12 Amendments of Elisabetta GUALMINI related to 2020/2140(DEC)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes note that by the end of 2019, outstanding commitments continued to rise, reaching EUR 298.0 billion; highlights that this increase was due to the fact that commitment appropriations systematically exceeded payment appropriations and that payment needs were being postponed to the next MFF, basically owing to delays in the implementation of the European Structural and Investment (ESI) funds; notes that despite the fact that the absorption of ESI Funds has accelerated, it is still slower than under the previous MFF; calls, therefore, on the Commission to analyse the reasons for the low absorption level and to simplify the new rules for the post- 2020 period in order to avoid unnecessarily complex and/or burdensome rules with no added value;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that mfore than half of EU expenditure in 2019 may be considered as high-risk, including reimbursement-based payments for investments in the areas of cohesion and rural development; notes thate Court of Auditors the revenue for 2019 was legal and regular, and the increase in the estimated rate of material error from 4,5 % in 2018 to 4,9 % in 2019 can result in auditors giving an adverse opinion on EU expenditure;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. NHighlights the importance of the EU cohesion policy in supporting the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights; notes with concern that the estimated overall level of error in the policy area ‘Economic, social and territorial cohesion’ in 2019 stood at 4.4 % (2018: 5.0 %); underlines that despite the slight decrease in comparison with the previous year, this figure is still largely above the 2 % materiality threshold and the estimated level of error in expenditure for the Union budget as a whole (2.7 %); stresses that the new control and assurance framework was designed to ensure that annual residual error rates are below 2 %; agrees with the Court's conclusions that further improvements are necessary in terms of the implementation of the framework by managing authorities, audit authorities and the Commission in order to reduce the high level of error;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. NotWelcomes the decrease in the estimated level of error in spending on ‘Economic, social and territorial cohesion’ from 5 % in 2018 to 4,4 % in 2019; welcomes this year- on-year improvement, but is disappointed that it has not proved possible to decrease the error rate to the 3 % level recorded in 2017, so efforts should be made in this regard during the next programming period;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that ineligible expenditure and public procurement procedures have been detected as the most common types of irregularities; stresses the need to take effective measures to reduce those sources of error while achieving a high performance and calls on the Commission to implement swiftly the Court’s recommendations in this policy area;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Notes that the main reasons for this error rate are project ineligibility, infringement of internal market rules, and ineligible expenditure; recalls that these areas have high inherent risk of error and that checks by managing authorities are not always effective; underlines that a financial error, in most of the cases, does not constitute fraud;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Stresses the importance of the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) to encourage high level of employment, the creation of quality jobs and fight against poverty and social exclusion; highlights the need to provide them the continued financial and political support of the EU, national and regional institutions in the delivery of their targets in the years to come;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Notes that, on average, more than one out of five persons and one out of four children are still at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European Union; recalls the EU commitment to provide support for the most deprived through FEAD, alleviating the worst forms of poverty in the Union, such as food deprivation, homelessness, and child poverty; notes that about 13 million people, including approximately 4 million children under the age of 15, are supported by FEAD annually;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes efforts to simplify requirements to be made of project managers and management authorities in the Member States under the 2021-2027 programming period of the Common Provisions Regulation and the MFF related funds;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recognises that the five decentralised agencies (Eurofound, Cedefop, ETF, EU-OSHA and ELA) under the remit of DG EMPL provide significant contribution and haveeach of them has an important added value to the achievement of the specific objectives of DG EMPL’s policy areas; expresses its satisfaction that the assessment confirms a positive evaluation report on the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and added value of the agencies, as well as the need to reinforce cooperation in order to achieve synergies;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Recalls that the ELA was created in March 2018 and started its operation in October 2019; highlights the importance of making the ELA fully operational without undue delay in order to improve the application and enforcement of Union law relating to labour mobility and social security coordination so as to ensure fair mobility and the effective cross-border enforcement of workers’ rights; stresses the need of ensuring sufficient financial resources in this regard;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes with concern that, at the end of the sixth year of implementation, absorption rates for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund (CF) are 6,6% lower than at the same stage in the previous programming period; and draws attention to the risk that, as the eligibility period draws to an end and given the circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis, Member States may prioritise spending overshould pay special attention to absorption rates in the next programming period without causing any prejudice to performance and regularity.