The European Parliament adopted by 552 votes to 121,
with 22 abstentions, a resolution on the Court of Auditors' special
reports in the context of the 2016 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 decision on the general discharge in respect of the
implementation of the general
budget of the European Union for the financial year 2016, Section
III Commission.
Members then returned to each of the reports in
question and made a number of recommendations to improve the use of
EU funds.
As a reminder, the special reports deal with the
following subjects:
- Special Report No 21/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU pre-accession assistance for strengthening
administrative capacity in the Western Balkans: A meta-
audit";
- Special Report No 24/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "More efforts needed to raise awareness of and enforce
compliance with State aid rules in cohesion policy";
- Special Report No 29/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Single Supervisory Mechanism - Good start but further
improvements needed";
- Special Report No 30/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "The effectiveness of EU support to priority sectors in
Honduras";
- Special Report No 31/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled " Spending at least one euro in every five from the EU
budget on climate action: ambitious work underway, but at serious
risk of falling short";
- Special Report No 32/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU assistance to Ukraine";
- Special Report No 33/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled " Union Civil Protection Mechanism: the coordination of
responses to disasters outside the EU has been broadly
effective";
- Special Report No 34/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Combating Food Waste: an opportunity for the EU to
improve the resource-efficiency of the food supply
chain";
- Special Report No 35/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "The use of budget support to improve domestic revenue
mobilisation in sub-Saharan Africa";
- Special Report No 36/2016 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "An assessment of the arrangements for closure of the
2007-2013 cohesion and rural development programmes";
- Special Report No 1/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "More efforts needed to implement the Natura 2000 network
to its full potential";
- Special Report No 2/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "The Commission's negotiation of 2014-2020 Partnership
Agreements and programmes in Cohesion: spending more targeted on
Europe 2020 priorities, but increasingly complex arrangements to
measure performance";
- Special Report No 3/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU assistance to Tunisia";
- Special Report No 4/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Protecting the EU budget from irregular spending: The
Commission made increasing use of preventive measures and financial
corrections in Cohesion during the 2007-2013 period";
- Special Report No 5/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Youth unemployment - have EU policies made a difference?
An assessment of the Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment
Initiative";
- Special Report No 6/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled " EU response to the refugee crisis: the
hotspot approach";
- Special Report No 7/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "The certification bodies new role on CAP
expenditure: a positive step towards a single audit model but with
significant weaknesses to be addressed";
- Special Report No 8/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU fisheries controls: more efforts needed";
- Special Report No 9/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU support to fight human trafficking in South/South-East
Asia";
- Special Report No 10/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "EU support to young farmers should be better targeted to
foster effective generational renewal";
- Special Report No 11/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "The Bêkou EU trust fund for the Central African
Republic: a hopeful beginning despite some
shortcomings";
- Special Report No 12/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Implementing the Drinking Water Directive: water quality
and access to it improved in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, but
investment needs remain substantial";
- Special Report No 13/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "A single European rail traffic management system: will
the political choice ever become reality?";
- Special Report No 14/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Performance review of case management at the Court of
Justice of the European Union";
- Special Report No 16/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Rural Development Programming: less complexity and more
focus on results needed";
- Special Report No 17/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "The Commission's intervention in the Greek financial
crisis";
- Special Report No 18/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Single European Sky";
- Special Report No 21/2017 of the Court of Auditors
entitled "Greening: a more complex income support scheme, not yet
environmentally".
A summary of the Special
Reports in question is given on the website of the Court of
Auditors.