EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
Brussels, 18.11.2010 
SEC(2010)1438 final 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER 
accompanying the REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO  THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT and THE COUNCIL on the follow-up to 2008 discharge – Replies to 
requests from the European Parliament 
 
{COM(2010) 650}  
 
EN    EN TABLE OF CONTENTS 
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... ... 1 
European Parliament resolutions on 2008 discharge ................................................................. 2 
Overriding concerns and ta rgets to be achieved ............................................................... 3 
Reliability of the accounts and legali ty of the underlying transactions............................ 4 
Information and framework of the DAS........................................................................... 7 Revision of the Treaties: reform of the DAS.................................................................... 8 Budgetary management .................................................................................................... 9 Recoveries..................................................................................................................... .. 10 
Suspension of payments.................................................................................................. 12 Annual summaries .......................................................................................................... 15 National management declarations................................................................................. 18 The Commission's internal control system ..................................................................... 20 Interinstitutional debate on the curr ent discharge procedure system.............................. 25 
Political responsibility and administrativ e responsibility at  the Commission................ 26 
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) ............................................................................. 32 Revenue .......................................................................................................................... 36 
The common agricultural policy..................................................................................... 38 Cohesion ....................................................................................................................... .. 41 
Employment and so cial affairs ....................................................................................... 51 
Internal policies.............................................................................................................. . 55 
External actions............................................................................................................... 69 
Administrative expenditure............................................................................................. 88 Special Report No 10/2008 on EC Development Assistance to Health Services in Sub-
Saharan Africa .................................................................................................. 89 
Special report No 12/2008 on the Instrument  for Structural Policies for Pre-accession 
(ISPA), 2000-2006............................................................................................ 92 
Special report No 1/2009 on ba nking measures in the Medite rranean area in the context 
of the MEDA programme and the previous protocols...................................... 94 
 
EN    EN Special report No 2/2009 on the European  Union's Public health Programme (2003-
2007): an effective way to improve health? ..................................................... 96 
Special report No 3/2009 on the effectivene ss of Structural Meas ures spending on waste 
water treatment for the 1994-1999 and 2000-2006 programme periods .......... 97 
Special report No 4/2009 on the Commissi on's management of Non-State Actors' 
involvement in EC Development Cooperation................................................. 99 
Special report No 5/2009 on the Co mmission's Treasury Management....................... 103 
Special report No 6/2009 on European Uni on food aid for deprived persons: an 
assessment of the objectives, the means and the methods employed............. 105 
Special report No 7/2009 on the management  of the Galileo programme's development 
and validation phase ....................................................................................... 106 
Special report No 8/2009 on "Networks of excellence" and "Integrated projects" in 
Community Research policy: did th ey achieve their objectives?................... 108 
Special report No 9/2009 on the efficiency a nd effectiveness of th e personnel selection 
activities carried out by the Europ ean Personnel Selection Office................. 114 
Special report No 10/2009 on informati on provision and promotion measures for 
agricultural products ....................................................................................... 117 
Special report No 11/2009 on the sustainabi lity and the Commission's management of 
the LIFE-Nature projects ................................................................................ 118 
Special report No 12/2009 on th e effectiveness of the Commis sion's projects in the area 
of Justice and Home Affairs for the western Balkans .................................... 120 
Special report No 13/2009 on delegating impl ementing tasks to executive agencies: a 
successful option?........................................................................................... 123 
Special report No 14/2009 en titled "Have the management instruments applied to the 
market in milk and milk products achieved their main objectives?".............. 126 
Special report No 16/2009 on the Europ ean Commission’s management of pre-
accession assistance to Turkey ....................................................................... 128 
European Development Funds...................................................................................... 130 Requests to the Commission concerning the agencies ................................................. 137 
 
EN 1   EN INTRODUCTION 
This Commission Staff Working Paper completes the Report from the Commission to the 
European Parliament and the Council on the Follow-up to 2008 Discharge {COM(2010) 
650}. It presents in detail the answers to th e 238 specific requests made by the European 
Parliament in its Resolutions forming an integral part of its  Decisions on the 2008 
Discharges.1 
                                                 
1 For each specific request a reference is given to the relevant Parliament document. The references for 
requests 1-208 are a ll for the 2008 General Budget Discharge. 
 
EN 2   EN COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPE R accompanying the REPORT 
FROM THE COMMISSION TO TH E EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT and 
THE COUNCIL on the follow-up to 2008 discharge – Replies to requests 
from the European Parliament 
 
EN 3   EN Overriding concerns and ta rgets to be achieved 
1. (European Parliament, §§ 1-5, 192) - The European Parliament expects a strong 
statement from Commissioners Janusz Lewa ndowski and Algirdas Šemeta promising 
action in the areas of: Member State statem ents of assurance, proposals for tolerable 
risk of error, simplification and transpar ency, and trust funds covering external 
actions, and further believes that this must cover further action in the area of 
corrections and recoveries, a nd internal control systems; 
 Calls on the Commission to prepare and submit to Parliament a new Agenda for 
2010 onwards, providing for an acceleration in the reduction of error rates so as to 
ensure that a further 20 % of the budget can be given a 'green' classification from the 
Court of Auditors by 2014,  
 Calls on the Commission President to info rm Parliament about how the Commission 
will operate in a more coordinated way, so as to address remaining weaknesses in the 
financial systems and significantly re duce error rates as indicated above. 
Commission's response:  
The Commission agrees to do its utmost for accelerating the reduction of error 
rates so as to contribute as much as po ssible to increasing the European Court of 
Auditors "green classification" by a furt her 20% of the budget by 2014. It should 
however be noted in this re spect that any development of  the respective percentages 
of the various colours (red, yellow, green ) will depend on a number of factors, 
notably the effect of ongoing  action plans, the effect of the 2007-2013 legislation, 
the structure of the Court's annual report as well as the progress on the 
discussions on the concept of  tolerable risk of error. 
In May 2010 Commissioner Šemeta presented his agenda on discharge and audit 
to the Budgetary Control Committee of th e European Parliament. The agenda sets 
out the priority measures for the man date of the Commission (until 2014), and 
includes notably actions to simplify legisl ation, the clear definition of the risk of 
error implied by current legislative prov isions and the costs of control in a 
tolerable risk approach (in line with the proposals adopted on 26 May 2010 for 
levels of tolerable risk of error for the policies 'Rural developm ent' end 'Research, 
energy and transport' (COM(2010)261), European Trust Funds, the management 
assurance from the Member States, na tional declarations, cooperation with 
supreme audit institutions and national Parliaments; and recoveries and financial 
corrections.  
The Commission's central services are al ready actively overseeing all services' 
control activities, through the two compul sory annual exercises where each service 
identifies its main risks (within the framework of the establishment of the 
Management Plan) and where it justifie s the reasons underlying the financial 
assurance it provides (in the Annual Activity Report). The central services' 
oversight has been progressively strength ened over the past few years, with the 
performance of a peer review process fo r selected AARs and the issuing of more 
focussed instructions for the AARs. 
 
