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Events

2021/11/23
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 659 votes to 28, with 1 abstention, a resolution with recommendations to the Commission on digitalisation of the European reporting, monitoring and audit.

Ensuring confidence in the financial management of EU funds

Public knowledge and full transparency about the spending of Union funds is essential for the acceptance of this spending. However, the number of off-budget instruments continues to grow, with instruments such as Next Generation EU being managed directly by the Commission. Members therefore called for the financial regulation to be updated to allow Parliament to fulfil its oversight role over these new mechanisms. This is particularly important in the context of the digitalisation of European reporting, monitoring and auditing procedures.

Clear, comprehensible and fair rules on eligibility for support or participation in spending programmes is a first precondition for support in the financial management of EU funds.

With this in mind, Parliament believes that the most effective way to strengthen the protection of the EU budget against fraud and irregularities is to establish a digitalised programme creating an integrated, interoperable and harmonised system for collecting, monitoring and analysing information on the final recipients of EU funds in all Member States.

This system would allow national and regional authorities as well as EU institutions, including the Parliament, the Commission, the Court of Auditors, OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor's Office, to ensure effective controls on conflicts of interest, irregularities, double-funding issues and misuse of funds, as well as the use of modern IT tools such as ARACHNE.

Proposals to revise the Financial Regulation

Parliament called on the European Commission, in particular in the context of the forthcoming revision of the Financial Regulation, to present, before the end of 2021, the necessary legislative proposals to amend the Financial Regulation in order to ensure the use of standardised datasets and the possibility to identify the final beneficiaries of EU funds.

Under the proposal requested by Members, the Commission should make available to financial actors and entities responsible for budget implementation, an integrated and interoperable electronic information and monitoring system, including a single data mining and risk scoring tool, to access, store, aggregate and analyse data on final beneficiaries of EU funds with a view to a generalised mandatory application by Member States.

The Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and other Union investigative and control bodies should have the necessary access to that data in order to exercise their supervisory functions in relation to the controls and audits that are to be carried out by the Member States in the first place to detect irregularities and conduct administrative investigations into the misuse of the Union funding concerned, and to get a precise overview of its distribution.

The resolution stressed that this system should:

- be based as far as possible on open-source principles and use standardised data sets and measures to collect, compare and aggregate information and figures on recipients and direct and final beneficiaries of EU funds for control, audit and discharge purposes;

- be developed with a view to ensuring full compliance with the principles of transparency set out in the Financial Regulation;

- be accessible to journalists, civil society representatives and the general public in order to facilitate research into the use of public funds and possibly uncover fraud, while respecting the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation.

- be designed in such a way that it automatically links to databases containing updated information about company ownership.

This system should allow for very quick identification of recurrent and possible overrepresented beneficiaries of Union funds, including tender winners. Information about recipients of Union funds is made publicly available for a minimum period of five years .

Members called for this system to be developed within two years and to be made available, free of charge, and mandatory for Member States' reporting authorities.

The financial implications of the proposal should be covered by the EU budget.

Documents
2021/11/04
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted a legislative initiative report by Maria GRAPINI (S&D, RO) containing recommendations to the Commission on the digitalisation of the European reporting, monitoring and auditing.

Ensuring confidence in the financial management of EU funds is essential for the overall trust in the EU institutions and thus for the credibility of the project for further European integration.

Members consider that the most effective way to enhance the protection of the EU budget and the EU instrument for recovery against fraud and irregularities is to create an integrated, interoperable and harmonised system for the collection, monitoring and analysis of information on final beneficiaries in all Member States. This system should ensure effective controls on conflicts of interest, irregularities, double funding issues and any misuse of funds. It could also be the best instrument to fight disinformation in all Member States.

Therefore, the Committee on Budgetary Control asks the European Commission, in particular in the context of the forthcoming revision of the Financial Regulation, to present, before the end of 2021, the necessary legislative proposals to amend the Financial Regulation in order to ensure the use of standardised data sets and the possibility to identify the final beneficiaries of funds.

Under the proposal requested by Members, the Commission should make available an integrated and interoperable electronic information and monitoring system , including a single data mining and risk scoring tool, to access, store, aggregate and analyse data on final beneficiaries of EU funds with a view to a generalised mandatory application by Member States.

The Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and other Union investigative and control bodies should have the necessary access to that data in order to exercise their supervisory functions in relation to the controls and audits that are to be carried out by the Member States in the first place to detect irregularities and conduct administrative investigations into the misuse of the Union funding concerned, and to get a precise overview of its distribution.

