Activities of Claudia SCHMIDT related to 2014/2077(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the eighth, ninth and tenth European Development Funds for the financial year 2013 PDF (197 KB) DOC (131 KB)
Amendments (33)
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Expresses concern, however, about the Court of Auditors' assessment related to the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts whereby the supervisory and control systems at EuropAid’s Headquarters and Union delegations are only partially effective in ensuring the legality and regularity of payments;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes withIs deeply concerned that ex ante checks carried out before the project payments transactions are carried onexecuted still present significant weaknesses according to the Court’s evaluation;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Is worried by the recurring issue that some errors concerning final claims have been continuously found, despite external audits and expenditure verifications;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Draws attention, in light of the increased focus on the performance of Union aid, to the fact that Sub- Saharan Africa is the region which is lagging behind the most with regard to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is the only region worldwide where, according to projections, poverty will most probably not be halved by 2015; is concerned that declining levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for social services over the past few years, particularly in the education and reproductive health sectors, threaten to reverse progress on human capital development;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Concludes that an intensification of efforts is needed in order to accelerate the achievement of the MDGs in Africa by the target date of 2015; welcomes the fact that the EDFs, which are the main instrument for providing Union aid for development cooperation to the ACP States,Welcomes the fact that the EDFs accounted for as much as 45 % of the total value of new contracts concluded by the Commission's Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation (DG DEVCO) in 2013;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. ConsiderWelcomes the introduction of the measurement study on the residual error rate on closed transactions a good practices an example of the DG DEVCO management environment in action;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Welcomes the inclusion of the overview of all costs in the annual activity report, including control costthe cost of administrative expenditure as well as the cost of control and monitoring systems;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. FollowAcknowledges with interest the implementation of the Commission's new budget support approach; notes that in 2013 a total of EUR 660 million was allocated to new budget support operations in Africa, used in part to implement the 'MDG initiative' to support those countries that were lagging behind in important sectors such as health, water, sanitation, food security and nutrition;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Considering the rationale and aim of budget support, with contributions directly transferred to a recipient countries’ general budget or to a budget devoted to a specific general policy or objective, insists that the budget support respects and strictly links the general eligibility conditions with effectivesubstantial progress achieved by partner countries, in particular in public finance management in order to reduce the risk related to regularity and fiduciary risk; would welcome the development of binding key performance indicators (KPI) in an attempt at risk reduction;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Recalliterates that robust and objectively verifiable conditions forverifiable key performance indicators have to be applied to any continuinged budget support programmes have to be applied with a steadily attention to be given, both on the use of; underlines that focus should be put on the differentiation principle to avoid relaxa widened interpretation of budget support disbursement conditionality and on; stresses that there is continued need for the support tof anti- corruption mechanisms as corruption seems to be the key issue, which maymight affect the Commission´s reputation and reducundermine the effectiveness of theand credibility of budget support programmes;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Invites the Court, in this context, to progressively elaborate more on the issue of corruption and to try to quantify and indicate the degree of corruption in its special reports as well as in the Court of Auditor's Annual Activity Report;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Demands as, regardsing sectorial budget support, that the sectorial conditionality matrix to be systematically used orand reinforced to defineand that adequate benchmarks for the Union intervention be defined; would welcome if, gradually, all general budget support programmes were turned into sectorial budget support programmes to increase the level of control and accountability in order to further protect the financial interest of the European Union;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Emphasises the importance of ensuring an appropriate policy dialogue based on an incentive-based approach andincentive-based policy dialogue, a continuous monitoring of sector reforms and programmes measuring the performance and the sustainability of the results via the Commission´s IT-based financial management systems for the implementingation of budget support in partner countries;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Is of the opinion that the Commission has to strongly support the development of parliamentary control and, oversight bodies, and capabilitiesompetence in beneficiary countries, also by continuously providing technical assistance;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. WelcomeStrongly supports the Commission's ability to stop transfers of funds into recipient countries when macro-economic condex-ante condictionalitiones are not met;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. BelieveSuggests that, during the new parliamentary term, a further step fors towards defining an evera better way of exchanginge of information with the World Bank and United Nations (UN) institutions has to be taken in order to deepen the reciprocal trustshould be found to optimize the cooperation;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Calls for Unionthe visibility to beof Union funding to be strongly respected in multi- donor initiatives, particularly when Union funding is at stakedisbursed in a risky environment;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Requests that further clarification be swiftly provided on the use of funds pooling (including trust funds) and related risks regarding therms of regularity of transactions, namely when the Commission’s financial contributions to multi-donor projects are pooled with funds originating from other internationalfrom other donors, without being earmarked for a specific identifiable items of eligible expenditure;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47
Paragraph 47
