On Tuesday 24 March, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) adopted by 21 votes to 7 the draft report on the discharge granted to the European Commission for the implementation of the European Union budget in 2024. All the compromise amendments were adopted.
Although the aim is to formally grant discharge at the end of the process, reservations were nevertheless expressed in the draft report by Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, German).
The text, which enables Parliament to exercise its democratic control over the management of European funds, is based in particular on the EU’s consolidated annual accounts, the Commission’s reports and the conclusions of the Court of Auditors.
While MEPs welcome the reduction in the error rate from 5.6% in 2023 to 3.6% in 2024, this improvement is not presented as a sign of better financial management. Above all, they criticise the persistently high levels of error in cohesion policy.
The report also highlights the risks associated with breaches of the rule of law in certain Member States, which could affect the proper use of European funds. MEPs are calling on the Commission to use existing instruments, including the suspension of funding.
Transparency, particularly in terms of identifying the final beneficiaries of the recovery and resilience mechanism funds, is also one of the concerns expressed.
The plenary vote is scheduled for the Strasbourg plenary session, with the aim of adopting the discharge for the 2024 financial year.
The text: https://aeur.eu/f/lba (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)