment 2 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 4. Is concerned about the Commission's different requirements in the 2000-2006 programming period with regard to the implementation of first-level checks as this can potentially result in the non-detection of irregular expenses; asks the Commission to apply a coherent approach to demands for first-level checks and to provide information for the programming periods after 2000-2006 (point 28); notes that the legal basis for the 2007-2013 period requires managing authorities to verify administratively all application for reimbursements by beneficiaries in accordance with Article 13(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/20061; __________________ 1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of 8 December 2006 setting out rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional Development Fund (OJ L 371, 27.12.2006, p. 1). Amendment 3 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 4. Is concerned about the Commission's different requirements with regard to the implementation of first-level checks, as this ~~can potentially result in the~~, alongside low coverage of expenditure or insufficient quality of the aforementioned first-level checks can generate high risks of non-detection of irregular expenses; asks the Commission to apply a coherent approach to demands for first-level checks and to provide information for the programming periods after 2000-2006 (point 28); Amendment 4 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 a (new) 4a. Asks the Commission to disseminate even more extensively elaborated checklists and best practice manuals (with special focus on eligibility rules) to be followed by the Member States and to strengthen its supervision on how these elements are taken into account; Amendment 5 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 b (new) 4b. Believes the first-level checks to be of utmost importance in ensuring a robust error rate from the onset of the implementation process; believes therefore, that the management authority should either be accredited by the Commission or the Commission should assist and supervise the management authority in exercising the aforementioned first-level checks; Amendment 6 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Is furthermore concerned about the Court of Auditor's' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States‘ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78 % of cases (point 45); is therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States (for example point 57, boxes 9 and 12) and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information; points out that the lack of reliability of Member States’ statements requires further audit resources by the Commission; acknowledges also the need to balance appropriately cost and benefits of such follow-up audits (point 46); Amendment 7 # Marian-Jean MARINESCU Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Believes that an even higher degree of efficiency can stem from harmonising the various methods used to obtain assurance related to financial corrections accuracy; is of the opinion that, in order to avoid further correction, the accent should be placed on the Commission's carrying out the verification audits rather than issuing follow-up audits in case of defective statements and results received from the Member States; Amendment 8 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Reminds the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditor's' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years; and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge1; __________________ 1 See par. 4 of the resolution of 5 May 2010 with observations forming an integral part of its Decisions on discharge in respect of the implementation of the EU General Budget for the financial year 2008, Section III - Commission and executive agencies (OJ L 252, 25.9.2010, p. 39). Amendment 9 # Jens GEIER Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management; recalls the action plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period which aimed at reducing the level of error in structural actions and thus to protect the EU budget; notes, however, that the action plan of 2008 came only into force a~~fter~~t the end of the programming period 2000- 2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only; calls on the Commission therefore to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond; expects in this context from the Commission a considerable and steady decrease in error rates, in particular of programmes that are expected to have the highest error rates; source: PE-492.938

Amendments

Dossier

2012/2087(DEC)

2012/07/13 CONT 19 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Notes ~~however~~ that around 75 % of the requests based on annual reports as referred to in Article 13 of Commission Regulation (EC) 438/2001 (Article 13 reports) were not followed by financial corrections; calls on the Commission, therefore, to provide information on the reasons for the absence of financial corrections in this context (point 24); notes that the legal basis for the 2007-2013 period requires managing authorities to verify administratively all application for reimbursements by beneficiaries in accordance with Article 13(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006;

Amendment 10 #

Jean-Pierre AUDY

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management; recalls the action plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of structural actions which aimed at reducing the level of error in structural actions and thus to protect the EU budget; notes, however, that the action plan of 2008 came only into force after the programming period 2000- 2006; calls on the Commission therefore to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond; expects in this context from the Commission a considerable and steady decrease in error rates, in particular of programmes that are expected to have the highest error rates; proposes that the Court carry out a regular assessment of the technical and ethical quality of national audit authorities, with particular regard to their independence, and that it report its findings and conclusions to the European Parliament and the Council;

Amendment 11 #

Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Emphasises that speed is of the essence in the process of controls to ensure that the financial interests of European taxpayers are protected; calls on the Commission to prioritise the earliest possible scrutiny, assessment and follow-up action in its future management oversight of these funds;