EN 4   EN Reliability of the accounts and lega lity of the underlying transactions 
2. (European Parliament, § 7) - Consideration should be given to establishing a 
Community pension fund in order to extern alise the financial commitments vis-à-vis 
staff.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has previously analysed th is issue. The European Communities 
Pension Scheme is defined in the Staff Regulations. When in 2003, the 
Commission presented a proposal amending the Staff Regulations, due 
consideration (backed-up by a complex actuarial study) was given to setting-up a 
pension fund. However the analysis did not conclude in favour of such a change. 
Initial set-up costs as well as risks of lo sses by the fund due to the investment 
climate and policy would be particular concerns. 
The Commission considers that the hypothese s and conditions of this analysis have 
not changed and therefore that the conclusions remain valid. 
3. (European Parliament, § 8) - The Commission should address the Court's 
observations regarding weaknesses identified  in certain bodies and Directorates-
General of the Commission in the accounti ng system for invoices/cost statements and 
pre-financing which put at risk th e quality of financial information.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has continued with its accounting quality project which has 
improved the underlying accounting data used in preparing the 2009 accounts. 
4. (European Parliament, §§ 12 & 13) - The European Parliament regrets that the DAS 
still remains qualified for Structural measures. It acknowledges that in its Communication on the impact of the acti on plan to strength en the Commission’s 
supervisory role under shared management  of structural ac tions, the Commission 
indicates that the steps outlined in it ha ve been completed; it notes that the 
preliminary results show an error rate  in expenditure of around 5 % for the 2007-
2013 period; it awaits, however , the wider benefits to cohesion policy, where there 
are still very large problems despite the progress made by the Commission towards a 
more efficient use of EU funds and the overall control environment.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is taking the requested acti on. It considers that in the framework 
of the Action Plan it has made and continues to make major steps in improving the 
management and control in structural actions. The impact report on the Action 
plan to strengthen its supervisory role in the shared management of structural 
actions (COM(2010)52) adopted in mid Fe bruary 2010 demonstrates that these 
steps have indeed brought important results.  This report identifi es 3 first positive 
impacts of the action plan: first, aud it results on the implementation 2007-2013 
programmes show a clear decrease of the estimated error rate. Although it is an 
encouraging indicator about th e effectiveness of the cont rol framework, this result 
 
EN 5   EN must be interpreted in a prudent way since the population audited covers payments 
made at an early stage of the programming period until 31 May 2009 from 15 
Member States which had declared expenditure by that time. Second, the 
Commission audit activity reveals an expected residual risk of error of programmes 
at closure of 1994-1999 period substantially re duced. Finally, the increased level of 
financial corrections for 2008-2009 shows the Commission's resolute response to 
the detection of systems defi ciencies in Member States and provides a deterrent 
effect on Member States from any future mismanagement of EU funds. 
However the full effect of the Action plan on the error rate in Cohesion policy may 
only be seen later on in the 2007- 2013 period when the impact of the new 
regulatory framework and all simpli fication measures adopted, including 
simplified costs, may be seen. The problem s identified by the Court are exclusively 
related to the 2000-2006 period and th e Commission has imposed important 
corrections in all cases where this was required. 
5. (European Parliament, §§ 12, 14 & 15) - As regards Research, Energy and Transport 
and External aid, development and enla rgement, the Commission Action Plan 
towards an Integrated Internal Control Fr amework should already bring benefits and 
the Commission should be able to provide a series of indicators and descriptors to 
measure the impact of this Action Plan. The European Parliament notes, however, 
the Court’s observation that it is not yet possible to determine whether the Action 
Plan has had a measurable impact on th e supervisory and control systems and 
ultimately on the regularity of transactions (point 2.28 of the 2008 Annual Report), and urges the Commission to take appropr iate action to ensure that, for the 2009 
discharge, indicators are in place to m easure the impact of that Action Plan.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission fully supports the observati ons of the Parliament. As reported in 
the Communication on the impact of the Action Plan COM (2009) 43, the 
implementation of the Action Plan was completed by the end of 2008. The 
Communication contained a full range of indicators and key supporting 
information to demonstrate the impact of the initiative. However, it pointed out 
that it was not possible to dissociate the impact of the action plan from that of 
other initiatives to improve control (including the follow-up of reservations in 
Annual Activity Reports and the imp act of new period legislation). 
Significant actions from the Action Plan su ch as Tolerable Risk and simplification 
are being carried forward under separate in itiatives. The overall indicator of the 
impact of these initiatives and any furthe r action from the Commis sion will be the 
annual declaration of assurance (D AS) from the Court of Auditors. 
6. (European Parliament, § 16) - The Commission should put  forward proposals for 
shortening the periods involved in the discha rge process, so that the vote in plenary 
can be held in the year followi ng the financial year under review.   
Commission's response:  
The time limits for the discharge pro cedure are set out in the Financial 
Regulation. In practical terms, a reductio n of the time needed would require that 
 
EN 6   EN the Court of Auditors bring forward the pub lication of its annual report, and that 
the European Parliament (Committee on Budgetary Control) also shorten its 
proceedings. 
Therefore, the Commission considers that this request should be first discussed 
between the institutions concerned. 
 
EN 7   EN Information and framework of the DAS 
The European Parliament has made no specific request to the Commission. 
Commission's response:  
No reply necessary. 
 
EN 8   EN Revision of the Treati es: reform of the DAS 
The European Parliament has made no specific request to the Commission. 
Commission's response:  
No reply necessary. 
 
EN 9   EN Budgetary management 
7. (European Parliament, §§ 26-27) - The European Parliament welcomes the fact that 
automatic de-commitment should prevent pr oblems in the current funding period but 
remains concerned that the highest  proportion of outstanding budgetary 
commitments ("RAL") is related to the cohesi on area associated w ith the lack of any 
de-commitment procedure for the 2000-2006 period; 
 Asks the Member States to transmit th e remaining compliance assessment documents 
of the Management and Control Systems as soon as possible and in  sufficient quality 
in order to avoid further delays regarding the interim payments and a further increase 
of outstanding budgetary commitments.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. The regulations limit 
reimbursements before closure to 95% of the EU contribution and give the 
Member States 15 months after the end of  eligibility to submit the final payments 
claims. Therefore, the RAL on the 2000-2006 period is limited by the regulations. 
It is expected that closure payments will start in 2010 and continue into 2011. 
8. (European Parliament, § 28) - The European Parliament calls on the Commission to 
provide Parliament with an overview of  budgetary support granted, by country and 
by fund, for the years 2005 to 2009.   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. Th e Commission has reported these figures 
in the Annual Activity Reports of the St ructural Funds Directorates-General. 
 
