Europees Parlement wil beter toezicht op uitgaven structuurfondsen (en)

The Budgetary Control Committee is insisting on the setting up of a joint Parliament-Commission group to follow up in particular the supervision of the structural funds. This was the major development from Wednesday's votes in the committee, which saw all the EU's institutions and agencies accorded a recommendation that Parliament grant discharge for their financial management in 2006. 2006.

Despite repeated threats of a postponement, the Budgetary Control Committee is recommending that the Commission be granted discharge for its implementation of Community expenditure in 2006.

Close follow-up for 2006 discharge

The committee is insisting on the setting up of a joint Parliament-Commission group to follow up on the 2006 discharge as regards national declarations and annual summaries, external activity and the implementation of the action plan on the structural funds.

This working group should be co-chaired by the relevant Commissioner and the Chair of the Budgetary Control Committee.

The rapporteur, Dan Jorgensen (PES, DK) and his colleagues expect the Commission to respond on this point before the plenary vote on the discharge.

Structural Funds: a practical solution

On the key issue in this discharge procedure, the management of the structural funds, a practical solution has been found: the Commission's action plan on better supervision and co-management of the Structural Funds, will be the monitored on a quarterly basis.

MEPs regard as "a major achievement" the Commission's undertaking "to correct all individual errors found in the Court's annual report on 2006" with the commitment to make 100% corrections in all cases of "serious breaches of public procedure".

However, MEPs also want the Commission to present "objective, clear and full information on its capacity to recover unduly paid monies".

In addition, the committee welcomes the fact that as a result of the 2006 discharge the Commission has "finally committed itself to apply a policy of suspending payments as soon as possible following the detection of serious weaknesses in the system".

"Firm support" for national management declarations welcomed

MEPs welcome the "firm political support" from the Commission for national management declarations. Such declarations, which represent a major innovation in the management of Community funds, are already used in a number of Member States (Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom and Sweden).

These declarations, which were mentioned in February 2007 by Commissioner Kallas to the Ecofin Council, should, according to MEPs, be promoted more strongly by the Commission.

MEPs do not mince words over what they see as the "tacit acceptance of Member States' collective irresponsibility" (with the exception of the above four countries) concerning the financial management of the European Union.

External activity: one final effort

Although in the end it did not justify a postponement of the discharge, the management of the Community's external aid raises numerous questions. MEPs believe that, following this discharge procedure, the Commission is showing increasing awareness of the importance of the transparency and visibility of Community external aid (of all kinds, whether managed by the Commission or jointly managed via international partners).

In addition, the committee still awaits the list of entities which did not have to undergo tender procedures for contracts received in 2006.

Lastly, MEPs accept the Commission's proposal to discuss the matter of a definition for non-governmental organisations following the results of the Court of Auditors' ongoing audit of NGOs (announced as part of the court's work programme for 2008.

An amendment by the EPP-ED group states that EU external aid should be more visible on the ground and more accessible to audit activities in cases of joint management of aid, in particular with the United Nations.

EP discharge - in line with the Bureau's recommendations

MEPs are also proposing that the European Parliament be granted its discharge for 2006.

Among key points of the 2006 Parliament discharge (rapporteur: Javier Pomes Ruiz, EPP-ED, ES), the question of Members' own administrative expenditure was the subject of a number of amendments, one of which (a compromise) welcomes the decisions of the Conference of Presidents and the Bureau on this matter. The committee believes that the working party on the Members' statute, the assistants' statute and the pension fund (set up following the decisions of those senior EP bodies) should include a member (yet to be designated) of the Budgetary Control Committee.

In this connection, shortly before the vote on the 2006 EP discharge, Vice-President Martine Roure (PES, FR), who chairs the working party on the statute and assistants, urged MEPs to give her their "full support" in finding a solution to this matter.

An oral amendment by Ingeborg Gräßle (EPP-ED, DE) adds that service providers must be paid [when fulfilling a contract for an MEP] by a payment agency based in their own Member State. The amendment also states that MEPs may not employ members of their family.

Voluntary pension fund

In an amendment put forward by Ms Gräßle, the committee says it is "surprised" at the recommendation by the Conference of Presidents of 13 March 2008 that MEPs be allowed to acquire new pension entitlements under the voluntary pension fund following the entry into force of the new Members' statute. The discharge resolutions for 2004 and 2005 had stressed that this fund's activities should be limited, from the start of the next term, to making payments for entitlements already acquired.  For this reason, the committee insists that the Working Group (of the Bureau) on the Members' Statues should respect the decisions taken by Parliament.

Discharge - a political process

The committee also uses its resolution to stress the political nature of the discharge voted by Parliament.  In this context, it aims for both:

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  closer cooperation between Parliament's Bureau and the Budgetary Control Committee; and
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  better linkage between the budget setting procedure and the discharge process.

Finally, the committee welcomes "the firm commitment of [Parliament's] President to ensure the statute for assistants enters force at the same time as the new Members' Statute."

Next steps

The Budgetary Control Committee, which also adopted a number of reports on the agencies and other institutions (recommending that discharge be granted in all cases), now hands over to the plenary, which will vote on 2006 discharge at its Strasbourg plenary session in April.

25/03/2008

Committee on Budgetary Control

In the chair : Herbert Bösch (PES, AT)