Amendment 12 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Believes that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’; underlines in this context the Court of Auditor's' remark that although management and control systems were effective at a certain time this does not necessarily mean that they continue to be effective, as systems, personnel and entities in charge of management of structural actions may change; calls on the Commission to endorse fully the Court of Auditor's' recommendations; considers enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met;

Amendment 13 #

Marian-Jean MARINESCU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Asks the Commission to make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control, that had already been certified as effective by the Commission;

Amendment 14 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities in the current and upcoming periods; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's' recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation;

Amendment 15 #

Jean-Pierre AUDY

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities and to ensure that their independence is guaranteed; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation;

Amendment 16 #

Andrea ČEŠKOVÁ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Is convinced that the Commission should continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle; emphasises that it is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of the work of audit authorities and that to achieve this end it is essential to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits; notes that - provided that the audit authorities produce reliable results - the EU budget could be adequately protected even if high error rates are present as the Commission could apply financial corrections to counter those error rates; reiterates, however, the fact that in such cases the national taxpayer has to pay twice which is why preventing errors from happening is always more efficient than correcting it later on, for both the Commission and the Member States concerned; stresses in this context specifically indent 2 of the Court of Auditor's recommendation 1 and urges the Commission to implement this recommendation;

Amendment 17 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditor's' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process;

Amendment 18 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls on the Commission, furthermore, to take into account the lessons learned from the Court of Auditor's report and to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditor's' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020;

Amendment 19 #

Marian-Jean MARINESCU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Believes strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process;

Amendment 2 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Is concerned about the Commission's different requirements in the 2000-2006 programming period with regard to the implementation of first-level checks as this can potentially result in the non-detection of irregular expenses; asks the Commission to apply a coherent approach to demands for first-level checks and to provide information for the programming periods after 2000-2006 (point 28); notes that the legal basis for the 2007-2013 period requires managing authorities to verify administratively all application for reimbursements by beneficiaries in accordance with Article 13(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/20061; __________________ 1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of 8 December 2006 setting out rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional Development Fund (OJ L 371, 27.12.2006, p. 1).

Amendment 3 #

Marian-Jean MARINESCU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Is concerned about the Commission's different requirements with regard to the implementation of first-level checks, as this ~~can potentially result in the~~, alongside low coverage of expenditure or insufficient quality of the aforementioned first-level checks can generate high risks of non-detection of irregular expenses; asks the Commission to apply a coherent approach to demands for first-level checks and to provide information for the programming periods after 2000-2006 (point 28);

Amendment 4 #

Marian-Jean MARINESCU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Asks the Commission to disseminate even more extensively elaborated checklists and best practice manuals (with special focus on eligibility rules) to be followed by the Member States and to strengthen its supervision on how these elements are taken into account;

Amendment 5 #

Marian-Jean MARINESCU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Believes the first-level checks to be of utmost importance in ensuring a robust error rate from the onset of the implementation process; believes therefore, that the management authority should either be accredited by the Commission or the Commission should assist and supervise the management authority in exercising the aforementioned first-level checks;

Amendment 6 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Is furthermore concerned about the Court of Auditor's' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States‘ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78 % of cases (point 45); is therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States (for example point 57, boxes 9 and 12) and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information; points out that the lack of reliability of Member States’ statements requires further audit resources by the Commission; acknowledges also the need to balance appropriately cost and benefits of such follow-up audits (point 46);

Amendment 7 #

Marian-Jean MARINESCU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Believes that an even higher degree of efficiency can stem from harmonising the various methods used to obtain assurance related to financial corrections accuracy; is of the opinion that, in order to avoid further correction, the accent should be placed on the Commission's carrying out the verification audits rather than issuing follow-up audits in case of defective statements and results received from the Member States;

Amendment 8 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Reminds the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditor's' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years; and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge1; __________________ 1 See par. 4 of the resolution of 5 May 2010 with observations forming an integral part of its Decisions on discharge in respect of the implementation of the EU General Budget for the financial year 2008, Section III - Commission and executive agencies (OJ L 252, 25.9.2010, p. 39).

