Budgetary Control committee approves on Commission’s spending for 2022

Members of the EP’s Budgetary Control committee recommend discharge to the European Commission, all of the EU agencies and European Development fund, while stating some concerns.

A positive recommendation for Commission’s discharge was adopted on Monday by 21 votes in favour and 4 against.

In an accompanying resolution, adopted by 21 votes in favour, 2 against and 2 abstentions, MEPs however regret the high error rate in Commission’s 2022 spending, as estimated by the EU auditors — 4,2 % (deterioration compared to 3% in 2021 and 2.7% in 2020) and say that this estimate is an “important indicator for the existing risks”. Similarly, they are also worried about the outstanding commitments reaching an all-time high in 2022 — EUR 450 billion, largely due to the commitments related to NextGenerationEU (NGEU) recovery package.

Among other remarks, they regret that the EU in 2022 “has fallen short” of the efficiency needed to achieve its climate goals, and ask the Commission to not “water down” the ambition of the Green Deal.

EU funding to the Palestinian Authority

MEPs insist that the EU aid should “under no circumstances” be financing terrorism and any entity connected to Hamas, when addressing the EU’s funding to the Palestinian Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (an EUR 681 million between 2021 and 2023, with a third benefiting projects in Gaza strip).

The EU funds should instead help the Palestinian civilian population and foster peace in the region, and, to guarantee that, Commission has to reinforce the control mechanisms and monitoring system for tracking EU funds up to final beneficiaries as well as ensure ex ante and ex post control measures in unstable or conflict zones.

Quote

The rapporteur Isabel García Muñoz (S&D, Spain) said:

“In 2022, the EU faced complex challenges on which we continue to work thanks to the Recovery and Resilience Facility. We are also helping Ukraine resist Russian aggression and assisting the refugees”.

“The EU budget is our most effective instrument for handling crises and achieving objectives without leaving anyone behind, so we must protect it from any misuse. The estimated error rate is still high and it tells us that we must continue to work on controls, administrative simplification and digitisation, as well as combat fraud and corruption”, she added.

“I regret the attempts to question the humanitarian aid that the Union allocates to the civilians in conflict zones, like Palestine. We need to build the Europe of the future without populist speeches that weaken us”, she concluded.

Vote results - discharge of the agencies

EU Agency for Asylum – 17 votes in favour, 7 against

EU Aviation Safety Agency – 23 votes in favour, none against, 1 abstentions

European Banking Authority – 22 votes in favour, none against, 2 abstentions

Agency for Support for BEREC – 21 votes in favour, 2 against

European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) — 15 votes in favour, 7 against, 1 abstentions

European Chemicals Agency – 19 votes in favour, 4 against

Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) – 21 votes in favour, 2 against

Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) — 21 votes in favour, 2 against

Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) – 21 votes in favour, 2 against

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – 19 votes in favour, 4 against

ENISA (Agency for Cybersecurity) – 21 votes in favour, 1 against, 1 abstentions

European Environment Agency – 21 votes in favour, 2 against

European Fisheries Control Agency – 21 votes in favour, 2 against

European Food Safety Authority – 19 votes in favour, 4 against

Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions (Eurofound) – 22 votes in favour, 1 against

EU Agency for Fundamental Rights – 20 votes in favour, 2 against

European Institute for Gender Equality – 20 votes in favour, 2 against

European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) – 22 votes in favour, 1 against

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority – 21 votes in favour, none against, 2 abstentions

European Labour Authority – 21 votes in favour, 2 against

Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) – 21 votes in favour, none against, 2 abstentions

EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) – 18 votes in favour, 2 against, 2 abstentions

European Maritime Safety Agency – 20 votes in favour, 2 against, 1 abstentions

European Medicines Agency – 19 votes in favour, 3 against

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction – 18 votes in favour, 1 against, 1 abstentions

Agency for the Management of Large-Scale IT Systems (eu-LISA) – 19 votes in favour, 1 against, 1 abstentions

European Union Agency for Railways – 19 votes in favour, 1 against, 1 abstentions

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) – 17 votes in favour, 1 against, 1 abstentions

European Securities and Markets Authority – 17 votes in favour, none against and 2 abstentions

European Union Agency for the Space Programme – 17 votes in favour, none against, 2 abstentions

Euratom Supply Agency – 16 votes in favour, 2 against

European Training Foundation – 17 votes in favour, 2 against

Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union – 17 votes in favour, 1 against, 1 abstentions

European Development Fund (EDF) — 16 votes in favour, 2 against.

Next steps

All CONT committee recommendations regards the discharge for the year 2022 (including the first batch of reports adopted on 22nd of February) need to be confirmed by the full plenary, with the voting tentatively scheduled for the first April plenary session (10-11 April).