EN 10   EN Recoveries 
9. (European Parliament, § 29) - The EP remains concerned about the problems which 
subsist regarding irregularly disbursed Co mmunity funds and the poor quality of the 
information supplied on the correction mechan ism applied at Member State level; it 
draws attention to the urgent need to aim for a 100 % recovery rate in respect of funds that have been falsely issued.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is taking the recommended action. For Structural Funds, it has 
clearly improved the level of its financial correction and has reported quarterly to 
the Parliament on financial corrections  imposed by the Commission since 2008. 
The Commission follows up all cases of de tected errors and endeavours to recover 
all irregular amounts. 
The Commission is taking steps to improve the quality of information provided by 
Member States on recoveries. It has anal ysed the information provided in previous 
years and made appropriate recommendations where needed. It considers that the 
data for 2009 submitted by the Member States  to the Commission in  the 1st half of 
2010 are of much better qua lity than in previous years. These data are published in 
note 6 to the Commission's final annual accounts. In the framework of its 2008 
Action Plan the Commission has carried ou t audits of Member States' systems for 
withdrawals and recoveries in 19 Member  States. The remaining Member States 
will be audited in 2010. The Commission will  continue its efforts to improve even 
further the quality and completeness of information available on recoveries from 
Member States. 
10. (European Parliament, § 31) - Calls on the Commission to enhance the efficiency 
and effectiveness of multiannua l recovery systems, includi ng at Member State level, 
and to consolidate data on recoveries and financial corrections in order to provide 
reliable figures which can be compared between the various policy areas and fund 
management procedures; calls on the Commi ssion to report to Parliament in the 
notes accompanying the annual accounts, so that an overview can be obtained.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has included more detailed  information on the recovery of undue 
payments in the notes to the 2009 accounts.  In the Cohesion area, the data for 
2009 as submitted to the Commission in the 1st half of 2010 is of a much better 
quality. In the framework of its 2008 Action Plan the Commission has audited 
national systems for withdrawals and r ecoveries in 19 Member States. The 
remaining will be audited in 2010. For 2007-2013, there is a standard IT 
procedure for submission of recovery stat ements, which should improve the quality 
of information. Member States are also re quired to distinguish corrections deriving 
from their own controls and th ose from audits by EU bodies. 
11. (European Parliament, § 32) - Requests the Commission to present complete and 
reliable figures for financial corrections a nd, in particular, recoveries, specifying the 
Member State concerned, the exact budget line and the year  to which the individual 
 
EN 11   EN recoveries relate (as already specified in  the Discharge Report for 2006), given that 
any other presentation makes serious control impossible;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. It is taking steps to improve the 
quality of information provided by Member States on recoveries. It provided such 
information in the Annual Report on the Implementation of the Structural Funds 
(SEC(2009)1495 of 30/10/2009 covering the financial year 2008), including a 
breakdown per Member State and per Fun d. Because of the multi-annual nature 
of structural programmes and the fact that  the control procedures may last several 
years, it is impossible to identify the exact year to which individual recoveries 
relate. The Commission however provides  figures for the year in question and 
cumulative for the whole period. 
As regards agriculture, the corrections ch arged by the Commission to the Member 
States can be found in the respective co nformity decisions wh ich are published in 
the Official Journal. Information on Me mber States' recovery of undue payments 
from the financial beneficiaries is pu blished in the Annual Activity Report. 
12. (European Parliament, § 33) - Recalls its demand that the Commission produce an 
annual fund-by-fund grading per Member State,  specifying the error rate established 
– both with and without the im pact of corrective mechanis ms – and that it forward 
this to Parliament in an active, tr ansparent and easily accessible manner.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission already provides detailed information and a classification of the 
individual member States systems in th e Annual Activity Reports of DG Regional 
Policy, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and Agriculture. 
For Structural Funds, for the period 2007-2013, the regulations require the Audit 
Authorities to provide the Commission w ith annual control opinions and error 
rates, as a result of their audits, which w ill be based on random statistical samples. 
Neither the Commission nor the Court compile an error rate by fund and by 
Member state as this is not required by  the applicable legal framework. As the 
audits performed by Member States aud it bodies are partially representative and 
partially risk based, and by the Commission risk-based, error rates cannot be 
produced or considered representative of  the programmes. Se e also reply above 
under point 11 to Parliament's request in paragraph 32 of the discharge 
resolution, which outlines the steps taken to  improve the quality of information in 
the Cohesion area and confirms that in agriculture information on Member States' 
recovery of undue payments from  the final beneficiaries is published in the Annual 
Activity Report of the Director-General. 
 
EN 12   EN Suspension of payments 
13. (European Parliament, § 35) - The European Parliament points out the importance of 
the final decisions and corrective measur es taken with the aim of removing EU 
funding from expenditure which has not been  carried out in conformity with EU 
legislation, and restates its call for the pr ecise budget heading and the year to which 
individual recoveries re late to be specified.   
Commission's response:  
Within the Action Plan to strengthen its supervisory role in the shared 
management of structural actions, the Co mmission has revised its internal rules 
and operational procedures and speeded up  suspension of payments and financial 
correction procedures where serious irregu larities and system  deficiencies had 
been detected in the programmes' implem entation. As shown by the Impact report 
adopted on 17 February 2010, 10 suspension decisions have been adopted by the 
Commission in 2008 and 7 in 2009. Moreover  the Commission does not hesitate to 
use, where needed, the new possibility o ffered by the regulatory framework for 
2007-2013 which allows the Commission to immediately interrupt individual 
payments before starting a suspension pr ocedure, when systems deficiencies are 
detected. 
14. (European Parliament, § 37) - Draws attention to the example of Greece, where 
significant financial corrections brought about by Commission deci sion appear to 
have resulted in better performance in some areas; invites the Commission to identify these areas and recalls that, as regards the Integrated Administration and Control 
System (IACS), no evidence has been prov ided that the action plan set up and 
implemented by the Greek authorities was effective (2008 Annual Report, point 2.5).   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken.  
In 2006, the Greek authorities committed them selves to the implementation of an 
action plan consisting of specific corr ective measures and milestones, including 
regular reporting on progress made, to pu t in place a fully operational Integrated 
Administration and Control System (IACS) by 31 December 2008. 
As of claim year 2006, the Greek authorities introduced a new procedure for the 
submission of claims for the single payment aid scheme in order to ensure security 
of data and to protect it fr om unauthorized modifications. 
In order to improve their timing, qualit y and reporting of results, the paying 
agency (OPEKEPE) (regional) staff has gradu ally taken over the responsibility for 
the classical on-the-spot checks from th e Nomi. In addition, Greece increased the 
level of on-the-spot checks to 8% in  claim year 2007 and 10%  in claim year 2008. 
In 2008, the main remaining outstanding issue of the IACS action plan was the 
creation of a new LPIS-GIS to be oper ational by 31 December 2008. Consequently, 
DG AGRI has continued to monitor closely the use by the Greek authorities of the 
 