Amendment 9 #

Jens GEIER

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management; recalls the action plan to strengthen the Commission's supervisory role under shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period which aimed at reducing the level of error in structural actions and thus to protect the EU budget; notes, however, that the action plan of 2008 came only into force a~~fter~~t the end of the programming period 2000- 2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only; calls on the Commission therefore to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond; expects in this context from the Commission a considerable and steady decrease in error rates, in particular of programmes that are expected to have the highest error rates;

source: PE-492.938

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

2023-08-03Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

docs/0

date: 2012-04-26T00:00:00

docs: title: N7-0060/2012

summary: PURPOSE : to present Special Report ( No 3/2012 ) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds. CONTENT: the European Court of Auditors (ECA) audit was mainly carried out on the basis of a review of 40 programmes in which significant management and control deficiencies had been identified. It aimed at assessing whether the Commission dealt in a satisfactory way with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems. To recall, the Structural Funds represent about one-third of the EU budget. During the 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 programming periods, EUR 475 billion were allocated to Structural Funds. Management of Structural Funds expenditure is shared between the Commission and the Member States. Member States prepare multi-annual programmes which are assessed and approved by the Commission and later implemented by the Member States. The Commission has to ensure that Member States have smoothly functioning management and control systems so that EU funds are efficiently and correctly used. The Commission bears the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the EU budget. In its special report, the Court concludes that the Commission takes appropriate corrective actions when deficiencies in Member States' systems are identified, but the process to implementation is lengthy . The Commission had some success in ensuring that financial corrections were correctly applied, but was less successful in obtaining assurance that its actions led to improvements in Member States’ management and control systems. Court recommendations : the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission: reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions; giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates; disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks; ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems. The ECA also recommends that the Commission, the Parliament and the Council reconsider, when discussing future plans for spending on Cohesion, whether any changes should be made to the arrangements regarding, on one hand, the reallocation of support from the Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds and, on the other, the possibilities for substitution of expenditure found to be ineligible.

type: Non-legislative basic document

body: CofA

events/0/date

Old

2012-04-26T00:00:00

New

2012-04-25T00:00:00

2021-12-18Show (7) Changes | Timetravel

docs/0/docs/0/url	Old http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450 New https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CONT-PR-489450_EN.html
events/1/type	Old Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading New Committee referral announced in Parliament
events/2/type	Old Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading New Vote in committee
events/3	date 2012-09-20T00:00:00 type Committee report tabled for plenary body EP docs url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2012-0276_EN.html title: A7-0276/2012 summary The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Jens GEIER (S&D, DE) on Special Report No 3/2012 (Discharge 2011) - Structural Funds - Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems? Welcoming the Court of Auditors' report and its overall conclusion ( please refer to the summary of the report dated 26/04/2012 ), Members are pleased that the Commission systematically initiated corrective actions and that the actions requested were an appropriate response for the deficiencies in 90% of cases. Members are concerned, however, in particular about the following observations: corrective actions took 30 months on average and delays were mainly attributable to the Member States concerned; in only 67% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that financial corrections were accurate, in only 28% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that the Member States' management and control systems improved following corrective actions, which means that considerable effort will need to be undertaken in the closure process. Members are also concerned about the Court of Auditors' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States’ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78% of cases. They are therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information. Commission's action plan to strengthen its supervisory role under shared management of structural actions : Members remind the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditors' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge. They reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period. The report notes that the action plan of 2008 came only into force at the end of the programming period 2000-2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only. The Commission is called upon to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond. Members b elieve that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’. They consider enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met. The Commission is also called upon to: (i) make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control; (ii) provide information on the impact of those corrections on the overall error rate for the 2000-2006 programming period. Single audit : Members reiterate the idea of a 'single audit' that was pronounced by the Court of Auditors in its Opinion No 2/2004 respecting the common principles and standards for the administration at all levels. They call on the Commission to continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle and to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits. Conclusion : Members conclude by calling on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditors' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process. It is also called upon to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditors' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020. Lastly, Members believe strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process.
events/3	date 2012-09-20T00:00:00 type Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body EP docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2012-0276_EN.html title: A7-0276/2012 summary The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Jens GEIER (S&D, DE) on Special Report No 3/2012 (Discharge 2011) - Structural Funds - Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems? Welcoming the Court of Auditors' report and its overall conclusion ( please refer to the summary of the report dated 26/04/2012 ), Members are pleased that the Commission systematically initiated corrective actions and that the actions requested were an appropriate response for the deficiencies in 90% of cases. Members are concerned, however, in particular about the following observations: corrective actions took 30 months on average and delays were mainly attributable to the Member States concerned; in only 67% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that financial corrections were accurate, in only 28% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that the Member States' management and control systems improved following corrective actions, which means that considerable effort will need to be undertaken in the closure process. Members are also concerned about the Court of Auditors' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States’ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78% of cases. They are therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information. Commission's action plan to strengthen its supervisory role under shared management of structural actions : Members remind the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditors' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge. They reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period. The report notes that the action plan of 2008 came only into force at the end of the programming period 2000-2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only. The Commission is called upon to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond. Members b elieve that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’. They consider enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met. The Commission is also called upon to: (i) make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control; (ii) provide information on the impact of those corrections on the overall error rate for the 2000-2006 programming period. Single audit : Members reiterate the idea of a 'single audit' that was pronounced by the Court of Auditors in its Opinion No 2/2004 respecting the common principles and standards for the administration at all levels. They call on the Commission to continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle and to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits. Conclusion : Members conclude by calling on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditors' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process. It is also called upon to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditors' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020. Lastly, Members believe strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process.
procedure/Modified legal basis	Rules of Procedure EP 159
procedure/Other legal basis	Rules of Procedure EP 159

