The European Parliament adopted by 497 votes to 108,
with 46 abstentions, a resolution on the Court of Auditors' special
reports in the context of the 2015 Commission discharge.
In its resolution, Parliament recalled that the
special reports of the Court of Auditors provide information on
issues of concern related to the implementation of funds, which are
thus useful for Parliament in exercising its role of discharge
authority.
It noted that the Parliament's observations on the
special reports of the Court of Auditors form an integral part of
Parliament's abovementioned decision on the general
discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of
the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section III
– Commission.
Parliament then returned to each of the reports in
question and made a number of recommendations to improve the use of
Community Funds.
To recap, the special reports deal with the following
subjects:
As a reminder, these special report focus on the
following themes:
- Special Report No 18/2015 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Financial assistance provided to Member States in
difficulties”
- Special Report No 19/2015 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "More attention to result needed to improve the delivery
of technical assistance to Greece"
- Special Report No 21/2015 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Review of the risks related to a results-oriented
approach for Union development and cooperation action"
- Special Report No 23/2015 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Water quality in the Danube river basin: progress in
implementing the Water Framework Directive but still some way to
go”
- Special Report No 24/2015 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Tackling intra-Community VAT fraud: More action
needed"
- Special Report No 25/2015 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU support for rural infrastructure: potential to achieve
significantly greater value for money"
- Special Report No 1/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Is the Commission’s system for performance
measurement in relation to farmers’ incomes well designed and
based on sound data?"
- Special Report No 3/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Combating eutrophication in the Baltic Sea: further
and more effective action needed”
- Special Report No 4/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “The European Institute of Innovation and Technology
must modify its delivery mechanism and elements of its design to
achieve the expected impact”
- Special Report No 5/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Has the Commission ensured effective implementation
of the Services Directive?”
- Special Report No 6/2016 of the Court entitled
“Eradication, control and monitoring programmes to contain
animal diseases”
- Special Report No 7/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “The European External Action Service’s
management of its buildings around the world”
- Special Report No 8/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Rail freight transport performance in the EU: still
not on the right track”
- Special Report No 9/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Union external migration spending in Southern
Mediterranean and Eastern Neighbourhood countries until
2014"
- Special Report No 10/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Further improvements needed to ensure effective
implementation of the excessive deficit procedure”
- Special Report No 11/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Strengthening administrative capacity in the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: limited progress in a difficult
context”
- Special report No 12/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Agencies’ use of grants: not always appropriate
or demonstrably effective”
- Special Report No 13/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Union assistance for strengthening the public
administration in Moldova”
- Special Report No 14/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “EU policy initiatives and financial support for Roma
integration: significant progress made over the last decade, but
additional efforts needed on the ground”
- Special report No 15/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Did the Commission affectively manage the
Humanitarian aid provided to populations effected by conflicts in
the African Great Lakes Region?”
- Special report No 16/2016 of the Court entitled "EU
education objectives: programmes aligned but shortcomings in
performance measurement"
- Special Report No 17/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “The EU institutions can do more to facilitate access
to their public procurement”
- Special Report No 18/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “The EU system for the certification of sustainable
biofuels”
- Special report No 19/2016 of the Court entitled
“Implementing the EU budget through financial instruments -
Lessons to be learnt from the 2007-2013 programme”
- Special report No 20/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Strengthening capacity in Montenegro: progress but
better needed in many key areas”
- Special Report No 22/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “EU nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes in
Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia: some progress made since 2011 but
critical challenges ahead”
- Special Report No 23/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Maritime transport in the EU: in troubled waters -
much ineffective and unsustainable investment”
- Special Report No 25/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “The Land Parcel Identification System: a useful tool
to determine the eligibility of agricultural land – but its
management could be further improved”
- Special Report No 26/2016 of the Court of entitled
“Making cross-compliance more effective and achieving
simplification remains challenging”
- Special Report No 27/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Governance at the European Commission - best
practice?"
- Special Report No 28/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled “Dealing with serious cross-border threats to health
in the EU: important steps taken but more needs to be
done”.
A summary of the special
reports can be found on the Court of Auditor’s
website.
It should be noted that the amendments proposed by the
GUE/NGL group in plenary were all rejected.