EN 13   EN new operational LPIS-GIS. To this end, the Directorate-General for Agriculture 
and Rural Development (DG AGRI) has carri ed out three audit missions to Greece 
in 2009 as well as two audit missions in 2010. 
A new Land Parcel Identification Syst em Geographical Information System 
(LPIS-GIPS) has been used for the fi rst time in the 2009 cl aim year. Greece has 
encountered certain problems in  this first year of application, in particular the 
missing digitisation by farmers of the areas claimed. 
Following adoption of Regulation No 691/2010, giving Greek farmers until 31 
January 2010 (15 February 2010 for the Aegean islands) to digitise the parcels 
that were already alphanum erically included in the claim lodged by 15 May 2009, 
overall 98% of the claims and 99.5% of par cels claimed have been digitised within 
this deadline and can in principle be paid. 
The first payments for 2009 claim year were foreseen for mid March 2010 for 
farmers for which the checks did not revea l anomalies requiring further follow-up. 
The implementation of the IACS in Greece will  continue to be closely monitored by 
DG AGRI and residual problems will continue  to be addressed in the context of the 
conformity clearance procedure. 
For the European Social Fund (ESF), there are low error rates observed for the 
2000-2006 programming period. Audits conducted up to end June 2010 for the 
2000-2006 and 2007-2013 periods reveal the absen ce of serious or systemic issues. 
Therefore emphasis is on monitoring th e effective functioning of the system. 
15. (European Parliament, §§ 38-39) - Believes that, in the case of recurrent reserves for 
expenditure programmes in a particular Member State, suspension of payments, as a means of pressure, will contri bute to greater invo lvement of the Member States in the 
correct use of EU funds received; 
 Calls on the Commission to simplify the ru les and apply the existing legislation on 
suspension of payments wher ever necessary, and to info rm Parliament, the Council 
and the Court of Auditors in good time con cerning suspensions of payments and their 
results.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is taking the requested action. Within the Action Plan to 
strengthen its supervisory role in the shar ed management of structural actions, the 
Commission has revised its internal rules and operational procedures and speeded 
up suspension of payments and financial correction procedures where serious 
irregularities and system deficiencies had been detected in the programmes' 
implementation. As shown by the Impact report adopted on 17 February 2010, 10 
suspension decisions have been adopted  by the Commission in 2008 and 7 in 2009. 
Moreover the Commission will not hesita te to use, where needed, the new 
possibility offered by the regulatory  framework for 2007-2013 which allows the 
Commission to immediately interrupt individual payments before starting a 
suspension procedure, when systems defi ciencies are detected. Information on 
suspension of payments will be reporte d in the Annual Activity Reports. For 
 
EN 14   EN agriculture, a specific mechanism for su spending payments in such cases was 
introduced in 2007 (Article 17a of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1290/2005). 
 
EN 15   EN Annual summaries 
16. (European Parliament, §§ 40-42) - The European Parliament stresses the need to 
strengthen the role of annual summaries in the upcoming review of the Financial 
Regulation as well as to improve the quali ty, homogeneity and comparability of the 
data provided by Member States so as to en sure their added value in the field of the 
control of EU funds.   
Commission's response:  
Overall, the quality of the 2009 annual summaries improved. 23 Member States 
complied with the minimum requirements  regarding the information to be 
provided, whereas 4 Member States did not comply and were asked to submit 
revised summaries. 15 Member States pr ovided an overall analysis of the 
information provided, and 9 (compared to 7 for the 2008 summaries) furnished a 
statement of assurance following the Commission's recommendation. 
For Agriculture, the ten Member States with more than one Paying Agency were 
required to draw up annual summaries, al l these Member States complied with this 
obligation and submitted an annual summary  to the Commission (though in one 
case it will be subject to an addendum due to outstanding documents from the 
certification bodies). For the remaining Me mber States with only one Paying 
Agency, the Statement of Assurance ser ves the same purpose as the annual 
summary. In conclusion, the evaluation of  the annual summaries and statements 
of assurance suggests that the Member States have complied with their legal 
obligations and largely followed the Commis sion guidelines. Compared to last 
year, the quality of the analysis has further improved. 
The Commission proposal for the triennial revision of the Financial Regulation 
was adopted in May 2010. The Commission ha s reinforced the legal basis in the 
Financial Regulation for the annual summa ries by proposing to obtain annual 
management declarations of assurance from  accredited manageme nt bodies in the 
Member States, accompanied by an inde pendent audit opinion. The audit opinion 
is expected to help in improving  the quality of the data submitted. 
The Commission will carry out an evalua tion of annual summaries after 3 years of 
existence by the end of 2010. It will also issue guidelines on value-added features 
of the voluntary national declarations. 
17. (European Parliament, §§ 43-45) - Welcomes the information provided to 
Parliament by the Commission on the annual summaries received in 2009 and calls 
on the Commission to make all annual summ aries of all Member States public in 
order to enhance transparency and public  accountability; invites the Commission, on 
the basis of the annual summaries received,  to analyse the stre ngths and weaknesses 
of each Member State’s national system fo r the administration and control of EU 
funds; 
 Considers that it is of the utmost importance for the Commission to report on the 
quality of those annual summaries and to add value to the process by identifying 
 
EN 16   EN common problems, possible solutions or best practices, using this information in its 
supervisory role; 
 Considers that a comparative analysis should be forwarded to Parliament, the 
Council and the Court by la te 2010 and should be made public soon thereafter.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requeste d action. It considers that annual 
summaries can be a means for improving a ccountability in shared management if 
its guidelines are followed by Member States. 
The Commission has provided informatio n on the annual summaries in its 2009 
Report on the implementation of the Ac tion Plan (COM(2009)42) and in the 
Annual Activity Reports of the Directorat es General. The Commission has also 
asked for the Member States' approval to transmit the annual summaries to the 
European Parliament. 
The Commission revised its guidance on annual summaries and presented it to 
Member States in October and December 2009, taking into account 
recommendations of the study commissioned  by the European Parliament, such as 
emphasizing the value-added elements an d reducing redundant information. 
Finally, while significant progress has been made, the Commission considers that 
the current added value of annual summaries  is limited and that a stronger legal 
base is necessary to make further progress. The Commission is commissioning a 
study to evaluate the added value of annual summaries after three years and in this 
exercise it will indicate the extent of their usefulness over this period. The triennial 
revision of the Financial Regulation in  2010 – on which the Parliament will be 
involved by Co-decision procedure - could provide an opportunity for this. 
18. (European Parliament, § 46) - Calls on the Commission to ensure that the general 
Guidance Note concerning the annual su mmaries requires a uniform methodology 
and analytical scope from all Member Stat es; notes the intention of the Commission 
to revise its Guidance Note in such a wa y as to simplify the reporting requirements 
and provide more guidance on good practice; requires the Commission to take this 
opportunity to include in th e Guidance Note a framewor k for national management 
declarations for those Member States that decide to introduce them and to develop its 
incentive-based approach.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested ac tion. It is making every effort to 
improve the added value of annual summaries  under the current legal framework. 
A revised note was discussed with the Member States in the Coordination 
Committee of the Funds (C OCOF) meetings of October and December 2009. The 
revised guidance note takes on board some of the recommendations formulated in 
the study of 5 June 2009 on the Annual Summaries, which was presented to the 
Parliament (Cocobu) on 3 November 2009.  
 
EN 17   EN The Commission has simplified the exerci se by taking out information received 
from other reports and in addition, has bu ild up the part on the overall analysis 
and explained the incentives to the Member States for using this option, as well as, 
the statement of assurance.  
The Commission agrees with the European Parliament that national declarations 
increase awareness and responsibility con cerning the financial management of EU 
funds at the central government leve l and demonstrate an acceptance of 
accountability for these funds. But this ca n hardly be part of a guidance document 
without stronger legal basis. The revision  of the Financial Regulation provides an 
opportunity to strengthen the legal fr amework for the annual summaries by 
including the requirement, among others, for a declaration of assurance from the 
Member States. 
For Agriculture the guideline regardi ng the establishment of the annual 
summaries is revised (for clarification purpos es) on an annual basis in the light of 
the experiences of the previous exerci se. Moreover, the guideline is further 
explained on the occasion of an annual co nference with the dire ctors of the paying 
agencies and the coordinating bodies. 
 
