40 Amendments of Wolf KLINZ related to 2017/2136(DEC)
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. Whereas budgetary principles of unity, budgetary accuracy, annuality, equilibrium, universality, specification, sound financial management and transparency shall be respected when the Union budget is implemented;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to align the Union's policy objectives, financial cycles, the legislative period of the Parliament and the mandate of the Commission;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Insists that the Union budget, as a consequence of the “budget focused on results initiative”, should be presented according to the Union´s political objectives of the MFF; reminds, also in the light of the post-2020 MFF, that the Union budget should be a true European added value budget, aimed for common Union objectives promoting sustainable economic and social development of the whole Union, which cannot be achieved by singular Member States on their own and therefore should not be seen merely as a net balance or benefit of single Member States;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to commit itself to fundamentally reviewing the young farmers’ and greening schemes in light of the findings of the Court of Auditors (the “Court”) before the next financing periodMFF;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to include in its performance reports assessments on the quality of the data used and a declaration on the quality of the performance information;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the Commission to provide the Parliament and the Court with more balanced reporting, by including in its performance reports more transparent information on challenges, pitfalls and failures;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to fulfil the original 20% spending target in integrating climate action into the various Union spending programmes;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to speed up the preparation of the Union accounts, to ensure that reliable information from Member States on shared management spending is obtained in a more timely manner and to present the management´s view on Union spending earlier and together with the accounts, with the view to adopting a discharge decision in year n+1; reminds, in this context, of the importance of data reliability;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the positive trend of the most likely error rate issued by the Court compared to that of recent years since the payments are affected in 2016 by a most likely error rate of 3.1%; recalls that the most likely error rate for payments was estimated in the financial years 2015 at 3.8%, 2014 at 4,4%, 2013 at 4.7%, 2012 at 4.8%, 2011 at 3.9%, 2010 at 3.7%, 2009 at 3.3%; 2008% at 5.2%, and 2007 at 6.9%; as the Court's s estimated error rate is not final, considers it important that Commission´s residual error rate is taken into account when assessing efficiency of Union´s funding;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that the estimated level of error for cohesion does not include a quantification of 2016 disbursements to financial instruments amounting to EUR 2.5 billion that the Court considers to be outside the eligibility period defined in Article 56(1) of Council Regulation EC 1083/2006; notes that those disbursements would represent an estimated level of error of 2.0% of overall expenditure; points outnotes that if the Court had quantified this flagrant irregularity, the most likely error rate would have been estimated at 5.1% (nearly the same level as for 2008); calls on the Court to take on board all the irregularities having a financial impact when determining the most likely error rate and the Commission to table the necessary legislative proposal to put an end to this irregularityseparately (box 1.2 of the 2016 annual report) as a one-off, ring-fenced observation related to the absence of a timely Commission legislative proposal; notes the Commission´s unilateral decision to accept expenditure up to 31 March 2017;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Points out that the Court found the highest estimated levels of error in spending for economic, social and territorial cohesion (4.8. % or 6.8% with the quantified irregularity concerning the financial instruments) and for competitiveness for growth and jobs (4.1 %), whilst administrative expenditure had the lowest estimated level of error (0.2 %);
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Notes, in particular, that the Commission points out in its 2016 AMPR76 that the scope of the reservations issued by the directors general in their AARs has increased and amounts at: EUR 35.3 billion, which corresponds to 26 % of the payments (2015: EUR 29.8 Bbillion: 21% of payments); _________________ 76 COM(2017) 351 final, p. 81,
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Is surprised by the divergent views expressed by the Court and the Commission as to financial management of the first pillar of the CAP; expresses doubts as to the assertion made by the Court that in expenditure the error is not “pervasive”Notes that, while the first pillar of the CAP is included in entitlement payments which are not affected by a material level of error (ECA annual report paragraph 1.8) since11), the director general of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI), in his AAR, issued a reservation in direct payments concerning 18 paying agencies comprising 12 Member States;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Points out in particularNotes that for more than three quarters of 2016 expenditure, Commission directorates- general base their estimates of amount at risk on data provided by national authorities, whilst it appears from the AARs of the concerned Commission directorates-general (in particular DG AGRI and DG REGIO) that the reliability of Member States’ control reports remains a challenge; stresses, in this regard, the importance of Member States’ data reliability;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Endorses the reservations issued by the directors general of DG REGIO, MARE, HOME, DEVCO and AGRI, in their annual activity report; is of the opinion that those reservations demonstrate that the control procedures put in place in the Commission and the Member States cannot give the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of all the underlying transactions in the corresponding policy areas if necessary correction procedures are implemented successfully;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Points out that the delays in the implementation of programmes in the first three years of the current MFF led to the transfer of commitment appropriations from 2014, mainly to 2015 and 2016, and to low payments in 2016 (implementing the Union budget at 7 % in 2014-2016 period of the current MFF);
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44 a (new)
Paragraph 44 a (new)
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58
Paragraph 58