2020-01-19Show (4) Changes | Timetravel

events/3/docs/0/url	Old http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2012-276&language=EN New http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2012-0276_EN.html
procedure/Modified legal basis	Old Rules of Procedure EP 150 New Rules of Procedure EP 159
procedure/legal_basis/0	Rules of Procedure EP 99
procedure/legal_basis/0	Rules of Procedure EP 93

2019-07-06Show (11) Changes | Timetravel

activities	date: 2012-04-26T00:00:00 docs: type: Non-legislative basic document published title: N7-0060/2012 body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas type: Non-legislative basic document published date: 2012-05-10T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-01-12T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: GEIER Jens body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI date: 2012-09-17T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-01-12T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: GEIER Jens body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI date: 2012-09-20T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2012-276&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0276/2012 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
commission	body: EC dg: Budget commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
docs	date: 2012-06-14T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450 title: PE489.450 type: Committee draft report body: EP
events	date: 2012-04-26T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: title: N7-0060/2012 summary: PURPOSE : to present Special Report ( No 3/2012 ) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds. CONTENT: the European Court of Auditors (ECA) audit was mainly carried out on the basis of a review of 40 programmes in which significant management and control deficiencies had been identified. It aimed at assessing whether the Commission dealt in a satisfactory way with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems. To recall, the Structural Funds represent about one-third of the EU budget. During the 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 programming periods, EUR 475 billion were allocated to Structural Funds. Management of Structural Funds expenditure is shared between the Commission and the Member States. Member States prepare multi-annual programmes which are assessed and approved by the Commission and later implemented by the Member States. The Commission has to ensure that Member States have smoothly functioning management and control systems so that EU funds are efficiently and correctly used. The Commission bears the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the EU budget. In its special report, the Court concludes that the Commission takes appropriate corrective actions when deficiencies in Member States' systems are identified, but the process to implementation is lengthy . The Commission had some success in ensuring that financial corrections were correctly applied, but was less successful in obtaining assurance that its actions led to improvements in Member States’ management and control systems. Court recommendations : the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission: reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions; giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates; disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks; ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems. The ECA also recommends that the Commission, the Parliament and the Council reconsider, when discussing future plans for spending on Cohesion, whether any changes should be made to the arrangements regarding, on one hand, the reallocation of support from the Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds and, on the other, the possibilities for substitution of expenditure found to be ineligible. date: 2012-05-10T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP date: 2012-09-17T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP date: 2012-09-20T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2012-276&language=EN title: A7-0276/2012 summary: The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Jens GEIER (S&D, DE) on Special Report No 3/2012 (Discharge 2011) - Structural Funds - Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems? Welcoming the Court of Auditors' report and its overall conclusion ( please refer to the summary of the report dated 26/04/2012 ), Members are pleased that the Commission systematically initiated corrective actions and that the actions requested were an appropriate response for the deficiencies in 90% of cases. Members are concerned, however, in particular about the following observations: corrective actions took 30 months on average and delays were mainly attributable to the Member States concerned; in only 67% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that financial corrections were accurate, in only 28% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that the Member States' management and control systems improved following corrective actions, which means that considerable effort will need to be undertaken in the closure process. Members are also concerned about the Court of Auditors' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States’ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78% of cases. They are therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information. Commission's action plan to strengthen its supervisory role under shared management of structural actions : Members remind the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditors' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge. They reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period. The report notes that the action plan of 2008 came only into force at the end of the programming period 2000-2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only. The Commission is called upon to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond. Members b elieve that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’. They consider enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met. The Commission is also called upon to: (i) make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control; (ii) provide information on the impact of those corrections on the overall error rate for the 2000-2006 programming period. Single audit : Members reiterate the idea of a 'single audit' that was pronounced by the Court of Auditors in its Opinion No 2/2004 respecting the common principles and standards for the administration at all levels. They call on the Commission to continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle and to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits. Conclusion : Members conclude by calling on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditors' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process. It is also called upon to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditors' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020. Lastly, Members believe strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process.
links
other	body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas
procedure/Modified legal basis	Old Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150 New Rules of Procedure EP 150
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee	Old CONT/7/09095 New CONT/7/09095
procedure/legal_basis/0	Rules of Procedure EP 93
procedure/legal_basis/0	Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 093
procedure/subject	Old 4.70.01 Structural funds, investment funds in general 8.70.03 Budgetary control and discharge, implementation of the budget 8.70.03.06 2011 discharge New 4.70.01 Structural funds, investment funds in general, programmes 8.70.03 Budgetary control and discharge, implementation of the budget 8.70.03.07 Previous discharges

