13 Amendments of Andrea COZZOLINO related to 2009/2167(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the fact that the financial impact of irregularities, as estimated by the Commission, was 27% lower than in 2007; notes, with regard to the legality and regularity of underlying transactions, that the error rate quoted for the cohesion policy area in the Court of Auditors' 2008 Statement of Assurance (DAS) remains above 5%; deplores the fact that Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Spain reported the largest amount of irregularities; points out that, as highlighted by the Court of Auditors, structural actions are the spending area with the most stringent rules and most complex management procedures in the EU budget; welcomes, at the same time, the good collaboration initiated by some of these Member States with the Commission to resolve these problems and trusts that the other Member States will also do likewise; points out that, as highlighted by the Court of Auditors, structural actions are the spending area with the most stringent rules and most complex management procedures in the EU budget and that, as noted by the Commission, finding a high number of financial irregularities in one Member State does not necessarily imply a higher number of errors and instances of fraud than in other Member States but may be the result of more thorough and stringent controls; points out, also, that the Court of Auditors’ report on implementation of the 2008 Budget does not take into account the 2007-2013 programming period, for which new administration and control systems for spending have been introduced; notes the high incidence of errors linked to ineligible spending and breaches of the rules on public procurement and considers it advisable, therefore, for the Commission to introduce precautionary guidelines for the Member States and local authorities to clarify how these rules are to be applied and to avoid the managing authority replacing expenditure refused by the Commission as ineligible with new expenditure that is also ineligible;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the fact that the Commission's communication on tolerable risk (COM(2008)0866) provided a basis for a debate on this issue, and calls on the Commission to keep it abreast of developments in this area; endorses the proposal that different tolerable error thresholds be set for each sector, taking their respective characteristics and rules into account; agrees to a tolerable error threshold of 5% for the Structural Funds, recommending however that a higher tolerance level be accepted for innovative projects on account of their experimental nature; urges the Commission to take due account of the other steps that need to be taken to improve the management of EU funds (e.g.: making control systems more effective and gearing them to spending quality; simplifying the relevant legislation);
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
New subtitle (before paragraph 20a)
New subtitle (before paragraph 20a)
Increased transparency and the fight against fraud, corruption and financial crime
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Notes that the public procurement sector is the one most open to risks of mismanagement, fraud and corruption and that such unlawful activities distort the market, increase the prices and fees paid by consumers for goods and services and spread mistrust within the European Union; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the Member States to consider the current rules on public procurement carefully and make proposals for their improvement; acknowledges too that progress has been made towards greater transparency concerning the beneficiaries of EU funds and calls on the Commission to develop a system whereby lists of beneficiaries are published on the same website, irrespective of the managing authority concerned, giving clear, comparable information from all the Member States in at least one of the EU’s working languages; asks the Commission moreover to intervene to ensure that all Member States furnish reliable, uniform information on beneficiaries of EU funds which must be included in the Early Warning System and the Central Exclusion Database;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to commit themselves to guaranteeing the resources necessary to prevent spending from EU funds being corrupt, to speed up the confiscation of criminal assets implicated in the perpetration of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and related crimes, and to apply clear and transparent rules in respect of politically exposed persons, in accordance with the Third Money Laundering Directive (Directive 2005/60/EC); calls on the Commission to produce indicators as swiftly as possible that quantify efforts to fight corruption, paying particular attention to public procurement, in accordance with the provisions of the Stockholm Programme; calls for greater cooperation between the Asset Recovery Offices so that the confiscation of assets becomes efficient; calls on the Commission to take steps immediately to promote good governance in tax matters, in accordance with Parliament’s resolution of 10 February 2010 on the subject, and particularly as regards the problem of tax havens;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Deplores the shortcomings apparent in Annex I to the 2008 annual report (Implementation of Article 280 of the Treaty by the Member States in 2008 – SEC(2009)1002) as regards both the way in which the Member States reply to the Commission's questionnaire and the types of question asked by the Commission, which fail to elicit quantifiable answCalls on OLAF to present in its next report a detailed analysis of the strategies and measures put in place by each Member