A third session of inter-institutional negotiations on the recasting of the Financial Regulation for the EU budget (see EUROPE 13212/29) took place on the evening of Monday 25 September.
The aim of this revision is to bring the Financial Regulation into line with the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 13205/1), to propose changes for more effective crisis management, to focus on protecting the EU’s financial interests and to pursue simplification.
EDES
The co-legislators discussed a number of areas of disagreement, the main one being the extension of the EDES (early-detection and exclusion system) to shared management financing, given that it currently only applies to direct financing.
The Commission proposed strengthening this mechanism to prevent a person or entity in a situation of exclusion from registering or being selected for implementation funds or receiving funds via a shared management programme.
The Parliament is in favour of a binding application of this system, whereas the EU Council wants it to be used on a voluntary basis or to maintain the status quo.
According to several parliamentary sources, this is the most controversial point in the negotiations, which will have to be addressed at a technical level in the coming weeks.
Global initiatives
The co-legislators also addressed the issue of “global initiatives”.
In order to have a legal framework for the Union’s participation in this type of initiative, the Commission proposed including them in a new budget implementation instrument, which the EU Council opposed.
Parliament is in favour of the Commission’s proposal, but would like each Union contribution to a global initiative to give rise to a Commission proposal, which would then be submitted to Parliament and the EU Council for a decision.
Assisting Member States in the notification and recovery of EU claims
Assisting Member States in the notification and recovery of EU claims also remains an important point of debate. The proposal is supported by Parliament, but questioned by the EU Council.
The Commission proposed that the competent authorities of the Member States could be asked to assist in the notification and recovery of any financial claim by the Union or an executive agency.
This means that, on request and subject to certain conditions, a Member State must provide any relevant information, in particular on the identity, solvency, domicile or address of the debtor, or the beneficial owners, in the case of legal persons, or any assets of the debtor.
The Member State should also provide debtors with all necessary documents, proceed with the seizure and recovery of debts and take the necessary precautionary measures.
Transparency and negative income
Other points raised concerned the Commission’s proposal that the budget should not contain negative income and the concern for transparency regarding the recipients of funds financed by the EU budget.
On this second point, a compromise has been proposed requiring the Commission to make available on a centralised website information on the recipients of funds financed by the budget, no later than 30 June of the year following the financial year for which the funds were legally committed.
Parliament also proposed that the budget should be made more visible to citizens by using words such as “financed by the taxpayers of the European Union” for each new communication effort, alongside the Union’s emblem.
These issues will now be addressed at a technical level. A new round of political negotiations is scheduled for 23 October. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)