Budget discharge: yellow card for EU Commission

Error rates increase third year in a row / Member State checks reveal shortcomings

"The European Commission should directly monitor the way EU funds are being spent. A draft report by the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control states that inspection systems by some EU Member States have serious shortcomings. Direct controls by the Commission are particularly necessary in the fields agricultural and regional policy," said Markus Pieper MEP, Rapporteur for the discharge of the 2012 EU budget.

In his draft report on the Commission discharge Pieper leaves open the question whether Parliament should grant discharge or not, but expresses serious reservations concerning EU spending in agriculture and regional policy which could "only be solved by the next parliament," Pieper said. He therefore proposed a "second class discharge" equal to a yellow card for the European Commission.

"In 2012 only 8 Member States were responsible for more than 80 percent of all errors in EU expenditure," Pieper said. The overall error rate for EU spending has increased the third year in a row and now stands at 4.8 percent of all expenditure. The European Court of Auditors had previously noted that the countries concerned would certainly have been able to remedy the errors and use the EU funds correctly.

"The Commission can no longer rely solely on certificates of these member states but must carry out direct on-the-spot inspections," Pieper demanded. If money is being misspent, there should be an automatic procedure for net financial corrections to the detriment of national budgets, the draft report says. Pieper also called for the Commission to take on a direct responsibility for the certification of national audits in order to counter the impression in some member countries that this expenditure "only concerns EU money" without paying sufficient attention to funding objectives and conditions.

One example of higher error rates are faulty land information systems in agriculture leading to higher calculations of the size of farmland. In regional policy, public procurement remains a source of concern.

The draft report will be presented to the Committee on Budgetary Control on 20 February 2013, with a vote foreseen for 17 March. The vote in the plenary will take place in April II (14 - 17:04), a good five weeks before the European elections.