EN 18   EN National management declarations 
19. (European Parliament, §§ 47-51) - The European Parliament  recalls its demand for 
the introduction of national management decl arations (paragraph 32 of its resolution 
of 23 April 2009 accompanying its decision on discharge for 2007); 
 invites the Commission to use the ne w wording of Article 317 to introduce 
mandatory national management decl arations as soon as possible;  
 calls on the Commission to propose, within  the framework of the review of the 
Financial Regulation, the obligation for Memb er States to issue national management 
declarations signed at an a ppropriate political level and certified by their national 
supreme audit body, as a means of administrative relief as well as improved administration of funds under shared management.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission proposal for the triennial revision of the Financial Regulation 
(FR) was adopted in May 2010. The Commission  intends with the revision of the 
FR to optimise Member States' contribution to assurance by introducing a 
requirement for annual management declar ations of assurance, accompanied by 
an independent audit opinion thereon. Th e declaration should be signed by the 
body accredited by the Member State to ma nage the funds and be complemented by 
information on error rates per fund (summa ry of available audits and controls). 
This proposal should reinforce the responsi bility of the bodies actually managing 
Union funds under shared management. 
National declarations, signed at political level, are not part of the Commission's 
proposal. The Commission will however continue to encourage Member States to 
work on voluntary political assurance statements, covering all EU funds they 
receive, documenting the controls and assessing the effect iveness of their 
management and control systems. It will  also issue guidelines on value-added 
features of the voluntary national declarations. 
20. (European Parliament, § 53) - Proposes that national audi t bodies, in their capacity 
as independent external auditors, and with due regard for international audit standards, issue national audit certificates for the management of EU funds, calls on 
the Commission to examine the possibility of modifying and adapting the discharge 
timetable in order to allow for timely audits of the national management declarations by the (national) external auditors.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is envisaging to propose that the annual management declaration 
of assurance from the managing body in  the Member State forming part of the 
annual summary should be accompanied by an independent audit opinion. (See 
letter Šemeta-Lewandowski to the Commit tee on Budgetary Control of 2.3.2010) In 
order for the Commission to take them into account for its own annual activity 
reports reporting, these summaries must arrive before March of the year N+1. 
There is therefore no necessity to  review the disc harge timetable. 
 
EN 19   EN 21. (European Parliament, § 54) - Is deeply concerned about the proven manipulation of 
financial statistics and tax evasion in Greece; notes the generalised public-sector 
corruption throughout the administration, in cluding in public procurement, as 
recognised by the Prime Minister of Greece; dr aws attention to the significant effect 
in terms of costs that this has on Greece's budget; calls on the Commission to investigate as a matter of priority the circumstances  under which the Commission 
was provided with and effec tively accepted wrong macroeconomic data for such a 
long period of time.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. Inves tigations have been carried out by the 
Commission and its results reported in the Commission Report on Greek 
Government Deficit and Debt Statistics of 8 January 2010 (COM (2010) 1 final). 
Greece has started addressing the issues raised in the Commission Report of 8 
January 2010, with the adoption of a new law on the Hellenic Statistical System 
including the creation of a new statis tical authority (ELSTAT) in order to 
guarantee the independence and integrity of statistics. 
 
EN 20   EN The Commission's internal control system 
22. (European Parliament, §§ 55-57) - Voices its concern at the Court's repeated 
criticism of the inadequate quality of controls in Member States and considers it detrimental to the image of the EU if individual Member States are able to apply different control standards; 
 Notwithstanding the progressive improve ment in the DAS since 2003 (56 % of 
expenditure being given positive audit opini ons by the Court in 2008 compared to 6 
% in 2003), remains concerned by the Court’s assessment that it is not yet possible to 
determine whether the Action Plan has had a measurable impact on the supervisory 
and control systems, and that the Commissi on is not able to demonstrate that the 
steps taken by it to improve supervisory and control systems have been effective in 
mitigating the risk of error in some ar eas of the budget (points 2.28 and 2.33 of the 
2008 Annual Report); 
 Calls on the Commission to continue to pres ent regular assessments of the integrated 
internal control system, and calls for even better and more explic it coverage – in the 
annual activity reports and the synthesis re port – of the func tioning of Commission 
departments’ and Member States’ shared-man agement systems, as is already done by 
the Commission’s DG for Regional Po licy in its annual activity report.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is continuously improving the standing instructions for the 
setting up of its services' Annual Activity Reports, namely those regarding the 
building blocks of their assurance statement.  
The latest Annual Activity Reports show  a noticeable improvement across the 
Commission, both in terms of the quality of the evidence presented in support of 
the assurance and the readability of the reports. 
Most of the Commission services already provide in their annual activity reports 
clear information about th e effectiveness of their and implementing partners' 
internal control systems, and about identified weaknesse s and remedial measures 
underway. 
Besides Directorates-General for Regional  Policy, for Employment, Social Affairs 
and Equal Opportunities, and Agriculture an d rural development provided detailed 
information and a classification of the indi vidual Member States' systems in their 
2009 Annual Activity Reports. 
The Commission fully implemented a peer revi ew system that allows its services to 
better address weaknesses identified and to do it in time and at the adequate level.  
The Synthesis of the Commission's ma nagement achievements addresses key 
management issues identified in the Annua l Activity Reports an d define the lines 
of action. It also reports on the progress achieved on the new and ongoing actions 
identified in former Synthesis Reports to address major crosscutting management 
issues and it gives an overview on the rese rvations entered during the last 5 years. 
 
EN 21   EN The Commission considers that the system implemented has attained its maturity 
and that, globally, it provides the Commissi on and the other Institutions with a 
clear picture on the effectiveness of its internal control systems. 
23. (European Parliament, §§ 58-60) - Draws attention, in this context, to the 
importance of Action 10 of the above-m entioned Action Plan, which proposes 
making an "analysis of the costs of contro ls", in view of the "need to reach an 
appropriate balance between the co sts and benefits of controls"; 
 Calls on the Commission to carry out in 2010 a more complete and exhaustive 
evaluation of the resources given over to control systems in the areas of research, 
energy, transport, rural development, extern al aid and administrative expenditure, as 
requested by Parliament in its previous resolutions accompanying the discharge decisions; 
 Believes that this will be a crucial tool  for assessing what future improvements can 
be achieved and at what cost, as recommended by th e Court in its 2008 Annual 
Report (point 2.35(a)), and for achieving progress on the question of to lerable risk of 
error.   
Commission's response:
 
On 26 May 2010, the Commission adopted its pr oposals for levels of tolerable risk 
of error (TRE) for the policies 'Research, energy and transport' and 'Rural 
development' (COM(2010) 261). The proposals are based on an examination of the 
relationship between the cost of controls  and error rates and include an evaluation 
of resources related to control systems. 
The Commission will evaluate the control resources for "Administrative 
expenditure" before the end of 2010 and for "External aid, development and 
enlargement" in the beginning of 2011 when presenting concrete TRE proposals 
for these policy areas. 
24. (European Parliament, §§ 61-66) - The European Parliament takes note of the 
above-mentioned Commission communicati on of 16 December 2008 on a common 
understanding of the concept of tolerabl e risk of error as a sound methodological 
basis for an economic analysis of acceptable levels of risk; recalls its doubts concerning the figures provided by the Memb er States on control costs and calls on 
the Commission to update and complete the figures used in the communication; invites the Commission to address all wea knesses and shortcomings identified by the 
Court of Auditors, and u nderlines the following: 
 – the definition of a possible tolerable risk of error is only one of several 
elements to be explored with a view to improving financial management in the European Union; other elements are (1) bett er use of existing control systems, (2) an 
increase in what are generally very low control costs, (3) simplification and (4) concentration; 
 – the quality of the information availabl e from the Member States is currently 
not sufficient as a basis for the establishment and approval of a tolera ble risk of error; 
 