47. Requests to be informed about the preliminary survey of controls and management systems performed by the Commission on other associated international organisations and; further requests information on the level of comparability and consistency of their already existing systems in this particular situation;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. BelievReiterates that the iInvestment fFacility ofmanaged by the European Investment Bank (EIB) on behalf of the Union should also be subject to Parliament’'s discharge procedure as the investment facility is contributed tofinanced by Union tax payers and its operations are managed by the EIB on behalf of the Union; ' money;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Notes that the Tripartite Agreement mentioned in Article 287 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union governing cooperation between the EIB, the Commission and the Court of Auditors with respect to the modes for controls exercised by the Court on the EIB's activity in managing Union funds and Member States' funds is up for renewal in 2015; calls upon the EIB to update the remit of the European Court of Auditors in this respect by including any new EIB facilitieinancial instruments involving public funds from the Union or the EDF;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53
Paragraph 53
53. Welcomes the EIB's approach on expected resultsresult-oriented approach, notably with the introduction of a Result Measurement Framework which allows for assessment of the soundness of projects, their financial and economic sustainability and the EIB's own added value to be assessed; asks that a permanent dialogue on the measurement indicators and on the convergence of results achieved with the associated partners be ensuresd;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Encourages the EIB to fund productive investments and to combine lending with technical assistance when required in order to increase the final effectiveness of projects and to ensure real Union added value in terms ofregarding additionality in the execution of projects and to target and to reach a higher developmental impact;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 57
Paragraph 57
57. Acknowledges that the increased interest in blending and the increased opportunities offered by the use of new financial investment facilities is mainly motivatcaused by the combinrrelation of important developmental challenges with heavily constrained public's funds, therefore leading to the development of new financial resources combining Union grant aid and non-grant resources; encourages the Court to provide a regular comprehensive assessment on the activities coverfunded by the blendeding of finance issueial instruments;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 60
Paragraph 60
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
Paragraph 62
62. Demands the introduction of common standards of governanceimplementation for such financial activities, as well as the definition of best practices and well-defined eligibility and evaluation criteria for the use of those financial tools; believes that coherent rules of management rules such as structured reporting, clear monitoring frameworks and oversight conditions will strive to reduce transaction costs or theand possible duplication of costs under the conditions ofpayments due to the highestr level of transparency and accountability;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 10 a (new)
Subheading 10 a (new)
Union support in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1. Reiterates its stance on the troubling situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), particularly regarding the reform of the judiciary system as well as the rule of law situation, public finances, and the issue of decentralisation; 2. Welcomes the Court of Auditors' assessment regarding European Union development aid funded with EDF means; agrees that the lack of political will as well as the lack of absorption capacity largely account for only minimal success in improving governance in the DRC; 3. Acknowledges that the DRC is widely recognized as one of the most fragile states in the world; strongly suggests the development of binding Key Performance Indicators and benchmarks for reliable improvement assessment; also strongly suggests that KPI and benchmarks be drafted in a realistic manner; 4. Asks the Commission and the EEAS to provide the most recent list of priorities for European development aid in the DRC as a follow-up from last year's discharge report, which suggested a more limited number of priorities to allow for a better and more focused development aid strategy;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64
Paragraph 64
64. Reiterates the overall satisfaction with the work and efforts carried out by the Commission's services in response to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, in an extremely critical situation for the Union delegation and its staff; welcomes the Commission's ability to withhold payments and disbursements as a consequence of unsatisfactoryinsufficient progress in the Haitian Government's financial management and deficiencies in national public procurement procedures;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 65
Paragraph 65
65. Regrets the weaknesses identified in the coordination between donors and within the Commission's services; calls for a better articulation of humanitarian aid and development aid, with a stronger link between relief, rehabilitation and development by means of a permanent LRRD23 interservices platform; considers that integrated approaches with clearly stated coordination objectives and a coherent country strategy between ECHO and EuropeAid alongside with best practices sharing have to be set up wherever possible; invites the Commission to enter into a dialogue with Parliament; believes also that the involvement of local civil society non-governmental organisations can strengthen the use of the local knowledge base; __________________ 23 LRRD = Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development.
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 66
Paragraph 66
66. Recalls the recommendations in the aftermath of the CONT delegation visit to Haiti in February 2012 and again insists, as a constant principle, on the salient issue of the traceability and the accountability of Union development funds, in particular by linking budget support to a targeted performance; invites the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to emphasise the conditionality matrix for sectorial budget support;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 67
Paragraph 67
67. Recalls that the 'State building' ismeasures are to be at the centre of Union's development strategy and the cornerstone of any crisis situation action plans; calls for the definition of a good policy mix in the logic of line withe Union intervention;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 68
Paragraph 68
68. Considers that those situations of crisis and fragility require the development of policies which call for new approaches, particularly concerning activities such as (i) identifying risks at different operational levels, (ii) making scenarios anddrafting projections of likely consequences and (iii) designing instruments to reduce and prepare for risks and potential disaster and which allow for a sufficient level of flexibility and ability to mobilise experts in various fields of competence;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
Paragraph 75
75. Is of the opinion that the integration of the EDFs in the general budget will strengthen democratic scrutiny by involving Parliament in the setting of strategic priorities regarding the allocation of funds and will also provide more effective implementation, with better coordination mechanisms both at Commission Headquarters and field levels; asks the Commission again to duly consider the financial impact of the inclusion of the EDFs for Member States in the coming assessment and thea possible basis and key of repartition to be used to calculate their respectivinding Member State contributions key;