7 Amendments of Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ related to 2019/2055(DEC)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that, as indicated Stresses the importance of simplifying the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors for the financial year 2018, the estimated level of error in spending on ‘Economic, social and territorial cohesion’ increased from 3 % in 2017 to 5 % in 2018; regrets that, even if it should be stressed that errors in the implementation of the budget do not automatically imply a fraud, the positive trend of the last years has been reversedrules and procedures and making them more flexible, avoiding unnecessary administrative obstacles, so as to prevent or detect and correct many of the errors and improve take-up capacity in the Member States;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes that the amount subject to the scrutiny of the European Court of Auditors in 2018 in the field of 'Economic, social and territorial cohesion' was EUR 23.6 billion (plus €16.5 billion from previous years that the Commission had cleared or accepted in 2018), significantly higher than in 2017 (EUR 8 billion), which largely justifies the increase in the estimated error rate with regard to expenditure from 3% in 2017 to 5% in 2018; warns of a greater risk of error at the end of the current Multiannual Financial Framework owing to pressure for swift take-up in the face of a potential loss of Union funding;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes note that the source of those errors is mainly a result of reimbursements of ineligible costs, infringements of internal market rules and lack of support documentation, but is also due to the previous year’s overall low rates of reimbursement and payments as well as fewer financial instruments having been included in the audit; notes, as indicated in the annual report of the Court of Auditors for 2018, that VAT reimbursement is prone to error and does not always result in to optimal use of Union funds;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Draws attention to the fact that high-risk expenditures are often subject to complex rules and eligibility conditions which lead to errors and that a number of these errors are compounded by a supplemental layer added by national authorities; recallstresses that simpler national eligibility rules might help reduce this source of error and, undoubtedly resulting in a smaller administrative burden for beneficiaries; regrets the difficulties encountered by certain Member States and regions regarding deployment of the funds owing to excessively strict and inflexible regulations;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Underlines that, in order to facilitate access to funding, the latter should not be subject to macroeconomic parameters (macro-conditionality) or included in the calculation of the deficit;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that the reasons behind this low absorption rate not only lie in the decommitment methodology (the so-called “n+3 rule”), but also in the late adoption of the legislative framework enabling the implementation of the cohesion policy; therefore calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure proper measures in the next programming period 2021-2027 to avoid the repetition of delayed implementation of ESI Funds and its domino effect. and to present the Action Plan on reducing the payments backlog during the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to present a detailed analysis of the reasons for the low funding take-up rates in certain regions and assess specific ways of remedying the structural problems underlying those imbalances; calls on the Commission to step up on-the-spot technical assistance to facilitate take-up in Member States experiencing difficulties in this regard;