EN 22   EN  – the Council’s position on the question is not known; 
 Calls on the Commission to provide a de tailed analysis of th e shortcomings and 
weaknesses identified by the Court of Audito rs , especially rega rding the quality of 
the data available from the Member States; 
 Recalls Action 4 of the above-mentioned Action Plan, which, in line with the 
recommendations of Parliament, proposes the initiation of "interin stitutional dialogue 
on risks to be tolerated in  the underlying transactions";  notes, however, that 
implementation of this action has scarcely begun; 
 Considers, therefore, that the Comm ission, in line with the principles of 
proportionality and cost effici ency (value for money) of the control systems, should 
evaluate the relationship between, on the one hand, the resources available for each 
particular policy, and, on the other, the pa rt of those resources dedicated to the 
control systems broken down by area of expenditure; 
 Asks the Commission to identify areas of high political sensitivity (with high 
"reputational risk") where a quality appro ach to rates of error (rather than an 
economic one) should be adopted; 
 Considers that the volume of Union funds at  risk because of errors should also be 
taken into consideration when a tolerable error rate is determined.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission recalls that the data published in the Commission 
Communication of 16 December 2008 were pr ovided by the Member States and 
that a sensitivity analysis was carried out to cater for a possible underestimation of 
control costs by the Member States . New data for Rural Development were 
presented in the Communication "More or le ss control. Striking  the right balance 
between the administrative costs of control and the risk of error" of 26 May 2010 
(COM(2010) 261). This Communication, wh ich also included TRE proposals for 
Research, energy and transport, should form the basis to re-launch the inter-
institutional discussion and agree on co ncrete TREs for those policy areas.  
The Commission also believes that this  Communication addresses the weaknesses 
and shortcomings previously identified by the Court of Aud itors. However, while 
the Commission fully acknowledges the existence and importance of additional 
qualitative factors such as the deterrent eff ect of controls or the reputational risk 
of an institution, it considers that it is  up to the Legislative Authority to take 
account of the political impera tives and inherent risk when  deciding on the level of 
error to tolerate on the basis of the Commission's future proposals. 
For 'Cohesion Policy', a new analysis wi ll be presented towards the end of 2011, 
once 2010 DAS results are availabl e. It is important that th is analysis is based on 
2010 data during which the new legal fram ework (2007-2013 legislation) with its 
stronger control provisions will govern most expenditure and newly implemented 
simplifications will have kicked in. 
 
EN 23   EN The Commission agrees there are other elemen ts to be explored with a view to 
improving financial management (such as simplification) and believes that these 
kind of initiatives are not mutually excl usive but can take place in parallel and 
simultaneously (simplifications will take t ime to have an impact on the Discharge, 
which relates to the year N-2). Neverthel ess the Commission points out that there 
are limits to which level the control costs can be increased to reduce errors further 
under constant legislation. 
In line with the objective of its future TRE proposals, the Commission will analyse 
the resources available and the part of th ose resources dedicated to the control 
systems when defining a cost-effective leve l of control for all the remaining policy 
areas (see the response to paragr aphs 58-60 under point 23 above). 
25. (European Parliament, § 68) - Regrets that the Commission puts more effort into 
convincing Parliament about the need to intr oduce a ‘tolerable risk of error’ than into 
persuading Member States of the n eed for mandatory national management 
declarations.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission proposal for the triennial revision of the Financial Regulation 
was adopted in May 2010 and includes a requirement for annual management 
declarations of assurance from accredit ed management bodies in the Member 
States, accompanied by an independen t audit opinion thereon (see also the 
response in point 19 above to paragraphs 47-51 of the Parliament's resolution). 
The Commission will carry out an evalua tion of annual summaries after 3 years of 
existence by autumn 2010. It will also issue an analysis of on value-added features 
of the voluntary national declarations. 
26. (European Parliament, § 69 (and § 180)) - Emphasises that control systems are a 
reflection of the complexity of regulat ions and rules on the various, sometimes 
overlapping levels; urges the Commission, th erefore, to speed up the simplification 
exercise whilst fully involving Parliament, and asks Member States and regions to 
make corresponding efforts to that end.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission supports s implification where possi ble and where this is 
consistent with the achievement of policy objectives (which often require precise 
rules). It has committed its elf to proposing simplificat ions in the post 2013 period 
legislation. To inform the debate on the new period provisions, it will adopt a 
communication by the end of 2010 outlining how legislation might be simplified 
for the forthcoming period. 
For the 2007-2013 programming period, the Commission has already implemented 
simplifications in the common agricultural policy, including rural development, 
and will continue to do so in the future . However, any such further simplification 
will not be enough to reduce the error rate  in rural development below the Court's 
2% materiality threshold w ithout the risk of jeopar dising policy objectives. 
 
EN 24   EN Against this background, introducing the co ncept of tolerable risk of error is 
needed to reach a clear view on the balan ce between the risk of error and the costs 
of control: such an approach would foster  cost-effective cont rols. This does not 
imply accepting inadequate management and control systems, but setting a 
different standard for determining the best  possible control re sults within given 
resources. 
 
EN 25   EN Interinstitutional debate on the current discharge procedure system 
27. (European Parliament, §§ 70-71) - Calls on the Commission to organise an 
interinstitutional discussion involving in th e initial phase, at the highest level, 
representatives of the Council,  of the Commission, of the Court of Auditors and of 
Parliament, and in the second phase repres entatives from the Member States, of 
national parliaments and supr eme audit institutions, with a view to embarking on a 
comprehensive debate on the curr ent discharge procedure system; 
 Proposes to give the Commission, during th e forthcoming budgetary procedure, the 
financial resources needed to organise such debate.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission agrees to the need for a broad discussion among stakeholders 
and hopes for the European Parliament suppo rt in this. This conference should be 
an opportunity to agree on a new partnership  and define the role and tasks of each 
party with a view to achieving an unqu alified statement of assurance (DAS). 
 
