Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-10-Speech-4-020-000"
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"en.20120510.9.4-020-000"2
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"Madam President, first of all, let me start by thanking you for the constructive and fruitful work achieved over the last few months. The Commission has been in close contact with your rapporteur and your colleagues on the Committee on Budgetary Control to discuss all kinds of issues related to the sound financial management of the main EU programmes.
This is why the Commission will, from now on, transmit the annual summaries of the Member States with an analysis of their content to the Committee on Budgetary Control, in accordance with Article 319 of the Treaty. Where appropriate, the Commission will make recommendations to the national authorities on how to further improve this reporting instrument so they can contribute better to the Commission’s assurance process. The discharge authority will be informed about these recommendations.
However, their publication remains subject to the conditions set in the legislation on public access to the EU institutions’ documents.
In this context, I would like to recall the importance of introducing a management declaration of assurance, which the Commission has proposed in the revision of the Financial Regulation. This would be an important building block towards an improved assurance chain between the management and control bodies in the Member States and the Commission services. Here as well, in the negotiations on the Financial Regulation, the Commission is on the side of Parliament to ensure the highest level of transparency and accountability from the Member States. We have, moreover, proposed introducing political accountability through the possibility of submitting national declarations of assurance. Provided that Member States’ national declarations respect necessary conditions, the Commission will, as an incentive, take those declarations into account in the establishment of its own audit strategy.
As regards the European Development Fund, we welcome the Parliament’s recommendations. The area of external aid is, by nature, a risky and complex one. An error level of 3.4% is limited but remains a source of concern for both this House and the Commission. We will take all necessary actions to further improve the EDF’s financial management, securing the effectiveness and sustainability of the EU’s support, which is badly needed by the ACP countries.
This discharge procedure provided valuable input for the negotiations on the next financial period. Several new measures included in our proposals for the next generation of EU spending programmes were inspired by the European Court of Auditors and the discharge authority.
The Commission will demonstrate its firm commitment to achieving all possible improvements. The discharge report on which you will vote is a clear road map for actions to be taken by the Commission and the other financial actors.
Six Members of the Commission and the Secretary-General of the Commission participated in very lively discharge hearings. This intense dialogue between the institutions demonstrates the importance, but also the complexity, of the matters which we have to deal with. The Commission appreciated very much this trustful and good cooperation and I am looking forward to continuing to work with you on the topics we have discussed.
The rapporteur mentioned four priority actions for the Commission and I would like to stress that the Commission is fully aware of your concerns and your expectations vis-à-vis the Commission, but also vis-à-vis other financial actors.
I would like to highlight the implementation of financial engineering instruments as one example where the Commission has proactively taken into account the outcome of the discussions we had. Following the Commission’s proposal, Member States have to provide more focused and detailed reports on the implementation of these instruments. As a consequence, by the end of the year, we should have all necessary information to hand to provide you with an analysis per Member State and a comprehensive evaluation of the use of financial engineering instruments. But more has been done. In anticipation of the need for closer monitoring, the Commission proposal for the next programming period already envisages enhanced monitoring and control mechanisms for those financial instruments.
Apart from the priority actions highlighted by the rapporteur, the discharge report includes many more requests to the Commission. They are all being analysed and will be followed up. A comprehensive report on the follow-up to the discharge requests and on the concrete actions taken will be issued later this year, together with the evaluation report required under Article 318 of the Treaty.
I consider the effective implementation of these recommendations to be of the utmost importance in addressing the weaknesses identified in the implementation of the EU budget. We have discussed the role of Member States in the implementation of the EU budget many times already. Member States have a crucial role when it comes to the operational implementation of EU programmes and projects. The authorities of the Member States are paying out, and controlling on the spot, some 80% of the EU budget to final beneficiaries.
There is no doubt that the Commission will continue to assume its final responsibility for the correct implementation of the EU budget, in accordance with the Treaty. But to reduce the error rate under shared management, we do need the Member States’ cooperation and commitment to assuming their responsibility as the first-level financial actors in direct contact with the final beneficiaries.
As the last annual report from the Court of Auditors has revealed, Member States’ authorities did not detect and correct many errors, even though they had the necessary information available. Further work on effective – but also proportionate – supervisory and monitoring mechanisms in the current period and for the future is therefore necessary.
The Commission appreciates your support in further developing these mechanisms and improving the implementation procedures at Member State level. The provision of reliable and complete financial information and audit data by the Member States is one example of an area where improvements are necessary. We can see some progress in this regard, but this is not yet satisfactory."@en1
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