In a joint meeting of the Budget (BUDG) and Budgetary Control (CONT) Committees, in the presence of the Commission and the EU Court of Auditors, MEPs debated the special report published on 1 March (see EUROPE 13133/20) by the Court of Auditors, highlighting the “fragmented approach” of the EU financial landscape.
The report makes recommendations to address the problems associated with a juxtaposition of instruments with different funding sources and governance arrangements.
“This report is very valuable, because it gives us an overall picture of the financial landscape. This fragmentation of the financial landscape leads to a fragmentation of the internal market”, reacted MEP Maria Grapini (S&D, Romanian), Vice-Chair of the Internal Market Committee. “With this fragmentation and without the Court’s control over certain programmes, this can only lead to more regional disparities”.
The report recommends that for any proposed new financial instrument, especially in emergency situations, the Commission should carry out a minimum assessment of the chosen design and the need to create such an instrument outside the budget.
The Court of Auditors also asks the Commission to engage with stakeholders, including the Parliament, to propose the integration of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) into the EU legal framework and to ensure that the Modernisation Fund is integrated into the EU budget.
Following the presentation of the report, the European Commission welcomed the Court of Auditors’ recognition that “there are legitimate reasons why each financial instrument came into being”, particularly in the face of global and economic challenges that require the mobilisation of a large number of resources.
Furthermore, it has accepted the recommendations that it considers to be “within its competence”. However, the Commission said that it was the only one to be audited by the Court of Auditors and expressed reservations about integrating the Modernisation Fund into the EU budget, “because we consider that this could prejudge the content and scope of the proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework, which the Commission will present before June 2025”.
Finally, it pledged to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the costs and benefits of including specific funds in the EU budget, saying that “the time to ask these questions will come, but later”.
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/5l6 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)