EN 26   EN Political responsibility and administrati ve responsibility at the Commission 
28. (European Parliament, § 73) - Expresses its concern about the fact that the Court 
continues to find weaknesses in the operati on of supervisory and control systems and 
in the relevant reservations  on the assurance given in  the declarations by the 
Commission’s Directors-Genera l, namely as regards their impact on the assurance 
concerning the legality and regularity of  underlying transactions, and reminds the 
Member States and the Commi ssion of their respective respon sibilities in this field;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission considers the reservations  in the Annual Activity Reports (AARs) 
in line with the materiality  criteria established and the AAR methodology in force. 
It recalls the major meth odological difference between the Court of Auditors' 
annual audits and the Commission's multi-annual control system, where errors 
found by the Court may be detected and co rrected in subsequent years, before the 
final payment. 
Nevertheless, the Commission takes this issue very seriously and has therefore 
taken decisive action to further improve th e quality of AARs and in particular the 
reasoning and evidence presented underlyi ng the assurance provided. For the 2009 
AARs, the instructions were significantly overhauled, a dedicated helpdesk was set 
up and training courses were provided. Co mplementary actions wi ll take place for 
the 2010 AARs, and the Commission expects to see the results of this major effort 
in the Court's 2010 Annual Report. 
29. (European Parliament, § 74) - Insists that the public must have access to information 
on all members of expert groups and work ing groups working with the Commission 
as well as disclosure concerni ng beneficiaries of EU funding.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission published inform ation on the lists of memb ers of expert groups in 
the Commission’s Register of Expert Grou ps. This publication must be done taking 
into account the composition of each expert group and requirements of both 
Regulation 45/2001 and Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001. 
On special advisers, the Commission adopted on 19 December 2007 new rules 
which foresee a specific information of the Budgetary Authority as part of the 
budgetary procedure, and the publication of the list of the special advisers and 
their curricula vitae on the "Europa"  Website of the Commission (see 
C(2007)6655 of 19 December 2007): 
http://ec.europa.eu/tr ansparency/regexpert/ 
Concerning the disclosure of beneficiaries of EU funds, the Commission and the 
Member States' administrations already pr ovide that information to the public. 
30. (European Parliament, §§ 75-76) - Insists that the Commissi on must be responsible 
for ensuring the completeness, searchability and comparability of the data provided 
 
EN 27   EN concerning the beneficiaries of EU funding, including details of r ecipients and their 
projects; 
 Welcomes the fact that the informati on on EU funding beneficiaries is to be 
published more widely and on an easily a ccessible and user-friendly website, and 
calls for standardisation of the structure and presentation of national, regional and 
international sites accessibl e from a central portal.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission considers that it has i ssued the relevant instructions for 
standardisation of the information to be  presented by the various management 
authorities involved in managing EU f unds, and cannot go further in the present 
context (art 30 FR) as the publication of  beneficiaries under shared management 
is clearly of the responsibility of Member  States. A further coordinated initiative is 
not envisaged at this point. 
On the other hand, the Commission is fo cusing on improving its "Financial 
Transparency System" website that provides  information on beneficiaries of EU 
funds under centralised management, in order to include the publication of 
recipients of public procurement contra cts financed by ad ministrative budget. 
31. (European Parliament, §§ 77-78) - Emphasises once again the need to revise the 
present Code of Conduct of the Members of the Commission in order to remedy 
shortcomings such as: (a) the absence of any definition of the term "conflict of interest", (b) the failure to prescribe a course  of action if a conflict of interest arises, 
(c) a lack of clarity with regard to the acceptance of gifts and hospitality, and (d) the 
absence of any body designated to look into complaints as  well as to relieve the 
President from the (possibl e) duty of self-assessment; 
 Expects the Commission to begin the proce ss of consulting Parliament on revision of 
the present Code of Conduct of the Memb ers of the Commission in accordance with 
the common understanding reached on 27 January 2010 between President José 
Manuel Barroso and Parliament ’s Working Party on the re vision of the Framework 
Agreement between the Parliament and the Commission, and to adopt the revised 
version of its Code of Conduct of the Members of the Commission by August 2010 
at the latest, whilst observing that this re vision should have been done prior to the 
appointment of the new Commission.   
Commission's response:
 
The President of the Commission has already  announced a revision of the Code of 
Conduct for Commissioners in his Political Guidelines. 
This revision will aim at improving the current Code, clarifying obligations 
without introducing unnecessary red-tape.  
As foreseen in the negotiation on th e revision of the Framework Agreement 
between the Parliament and the Co mmission, the Commission will seek 
Parliament's opinion when it comes forw ard with a revision of the Code of 
Conduct for Commissioners relating to conflict of interest or ethical behaviour. 
 
EN 28   EN The Commission has been confronted to many  others priority in the first month of 
its mandate and considers that a revision of  this code is an important issue which 
must be taken seriously. 
32. (European Parliament, § 79-80) - Recalls the importance of complete transparency 
and publicity with regard to staff working in the cabinets of Members of the Commission who have not been recruited in accordance with the Staff Regulations; 
 Also recalls that the binding Code of Conduct of the Members of the Commission 
should incorporate the necessa ry ethical rules and the principal guidelines to be 
observed by Commissioners in the conduct of  their office, in particular when 
appointing colleagues, especi ally to their cabinets.   
Commission's response:
 
The staff of the Cabinets of Members of the Commission is recruited according to 
the set rules. The President of the Co mmission sets the rules concerning the 
composition of the cabinets of the Memb ers of the Commission. As foreseen by 
article 17.6 of the Treaty (TUE), 'the Pr esident of the Commission shall (a) lay 
down guidelines within which the Commissi on is to work…' See also SEC(2010) 
104 of 3 February 2010. 
33. (European Parliament, § 81) - Calls on the Commission to ensure that all staff are 
well trained and properly brie fed about their obligations and rights under Articles 
22a and 22b of the Staff Regulations.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has adopted a Comm unication on ethics (SEC(2008)301), 
containing, amongst others, an action plan  to train, brief and inform staff and 
management on the various ri ghts and obligations in this respect, including art 22 
a and b. 
34. (European Parliament, §§ 82-83) - Notes the small decrease (from 31,8 % in 2007 to 
30,9 % in 2009) in staff allocated to "a dministrative suppor t and coordination 
functions", which forms only part of the overall overhead; recalls its previous 
demands for measures aimed at attaining a pr oportion of 20 % in th is area (paragraph 
217 of its above-mentioned re solution of 23 April 2009); 
 Urges the Commission to submit, together  with the preparatory documents for the 
2011 budget (formerly working documents rela ting to the preliminary draft budget), 
an establishment plan implementing a 3 % reduction in this field as a first step towards reaching the 20 % level by the end of the term of office of the Barroso II Commission.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission has taken the recommended action. 
Taking all persons on Commission premises in early 2010, 29.5% of them were 
engaged in support and coordination functions, compared to 31.8% in 2007, 31.7% 
 
EN 29   EN in 2008 and 30.9% in 2009. This figure come s down to 26.7% if one counts only 
persons serving the Commission in its own administration support and 
coordination functions, after deducting persons identified as serving other 
institutions or agencies.  
The detailed figures were transmitte d by note from Vice-President Šef čovič and 
Commissioner Lewandowski to M. Lama ssoure, President of the EP Budget 
Committee, on 1st June 2010. 
The Commission will continue its efforts of redeploying resources dedicated to 
horizontal and coordinating functions to operational and political tasks, but within 
reasonable limits. For this exercise the 20% figure is not an objective as such. 
35. (European Parliament, § 84) - Calls on the Commission, in the run-up to review of 
the Staff Regulations of officials and Conditi ons of Employment of other servants, to 
devise and submit alternative methods for the adjustment of the pay of officials and other servants on a proper le gal and actuarial basis; cons iders that this should bring 
about a broader basis of calculation for the annual adjustment and a prompter pay 
adjustment, and thus more appropriately reflect general economic developments in 
the Member States.   
Commission's response:
 
Firstly, the method is laid down in the St aff Regulations and is valid until the end 
of 2012. 
It takes into account evolution of purcha sing power of national civil servants in 
central government in eight Member Stat es, representing 76% of EU GDP, and 
thus follows the European Union's economic development. 
The Commission will use its right of in itiative to keep, amend or replace the 
method after its expiry. 
36. (European Parliament, § 85) - Calls on the Commission to assess the value of 
placing candidates in entry pay gr ades solely in the light of their suitability and to put 
forward proposals for placing qualified staff in higher pay grades; expects also, as 
part of the assessment, a report on the prac tical use of cabinet members after they 
leave office and in relation to the entry conditions they were expected to fulfil.   
Commission's response:  
As regards the entry grades, the Commissi on services are elaborating a proposal 
for recruitment of the function group AD officials, where the problem is mostly 
situated, at two different gr ades, recognising the necessity  to take the experience 
into account. The proposal is being examined at the political level. 
As regards the "use" of ex-cabinet membe rs after they leave office, Art. 11 of the 
Conditions of Employment of Other Servan ts states that they are, by analogy, 
subject to the same obligations (and have th e same rights) as officials, viz. those 
defined in art. 11 to 26 of the Staff Re gulations. More specifically, the Commission 
Decision on outside activiti es applies to them as well. 
 
