Activities of Karin KADENBACH related to 2018/2166(DEC)
Shadow opinions (2)
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2017, Section III – Commission and executive agencies
OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2017, Section III – Commission and executive agencies
Amendments (14)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses that DG CLIMA implements andand DG BUDG monitors the 20 % climate mainstreaming target in the Multiannual Financial Framework, together with oand DG CLIMA supports other DGs in integrating climate in their DGactivities; regrets that in 2017, only 19,3 % of the Union budget was found to be climate- proofspent on climate-related activities, and that it is estimated that the average for the period 2014-2020 will only be 18,8 %;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Under the following title "public health": Welcomes the fact that both commitments and payments appropriations of the Health program were fully implemented; notes that a large majority of actions of the Health program is being implemented through the Consumer, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency ("CHAFEA");
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that in 2017, DG SANTE completed the mid-term evaluation of the third Health Programme covering the years 2014-2016, which concluded that the Programme produced tangible results and was highly relevant to Member States' needs, and which recommended strengthening efforts to achieve Union added value, increase synergies, and ensure the upscale of results through cooperation with other Union financial instruments;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Notes that direct payments from the EAGF account for around three quarters of expenditure and are free from material error; points out that direct payments to farmers are entitlement- based and have benefited from simplified land eligibility rules and an effective ex- ante control system(IACS) that allows automated cross-checks between databases; is concerned that a persistently high level of error remains in the other spending areas on rural development, the environment, climate action and fisheries; notes, further more, that rural development projects are inherently more complex due to the wider goals pursued, and expenditure in the three other areas is co-financed or disbursed through reimbursement of costs and ineligible beneficiaries, activities, projects or expenditure contribute around two thirds of the estimated level of error for this MFF heading;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the findings in which the Court of Auditors, having examined a total of 29 rural development investment projects, established that 26 were in line with the priorities and focus areas set out in the rural development programmes and that Member States had applied appropriate selection procedures; also welcomes the fact that in most cases, the beneficiaries of the projects examined carried them out as planned and the Member States made checks to ascertain whether the costs were reasonable; believes therefore that the rural development approach must remain a fully supported, significant and core element in the CAP Strategic Plans, moving forward;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the launch of 24 European rReference nNetworks serving patients with rare and complex diseases, involving 900 highly specialised health care units from over 300 hospitals in 26 countries, i.e. 25 Member States and Norway;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Under title: "Food Safety, animal health and welfare and plant health" Welcomes the fact that both the commitments and the payment appropriations available for the Food Safety, animal health and welfare and plant health programmes were fully implemented;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Welcomes that the implementation of new instruments and processes for using performance data, such as IT applications as the LPIS data on land parcels, has facilitated the checking and updating of declared agricultural area for both Member States’ paying agencies and farmers; this will help to carry out cross- checks on direct aid applications, as well as reducing levels of errors;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Regrets that DG SANTE's average residual error rate reached 2,5 % for the overall activity in the area of food and feed safety in 2017, exceeding the materiality threshold of 2 %; notes that this is due to overstatements in costs claims of Member States, in the context of structural changes made to management and controls of the claims in one Member State; asks DG SANTE to take all the necessary measures to ensure that this does not happen again in the future by increasing for instance the use of simplification measures offered by the Financial Regulation;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Highlights that in 2017 DG SANTE released the mid-term evaluation of the Common Financial Framework for the food chain 2014-2020, which concluded that the current framework functions well and contributed to achieving EU added value; notes that the Commission, as recommended by the Court, is working to develop a cost-effectiveness analysis methodology to be implemented, in order to make the efficiency analysifor the food chain area, in order to make future economic evaluations of the EU funded interventions more robust;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Notes that access to data and good monitoring especially of environmental aspects is essential for the future, considering that certain natural resources underpin long term agricultural productivity, such as soil and biodiversity;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Welcomes the publication of DG AGRI’s annual activity report 2016, which clearly shows the contribution made by the CAP to the increase of employment rates in rural areas; is in this context concerned that the proposals for the CAP post 2020and the ongoing negotiations on the MFF foresees reductions to the CAP budget in particular for Pillar II EAFRD, co- financed by Member States, covering rural development measures and strongly linked to environmental and climate commitments, farm investments and certain other rural projects;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Points out that current greening choices under Pillar1 have been too weak and did not sufficiently influence the environmental performance of the agriculture sector; underlines in this context that “greening” serves as an example of the increased need for performance auditing also in the field of agriculture in relation to environmental and climate aspects;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5 e. Acknowledges that the Commission’s proposal for the CAP post 2020 is an ambitious approach into the right direction to deliver a higher level of ambition for the environment and climate, focussing on performance rather than conformity; is concerned that the subsidiarity orientation of the proposed CAP regulation may lead to a race-to-the- bottom between MS as there is inadequate requirement for them to provide evidence of the baseline situation which would allow the Commission to assess the ambition of the targets;