2015-11-04Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/subject/0

Old

4.70.01 Structural funds, structural and investment funds in general

New

4.70.01 Structural funds, investment funds in general

2015-01-07Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/subject/0

Old

4.70.01 Structural funds in general

New

4.70.01 Structural funds, structural and investment funds in general

2014-11-09Show (14) Changes | Timetravel

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activities/2/committees/2/rapporteur/0/mepref	Old 4de185230fb8127435bdbe91 New 4f1ac838b819f25efd0000d4
activities/2/committees/2/shadows/0/mepref	Old 4de188650fb8127435bdc331 New 4f1adb8fb819f207b30000cf
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committees/2/shadows/2/mepref	Old 4de1888a0fb8127435bdc36a New 4f1adb84b819f207b30000cb
procedure/Modified legal basis	Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150
procedure/legal_basis/0	Old Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076 New Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 093

2014-04-29Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/stage_reached

Old

Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage

New

Procedure lapsed or withdrawn

2014-02-11Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

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Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138

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activities/0/type	Old Non-legislative basic document New Non-legislative basic document published
activities/2	date 2012-06-14T00:00:00 docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450 type: Committee draft report title: PE489.450 body EP type Committee draft report
activities/3	date 2012-07-12T00:00:00 docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE492.938 type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE492.938 body EP type Amendments tabled in committee

2013-11-20Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/Modified legal basis	Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138
procedure/legal_basis	Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076

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procedure/legal_basis

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138

2013-10-18Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/legal_basis

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138

2013-10-12Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/legal_basis

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138

2013-09-17Show (4) Changes | Timetravel

activities/1/committees/2/shadows/3	group EFD name ANDREASEN Marta
activities/4/committees/2/shadows/3	group EFD name ANDREASEN Marta
committees/2/shadows/3	group EFD name ANDREASEN Marta
procedure/legal_basis/1	Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 138

2013-06-19Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/docs/0/text/0

Old

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

In its special report, the Court concludes that the Commission takes appropriate corrective actions when deficiencies in Member States' systems are identified, but the process to implementation is lengthy. The Commission had some success in ensuring that financial corrections were correctly applied, but was less successful in obtaining assurance that its actions led to improvements in Member States' management and control systems.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

New

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

2013-03-16Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/5/docs/0/text

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Jens GEIER (S&D, DE) on Special Report No 3/2012 (Discharge 2011) - Structural Funds - Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems?

Welcoming the Court of Auditors' report and its overall conclusion (please refer to the summary of the report dated 26/04/2012), Members are pleased that the Commission systematically initiated corrective actions and that the actions requested were an appropriate response for the deficiencies in 90% of cases.

Members are concerned, however, in particular about the following observations:
- corrective actions took 30 months on average and delays were mainly attributable to the Member States concerned;
- in only 67% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that financial corrections were accurate,
- in only 28% of cases the Commission obtained a high degree of assurance that the Member States' management and control systems improved following corrective actions, which means that considerable effort will need to be undertaken in the closure process.
Members are also concerned about the Court of Auditors' finding that Commission's follow-up audits aiming to scrutinise the reliability of Member States’ statements required further corrective actions by the Member States in 78% of cases. They are therefore worried that the Commission sometimes relied on potentially unreliable information by not sufficiently questioning information submitted by Member States and that the Commission did not adequately scrutinise the reliability of the information.