58. Notes with concern that the Commission uses two sets of objectives and indicators to measure the performance of its services and of spending programmes with hardly any cross-references, which hampers comparability between different types of performance documents;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 62
Paragraph 62
62. Notes that the programme statements for the EU’s 2017 draft general budget contain 294 objectives and 709 indicators, which are particularly highly concentrated under MFF headings 1a, 3, 4, and that through the ‘budget focused on results’ (BFOR) initiative, the Commission is currently undertaking a review of its indicators to provide input for the next generation of spending programmes; stresses that the Commission should use mainly results indicators that have performance relevant value;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70
Paragraph 70
70. StresseRegrets that AARs do not include a declaration on the quality of the reported performance data, and that consequently in adopting the AMPR, the College of Commissioners takes overall political responsibility for the management of the EU budget but not for the information on performance and results;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 70 a (new)
Paragraph 70 a (new)
70a. Welcomes and takes a careful note of the Court’s observations on performance frameworks and reporting by entities within and outside the EU, especially as regards performance data quality and declaration on the quality of performance data;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 77 a (new)
Paragraph 77 a (new)
77a. Notes with concern that as to the revenue for 2016, the director general of Directorate-General for Budget has issued a reservation for the traditional own resources revenue, in view of the OLAF’s fraud case related to United Kingdom customs duties;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 77 b (new)
Paragraph 77 b (new)
77b. Points out that for 2016 the revenue affected by the quantified reservation is approximately EUR 517 million against total amount of EUR 20.1 billion of Traditional Own Resources: i.e. 2,5 % of Traditional Own Resources or 0,38% of all resources; calls on the Commission to provide precise information on this fraud case, which may also indirectly affect the Value Added Tax basis of some Member States and thus Value Added Tax-related resources plus the Gross National Income-related balancing of the Commission1a; _________________ 1aSee Commission's 2016 Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget, p. 81.
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78
Paragraph 78
78. Stresses that the Commission inspections found that by October 2017, the UK authorities had not introduced remedial measures to prevent continued traditional own resource losses; notes that from 12 October 2017 the UK authorities started to apply temporarily value thresholds at clearance to certain traders (so called Customs Operation Swift Arrow) with immediate result that the Traditional Own Resources losses incurred in the UK decreased dramatically;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90
Paragraph 90
90. Appreciates that the Commission has invested considerable efforts in reducingsimplification leading to reduction of administrative complexity, by introducing a new definition of additional remuneration for researchers, streamlining the Horizon 2020 work programme for 2018-2020, providing targeted support for start-ups and innovators and making wider use of lump-sum funding for projectSimplified Cost Options;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 123
Paragraph 123
123. Points out that the errors in cohesion contributed to 43% of the overall estimated level of error of 3,1%; notes that one of the reasons for the high error rate is the complexity of Union´ and Member States´ regulation;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 125
Paragraph 125
125. Notes also that 42% of the errors were caused by ineligible caosts included in expenditure declarations, 30% relate to serious failure to respect public procurement rules, and 28% relate to ineligible projects, activities or beneficiaries;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 131
Paragraph 131
131. Recalls that the summary of data on the progress made in financing and implementing financial engineering instruments in March 20167 was only published on 20 Septem1 October 20187, and that therefore the Court could not comment on the document;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 132 – introductory part
Paragraph 132 – introductory part
132. Notes that the key figures for 201607- 2013 programming period on 31 March 2017 are the following:
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 186 a (new)
Paragraph 186 a (new)
186a. Notes that, while having a maximum annual budget of EUR 150 million, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund mobilised only EUR 28 million for commitments from the reserve in 2016, benefitting eight Member States;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 187 – point g
Paragraph 187 – point g
(g) bringingenhance transparency and accountability of financial engineering instruments under the EU budget, thereby enhancing transparency and accountability;
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 189 – point a
Paragraph 189 – point a
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 189 – point c
Paragraph 189 – point c
(c) Calls on DG REGIO to report back to Parliament’s responsible committee, in the 2016 Commission discharge follow-up, on progress made with railway relatall above mentioned projects in Poland;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 199
Paragraph 199
199. RegretAsks that DG AGRI has noto defined any objective accompanied with indicators to reduce the income inequalities between farms in the next MFF;
Amendment 343 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 213
Paragraph 213
213. Points out that since the error rates reported by the Member Statemanagement and control systems for each paying agency are not always fully reliable, DG AGRI adjusts that level of error based mainly on the Commission's and the Court's audits carried out in the last three years;
Amendment 357 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 232 – point a
Paragraph 232 – point a
(a) the Commission to carefully analyse the causes of the overall decline in factor income since 2013 and to define a new key performance objective for the next MFF, accompanied with indicators, aiming at mitigating the income inequalities between the famers;
Amendment 389 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 254
Paragraph 254
254. CallsStresses that trust funds should be established only when their use is justified and the required action is not possible through other, existing financing channels; calls, in this regard, on the Commission, when establishing trust funds, to set up guiding principles for carrying out concise an structured assessment of the comparative advantages of trust funds relative to other aid vehicles and also to carry out analyses of what specific gaps the trust funds are supposed to fill; calls furthermore on the Commission to consider putting an end to trust funds that are unable to attract a significant contribution from other donors;