The report stressed that this system should:

- be based as far as possible on open-source principles and use standardised data sets and measures to collect, compare and aggregate information and figures on recipients and direct and final beneficiaries of EU funds for control, audit and discharge purposes;

- be developed with a view to ensuring full compliance with the principles of transparency set out in the Financial Regulation;

- be accessible to journalists, civil society representatives and the general public in order to facilitate research into the use of public funds and possibly uncover fraud, while respecting the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Members called for this system to be developed within two years and to be made available, free of charge, and mandatory for Member States' reporting authorities.

The financial implications of the proposal should be covered by the EU budget.

Documents
2021/10/26
   EP - Vote in committee
2021/10/04
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2021/09/13
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2021/05/27
   EP - GRAPINI Maria (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in CONT
2021/05/20
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament

Documents

Votes

Numérisation de la communication d’informations, du suivi et de l’audit au niveau européen - Digitalisation of the European reporting, monitoring and audit - Digitalisierung der europäischen Berichterstattung, Überwachung und Rechnungsprüfung - A9-0311/2021 - Maria Grapini - Proposition de résolution (ensemble du texte) #

2021/11/23 Outcome: +: 659, -: 28, 0: 1
DE IT ES PL RO FR NL SE HU BE AT CZ PT BG FI DK IE EL HR SK LT LV SI EE MT CY LU
Total
93
75
54
52
33
79
28
21
21
20
19
21
18
17
14
14
13
18
12
14
11
8
8
7
6
6
6
icon: PPE PPE
176

Hungary PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE

2
2

Luxembourg PPE

2
icon: S&D S&D
138

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Greece S&D

For (1)

1

Lithuania S&D

2

Latvia S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Estonia S&D

2

Cyprus S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: Renew Renew
97

Italy Renew

3

Poland Renew

1
3

Hungary Renew

2

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Finland Renew

3

Ireland Renew

2

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Lithuania Renew

1

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Slovenia Renew

2

Estonia Renew

3

Luxembourg Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
72

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
63

Germany ECR

1

Romania ECR

1

Bulgaria ECR

2

Greece ECR

1

Croatia ECR

1

Slovakia ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1

Latvia ECR

2
icon: The Left The Left
38

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Czechia The Left

1

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Denmark The Left

1

Cyprus The Left

2
icon: NI NI
36

Germany NI

2

Netherlands NI

1

Slovakia NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Lithuania NI

1
icon: ID ID
68
3

Czechia ID

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Finland ID

2

Denmark ID

For (1)

1

Estonia ID

For (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
77 2021/2054(INL)
2021/10/07 CONT 77 amendments...
source: 697.748