State to fight fraud and to prevent and identify irregularities in the spending of EU funds, including irregularities caused by corruption; considers that specific attention should be paid to the implementation of agricultural and structural funds; considers that the report, complete with 27 country profiles, should analyse the approach followed by national judicial and investigating authorities and the quality and numbers or which Member States easily avoid; calls accordingly on the Commission to consider the changes that might be made to the questionnaire in cooperation with the Member State authorities in order to make this exercise bof controls performed, as well as statistics and reasons in cases where the national authorities have not followed up on OLAF’s reports; considers, furthermore, that the report should furnish a knowledge base to be used in better defining OLAF’s strategy and the priorities to be followed in special investigations, launching bespoke initiatives, and improving cooperation with Member States and the efficient and effectivecy of both OLAF and the local supervisory authorities;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b
Paragraph 20 b
20b. Stresses the fact that under EU legislation Member States are required to report all irregularities no later than two months after the end of the quarter in which the irregularity was the subject of an administrative or judicial preliminary investigation and/or in which new information on a previously reported irregularity was made known; calls, therefore, on the Member States to make every effort to reduce the time gap between when an irregularity is noticed and when it is reported, including streamlining national administrative procedures;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Deplores the fact that the estimated amount affected by irregularities reported by the EU-10 grew by 8%, while that for the EU-2 increased by 152%, and the amounts recovered were 15.6% down on 2007; calls in particular on Bulgaria and Romania to build up their administrative capacity to manage EU funding, remove existing or potential conflicts of interest in fund management, improve the supervision and transparency of public procurement procedures at central, regional and local levels and swiftly introduce and notify to the Commission the necessary precautionary, corrective and/or disciplinary measures; acknowledges and supports the steps taken by Bulgaria and Romania to improve shared management and financial control standards in response to the Commission’s recommendations; stresses the importance of an independent administrative and judicial system and urges a strong political commitment in this regard and the utmost determination in order to achieve new and tangible results;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Calls on the Commission to begin early discussions and consultations with interested stakeholders, including civil society, on all aspects related to the creation of the European Prosecutor´s Office for combating crimes affecting the financial interests of the Union, as provided for in Article 86 of the TFEU, and to step up the adoption of all necessary measures for establishing this office;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Calls on the Council to complete the conclusion of the Cooperation Agreements with Liechtenstein in the shortest possible time and urges the Council Presidency to give the Commission a mandate to negotiate anti- fraud agreements with Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Considers that OLAF's work can be made still more effective by ensuring careful and detailed planning of investigations, promoting the use of SMART objectives and RACER indicators for the investigations themselves, improving cooperation and data exchange between OLAF and national judicial authorities from the start of the investigative process and introducrapidly applying a 'core tasks' policy for, as well as follow-up procedures during the initial stage of investigations by OLAF, under which small-scale fraud would be handled by other bodies; calls on OLAF therefore to outline in its next report the progress that has been made in this respect and to say to what extent account has been taken thereof in the OLAF operational manual that is to be published in the near future
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Calls on OLAF to present, in its future annual report, a detailed analysis of the strategies and measures put in place by each Member State in the fight against fraud and for preventing and identifying irregularities in the expenditure of European funds, including where they are caused by corruption; considers that specific attention should be paid to the implementation of agricultural and structural funds; takes the view that the report, with 27 country profiles, should analyse the approach followed by national judicial and investigating bodies and the quantity and quality of controls performed, as well as statistics and reasons in the cases where national authorities did not file indictments following reports by OLAF; considers, therefore, that the report should provide a knowledge basis for better defining OLAF’s strategy and improving cooperation with the Member States and the efficiency of both OLAF and national investigative authorities;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 c (new)
Paragraph 26 c (new)
26c. Calls on the Commission to restart the procedure for the adoption of the Directive on criminal-law protection of the Communities’ financial interests (2001/0115(COD)), blocked by the Council since 2002, and of the Regulation on mutual administrative assistance for the protection of the Communities’ financial interests (2004/0172 (COD)), blocked by the Council since 2005;