Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control and Committee on Budget said on Monday 16 May that the proposal on the recast of the financial regulation did not go far enough, especially on transparency and public procurement.
Gert Jan Koopman, Director General of DG Budget at the Commission, said that the positions of the European Parliament and the EU Council were contradictory, as the Member States had asked “not to touch the financial regulation, except for what is essential”.
He expressed his willingness to find common ground on “certain points raised” by MEPs.
The proposal (see EUROPE 12953/24) does not change the rules on external assigned revenue, much to the dismay of the members of these committees. The European Parliament is concerned that ‘off-budget’ mechanisms, and in particular the use of external assigned revenue, may pose a serious problem for the Parliament’s ability to perform its decision-making, control and discharge functions.
Gert Jan Koopman assured Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany), co-rapporteur on the subject with Nils Ušakovs (S&D, Latvia), that the Commission wanted to improve the aggregation of information on final beneficiaries of the funds, through a data collection instrument that would be applied in all Member States.
The Director General of DG Budget also said that, in terms of public procurement, the objective is to provide better information on those who win the contracts, by carrying out checks and audits.
“We call for greater transparency and parliamentary scrutiny of emergency spending to defend our democratic values and the rule of law”, said Jose Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal). It calls for a new database showing where and how the €800 billion Next Generation EU stimulus fund is being used. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)