History

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

docs/2
date
2021-11-23T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0464_EN.html title: T9-0464/2021
type
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
body
EP
events/3/summary
  • The European Parliament adopted by 659 votes to 28, with 1 abstention, a resolution with recommendations to the Commission on digitalisation of the European reporting, monitoring and audit.
  • Ensuring confidence in the financial management of EU funds
  • Public knowledge and full transparency about the spending of Union funds is essential for the acceptance of this spending. However, the number of off-budget instruments continues to grow, with instruments such as Next Generation EU being managed directly by the Commission. Members therefore called for the financial regulation to be updated to allow Parliament to fulfil its oversight role over these new mechanisms. This is particularly important in the context of the digitalisation of European reporting, monitoring and auditing procedures.
  • Clear, comprehensible and fair rules on eligibility for support or participation in spending programmes is a first precondition for support in the financial management of EU funds.
  • With this in mind, Parliament believes that the most effective way to strengthen the protection of the EU budget against fraud and irregularities is to establish a digitalised programme creating an integrated, interoperable and harmonised system for collecting, monitoring and analysing information on the final recipients of EU funds in all Member States.
  • This system would allow national and regional authorities as well as EU institutions, including the Parliament, the Commission, the Court of Auditors, OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor's Office, to ensure effective controls on conflicts of interest, irregularities, double-funding issues and misuse of funds, as well as the use of modern IT tools such as ARACHNE.
  • Proposals to revise the Financial Regulation
  • Parliament called on the European Commission, in particular in the context of the forthcoming revision of the Financial Regulation, to present, before the end of 2021, the necessary legislative proposals to amend the Financial Regulation in order to ensure the use of standardised datasets and the possibility to identify the final beneficiaries of EU funds.
  • Under the proposal requested by Members, the Commission should make available to financial actors and entities responsible for budget implementation, an integrated and interoperable electronic information and monitoring system, including a single data mining and risk scoring tool, to access, store, aggregate and analyse data on final beneficiaries of EU funds with a view to a generalised mandatory application by Member States.
  • The Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and other Union investigative and control bodies should have the necessary access to that data in order to exercise their supervisory functions in relation to the controls and audits that are to be carried out by the Member States in the first place to detect irregularities and conduct administrative investigations into the misuse of the Union funding concerned, and to get a precise overview of its distribution.
  • The resolution stressed that this system should:
  • - be based as far as possible on open-source principles and use standardised data sets and measures to collect, compare and aggregate information and figures on recipients and direct and final beneficiaries of EU funds for control, audit and discharge purposes;
  • - be developed with a view to ensuring full compliance with the principles of transparency set out in the Financial Regulation;
  • - be accessible to journalists, civil society representatives and the general public in order to facilitate research into the use of public funds and possibly uncover fraud, while respecting the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation.
  • - be designed in such a way that it automatically links to databases containing updated information about company ownership.
  • This system should allow for very quick identification of recurrent and possible overrepresented beneficiaries of Union funds, including tender winners. Information about recipients of Union funds is made publicly available for a minimum period of five years .
  • Members called for this system to be developed within two years and to be made available, free of charge, and mandatory for Member States' reporting authorities.
  • The financial implications of the proposal should be covered by the EU budget.
docs/2
date
2021-11-23T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0464_EN.html title: T9-0464/2021
type
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
body
EP
events/3
date
2021-11-23T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0464_EN.html title: T9-0464/2021
forecasts
  • date: 2021-11-23T00:00:00 title: Vote in plenary scheduled
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting Parliament's vote
New
Procedure completed
forecasts/0
date
2021-11-23T00:00:00
title
Vote in plenary scheduled
forecasts/0
date
2021-11-22T00:00:00
title
Indicative plenary sitting date
docs/2
date
2021-11-04T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0311_EN.html title: A9-0311/2021
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
events/2/summary
  • The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted a legislative initiative report by Maria GRAPINI (S&D, RO) containing recommendations to the Commission on the digitalisation of the European reporting, monitoring and auditing.
  • Ensuring confidence in the financial management of EU funds is essential for the overall trust in the EU institutions and thus for the credibility of the project for further European integration.
  • Members consider that the most effective way to enhance the protection of the EU budget and the EU instrument for recovery against fraud and irregularities is to create an integrated, interoperable and harmonised system for the collection, monitoring and analysis of information on final beneficiaries in all Member States. This system should ensure effective controls on conflicts of interest, irregularities, double funding issues and any misuse of funds. It could also be the best instrument to fight disinformation in all Member States.
  • Therefore, the Committee on Budgetary Control asks the European Commission, in particular in the context of the forthcoming revision of the Financial Regulation, to present, before the end of 2021, the necessary legislative proposals to amend the Financial Regulation in order to ensure the use of standardised data sets and the possibility to identify the final beneficiaries of funds.
  • Under the proposal requested by Members, the Commission should make available an integrated and interoperable electronic information and monitoring system , including a single data mining and risk scoring tool, to access, store, aggregate and analyse data on final beneficiaries of EU funds with a view to a generalised mandatory application by Member States.
  • The Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and other Union investigative and control bodies should have the necessary access to that data in order to exercise their supervisory functions in relation to the controls and audits that are to be carried out by the Member States in the first place to detect irregularities and conduct administrative investigations into the misuse of the Union funding concerned, and to get a precise overview of its distribution.
  • The report stressed that this system should:
  • - be based as far as possible on open-source principles and use standardised data sets and measures to collect, compare and aggregate information and figures on recipients and direct and final beneficiaries of EU funds for control, audit and discharge purposes;
  • - be developed with a view to ensuring full compliance with the principles of transparency set out in the Financial Regulation;
  • - be accessible to journalists, civil society representatives and the general public in order to facilitate research into the use of public funds and possibly uncover fraud, while respecting the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation.
  • Members called for this system to be developed within two years and to be made available, free of charge, and mandatory for Member States' reporting authorities.
  • The financial implications of the proposal should be covered by the EU budget.
docs/2
date
2021-11-04T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0311_EN.html title: A9-0311/2021
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
events/2/docs
  • url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0311_EN.html title: A9-0311/2021
events/2
date
2021-11-04T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary
body
EP
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting committee decision
New
Awaiting Parliament's vote
events/1
date
2021-10-26T00:00:00
type
Vote in committee
body
EP
procedure/Other legal basis
Rules of Procedure EP 159
committees/0/shadows/2
name
PEKSA Mikuláš
group
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
abbr
Verts/ALE
docs/1/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CONT-AM-697748_EN.html
docs/1
date
2021-10-04T00:00:00
docs
title: PE697.748
type
Amendments tabled in committee
body
EP
forecasts
  • date: 2021-11-22T00:00:00 title: Indicative plenary sitting date
docs/0/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CONT-PR-696492_EN.html
docs
  • date: 2021-09-13T00:00:00 docs: title: PE696.492 type: Committee draft report body: EP
committees/0/shadows/2
name
CZARNECKI Ryszard
group
European Conservatives and Reformists Group
abbr
ECR
commission
  • body: EC dg: Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations commissioner: HAHN Johannes