Commission's action plan to strengthen its supervisory role under shared management of structural actions: Members remind the Commission that the error rate in the policy area Cohesion has increased in the Court of Auditors' Annual Report 2010, which reverses the positive trend observed in previous years and is contrary to an accelerated reduction of error rates, as called for by Parliament in the context of the 2008 discharge. They reiterates the importance of the supervisory role the Commission exercises in order to be able to bear the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the budget including the areas of shared management of structural actions and the improved legal framework for the 2007-2013 programming period. The report notes that the action plan of 2008 came only into force at the end of the programming period 2000-2006 and could therefore cover the closure process of that period only. The Commission is called upon to fully enforce measures as stated in the action plan for the 2007-2013 programming period and beyond.

Members believe that improving the Commission's supervisory role is an ongoing process that can never be considered ‘implemented’. They consider enhancements of the action plan to be necessary if the expectations with regard to the improvement of the Commission's financial management are not met.

The Commission is also called upon to: (i) make efforts to ensure that Member States do not affect the continuity of programmes by changing entities, systems and personnel responsible for Structural Funds control; (ii) provide information on the impact of those corrections on the overall error rate for the 2000-2006 programming period.

Single audit: Members reiterate the idea of a 'single audit' that was pronounced by the Court of Auditors in its Opinion No 2/2004 respecting the common principles and standards for the administration at all levels. They call on the Commission to continue to aim at implementing the single audit principle and to establish clear and transparent common standards for these audits.

Conclusion: Members conclude by calling on the Commission to finalise the closure of the 2000-2006 programming period duly taking into account the Court of Auditors' observations and to report to Parliament on how the Commission will ensure legality and regularity in the process. It is also called upon to monitor the implementation of structural actions for the 2007-2013 period and to bear in mind the Court of Auditors' observations in the discussions on the future structural actions for the period 2014-2020.

Lastly, Members believe strongly that the Commission should deepen its involvement in the Structural Funds scrutiny process by further assisting and supervising Member States' management and certifying authorities as well as the winding-up bodies, throughout all phases of implementation and verification, in order to ensure an even more efficient and less time and resource consuming process.

2013-02-20Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/docs/0/text/0

Old

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

New

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

2013-01-22Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/title

Old

Special Report No 3/2012 (2011 discharge): Structural Funds: Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems?

New

Special report 3/2012 (2011 discharge): Structural Funds: Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems?

2012-12-01Show (4) Changes | Timetravel

activities/2/date	Old 2012-04-26T00:00:00 New 2012-06-14T00:00:00
activities/2/docs	url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450 type: Committee draft report title: PE489.450
activities/2/type	Old Date New Committee draft report
activities/3	date 2012-06-14T00:00:00 docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450 type: Committee draft report title: PE489.450 body EP type Committee draft report

2012-10-13Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/6/docs/0/url

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2012-276&language=EN

2012-09-23Show (10) Changes | Timetravel

activities/3	date 2012-06-14T00:00:00 docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450 type: Committee draft report title: PE489.450 body EP type Committee draft report
activities/3/date	Old 2012-07-12T00:00:00 New 2012-06-14T00:00:00
activities/3/docs/0/title	Old PE492.938 New PE489.450
activities/3/docs/0/type	Old Amendments tabled in committee New Committee draft report
activities/3/docs/0/url	Old http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE492.938 New http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450
activities/3/type	Old Amendments tabled in committee New Committee draft report
activities/4/date	Old 2012-10-23T00:00:00 New 2012-07-12T00:00:00
activities/4/docs	url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE492.938 type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE492.938
activities/4/type	Old EP 1R Plenary New Amendments tabled in committee
activities/8	body EC date 2012-10-23T00:00:00 type Prev DG PRES commission DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas

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activities/6

date: 2012-09-20T00:00:00

docs: type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0276/2012

body: EP

type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading

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activities/4/docs	url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE492.938 type: Amendments tabled in committee title: PE492.938
activities/4/type	Old Deadline Amendments New Amendments tabled in committee
activities/5/committees	body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP shadows: group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-01-12T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: GEIER Jens body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
activities/5/type	Old Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading New Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading

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activities/6/type	Old Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading New EP 1R Plenary
activities/7	body EC date 2012-10-23T00:00:00 type Prev DG PRES commission DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner: ŠEMETA Algirdas

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activities/2/committees/2/shadows	group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta
committees/2/shadows	group: Verts/ALE name: STAES Bart group: ECR name: ČEŠKOVÁ Andrea group: GUE/NGL name: SØNDERGAARD Søren Bo group: EFD name: ANDREASEN Marta

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Old

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

New

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:

reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.

procedure/legal_basis

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 076

2012-06-16Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/3/docs/0/url

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE489.450

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activities/6

date: 2012-10-25T00:00:00

body: EP

type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading

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activities/4/date	Old 2012-06-04T00:00:00 New 2012-07-12T00:00:00
activities/5	body EP date 2012-07-09T00:00:00 type Prev Adopt in Cte

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date: 2012-09-17T00:00:00

body: EP

type: Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading

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activities/1/docs/0/text

PURPOSE : to present Special Report (No 3/2012) from the European Court of Auditors on improving Member States' management and control systems for Structural Funds.

CONTENT: the European Court of Auditors (ECA) audit was mainly carried out on the basis of a review of 40 programmes in which significant management and control deficiencies had been identified. It aimed at assessing whether the Commission dealt in a satisfactory way with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems.

To recall, the Structural Funds represent about one-third of the EU budget. During the 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 programming periods, EUR 475 billion were allocated to Structural Funds. Management of Structural Funds expenditure is shared between the Commission and the Member States. Member States prepare multi-annual programmes which are assessed and approved by the Commission and later implemented by the Member States.

The Commission has to ensure that Member States have smoothly functioning management and control systems so that EU funds are efficiently and correctly used. The Commission bears the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the EU budget.

In its special report, the Court concludes that the Commission takes appropriate corrective actions when deficiencies in Member States' systems are identified, but the process to implementation is lengthy. The Commission had some success in ensuring that financial corrections were correctly applied, but was less successful in obtaining assurance that its actions led to improvements in Member States’ management and control systems.

Court recommendations: the ECA makes a number of recommendations to the Commission:
- reducing the duration of the administrative procedure from identification of deficiencies until implementation of corrective actions;
- giving higher priority to its audit work on the audit authorities to ensure that they produce robust error rates so that the financial corrections can be applied on the basis of these error rates;
- disseminating checklists that serve as best practice to be followed by Member States authorities for their first level checks;
- ensuring that financial corrections cover all expenditure incurred under deficient management and control systems.
The ECA also recommends that the Commission, the Parliament and the Council reconsider, when discussing future plans for spending on Cohesion, whether any changes should be made to the arrangements regarding, on one hand, the reallocation of support from the Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds and, on the other, the possibilities for substitution of expenditure found to be ineligible.

2012-05-15Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

activities/1/commission/0	DG url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget Commissioner ŠEMETA Algirdas
other/0	body EC dg url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/ title: Budget commissioner ŠEMETA Algirdas

2012-05-15Show (5) Changes

activities	body: EP date: 2012-04-26T00:00:00 type: Date date: 2012-04-26T00:00:00 docs: type: Non-legislative basic document published title: N7-0060/2012 type: Non-legislative basic document body: EC commission: date: 2012-05-09T00:00:00 docs: type: Committee draft report title: PE489.450 body: EP type: Committee draft report date: 2012-05-10T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-01-12T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: GEIER Jens body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI body: EP date: 2012-06-04T00:00:00 type: Deadline Amendments body: EP date: 2012-07-09T00:00:00 type: Prev Adopt in Cte
committees	body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development committee: AGRI body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG body: EP responsible: True committee: CONT date: 2012-01-12T00:00:00 committee_full: Budgetary Control rapporteur: group: S&D name: GEIER Jens body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Employment and Social Affairs committee: EMPL body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Fisheries committee: PECH body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI
links
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procedure	dossier_of_the_committee CONT/7/09095 reference 2012/2087(DEC) title Special Report No 3/2012 (2011 discharge): Structural Funds: Did the Commission successfully deal with deficiencies identified in the Member States' management and control systems? stage_reached Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage type DEC - Discharge procedure subject 4.70.01 Structural funds in general 8.70.03 Budgetary control and discharge, implementation of the budget 8.70.03.06 2011 discharge

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