MEPs from the relevant committees adopted (43 votes in favour, 9 against and 2 abstentions), on Thursday 13 December in Strasbourg, the report by Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, Spain) and Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, Finland), which strengthens the proposal on budget protection in the event of a general failure of the rule of law in a Member State.
A series of compromise amendments have been endorsed by the European Parliament’s Committees on Budgets and Budgetary Control. The text will have to be discussed and voted on in plenary before MEPs can start negotiations with the Council, which has not yet adopted its position.
Governments that obstruct justice and tolerate fraud and corruption risk losing EU funding, according to the text approved by MEPs.
The European Commission will have the task of establishing ‘generalised failures of the rule of law’ and deciding on the measures to be taken, which could include the suspension of payments from the EU budget or the reduction of pre-financing. The decision would only become effective once the green light had been given by Parliament and the Council. Once the Member State has found solutions to the deficiencies identified by the Commission, Parliament and the Council will be able to release the funds.
The Commission may establish that the rule of law is threatened if one or more of the following situations are called into question: - the proper functioning of the Member State's authorities responsible for implementing the budget or those responsible for financial control; - the proper functioning of investigations into fraud (including tax fraud), corruption and other violations with a budgetary impact; - effective judicial control by independent courts; - the recovery of unduly paid funds; - the prevention and criminalisation of tax evasion and tax competition; - cooperation with the European Anti-Fraud Office and the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
To assist the Commission, a panel of independent experts is planned. This panel, comprising one expert appointed by the national Parliament of each Member State and five experts appointed by the European Parliament, would assess the situation in all Member States on an annual basis and make public the summary of its conclusions.
Protection of final beneficiaries. Depending on the extent of the deficiencies and the arrangements for managing the budget, the Commission may decide on one or more measures: - suspension of commitments; - interruption of payment deadlines; - reduction of pre-financing; - suspension of payments.
Unless otherwise specified in the decision, the government should always execute the respective programme or funding and make payments to final recipients, such as researchers or civil society organisations.
The Commission should do its utmost to ensure that beneficiaries receive the amounts due.
In addition to the measures decided, the Commission would submit a proposal to transfer to the budgetary reserve an amount corresponding to the value of the proposed measures.
The decision would take effect four weeks later, unless Parliament, by a majority of the votes cast, or the Council, by a qualified majority, decides to amend or reject it. Once the Commission has established that the defaults have been resolved, the blocked amount will be released through the same procedure. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)