EN 30   EN 37. (European Parliament, § 86) - Calls on the Commission to state its position on the 
extent to which the savings foreseen in the 2004 reform of  the Staff Regulations have 
actually been achieved, especially with re gard to the increase in contributions by 
officials and other servants in the areas of health care and pensions.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission will include elements of  comparison between forecasted and 
effective savings in its proposal for the revi ew of Annex XI to the Staff Regulation, 
in time before its e xpiry at the end of 2012. 
As to the staff's pension contribution, its ra te and increase, if any, is based on an 
analysis of the long-term equilibrium of the system. 
As to the contribution for the Joint Sick ness and Insurance Scheme, a similar rule 
applies. 
38. (European Parliament, § 87) - Proposes that the Commission split the hierarchical 
power between people with accounting resp onsibility and those responsible for 
transferring funds in applica tion of the normal security ru les for internal control in 
treasury management.   
Commission's response:  
In the Commission's context the treasury ma nagement activities that fall under the 
responsibility of the Acco unting Officer are limited in  scope by the Financial 
Regulation and its Implementing Rules. 
In particular the Commission's treasu ry cannot intervene in the payment 
authorisation process (which falls under the responsibility of the Authorising 
Officers), and its responsibility is limi ted to the technical execution of payment 
instructions initiated and fully authorised  by the relevant spending departments. 
The only transfers of funds that can be initiated by the Commission's treasury are 
transfers between its own accounts (that are instructed for cash management 
purposes). The possibility therefore does not exist that funds be transferred to third 
parties on the initiative of the Com mission's treasury department.  
The above in practice leaves the Commis sion's treasury operations without 
responsibilities that could represent any significant poten tial conflict with those of 
its Accountant. 
At the same time within the Commission 's treasury department there is a full 
segregation of duties between the accountin g tasks related to the reconciliation of 
the bank accounts, and the payment exec ution tasks. The two profiles are 
incompatible in the Commission's system, so  that officials authorised to work on 
the payment execution have no authorisatio n to post accounting entries and vice 
versa. 
Finally, a recent audit of the Court of Auditors on the Commission's treasury 
management has not revealed any weaknesses or potential risks in this area. 
 
EN 31   EN 39. (European Parliament, §§ 88-89) - As regards the agencies, the European Parliament 
recalls its demand (paragraphs 254 and 255 of its above-mentioned resolution of 23 
April 2009) for the development and implementation of a general management system for the "regulatory agencies" as well  as for the introduction of an effective 
monitoring system for the Union agencies; 
 Stresses in that regard that, notwithstandi ng the legally independent  status of certain 
agencies, the Commission remains responsib le for the implementation of the budget 
(in accordance with Article 317(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union, Articles 54, 55 and 185 of Regul ation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and 
Article 37 and Article 41(2) of Re gulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002).   
Commission's response:
 
As the Commission already stressed in its  answer to the European Parliament's 
demand in its resolution on the disc harge for 2007 (paragraphs 254 and 255) , it 
cannot create a global management system  or impose guidelines on planning, 
monitoring or reporting issues because of the agencies' independence and because 
of the limits imposed by the Legislative Authority to the Commission in the acts 
creating each agency. 
 
EN 32   EN European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) 
40. (European Parliament, § 90) - Is concerned at the number of investigations taking 
over nine months and the low level of fo llow-up in national j udiciaries of cases 
investigated by OLAF, and believes that an  assessment of the staffing resources in 
OLAF should be carried out in order to see whether increased staffing could bring 
improvements in these two areas.   
Commission's response:  
Duration of investigations: 
In its Management Plan, OLAF has set a ta rget of 24 months for the completion of 
investigations. Results in 2009 were close to the 24 months' target. Continuous 
efforts are made to reduce the length  of investigations. The duration of 
investigations is closely monitored by management. OLAF has put in place a 'de 
minimis' policy and is now de aling with more serious cases than hitherto. From 
July 2010 onwards, OLAF aims to refine its result indicators by differentiating 
between simple cases (which could be completed in less than 18 months) and 
complex cases (which could be completed in  less than 36 months). This is within 
the framework of a policy where OLAF is dealing with cases which are more 
complex and have a higher financial impact. In addition, Article 11(7) of 
Regulation 1073/99 requires the Director of OLAF to inform the Supervisory 
Committee of the reasons for which it ha s not been possible to conclude the 
investigation, and of the expected time fo r completion. This provides an external 
check on the duration of investigations. 
The Commission considers that the reinfo rced monitoring by OLAF's management 
and by the Supervisory Committee will contri bute to a diminution in the duration 
of investigations and considers that it is OLAF's responsibility to assign its 
resources to the most complex cases. 
Judicial follow up by Member States: 
The follow up of OLAF-investigations is complex and judicial proceedings may be 
lengthy. It should be recalled that the Member States are sovereign for the 
prosecution and the judgment of cases. Mo reover, the judicial organisation is 
different in each Member State. OLAF can only transmit a case to recommend 
further action by the national authorities, but cannot compel Member States to act. 
The Commission recognises the need to  ensure a better follow up including 
judicial follow up to OLAF investigations. Therefore its proposal for the 
amendment of Regulation 1073/1999 foresees  that for the purposes of all its 
investigations OLAF should be informed of actions taken by national judicial 
authorities in response to information transmitted during an OLAF investigation 
or after its closure. 
At a practical level, thro ugh its annual conferences for anti-fraud prosecutors, 
OLAF has established a network of specialis ed magistrates, who are able to assist 
in the follow-up. 
 
EN 33   EN Assessment of staffing resources: 
An assessment of the staffing resources in  OLAF is carried out on an annual basis 
in the framework of the establishment of  the OLAF budget. This regular analysis 
led OLAF to embark upon a gradual re balancing in the permanent versus 
temporary post composition of its establishm ent plan in order to stabilize its work 
force. As a matter of fact, the initial em phasis on temporary posts to ensure rapid 
staffing of the newly–created office has turned into a source of instability once 
these staff approached the end of their contract, exposing OLAF to a risk of 
massive departures and loss of know-h ow. With Amending Budget 8/2009, the 
Budget authority approved OLAF's plan to st abilize the office's  workforce through 
external and internal competitions likel y to facilitate the recruitment of OLAF 
temporary agents as officials and throug h a related increase in the proportion of 
officials to temporary agents. As new lists  of laureates of in ternal competitions 
were published in March 2010, further adjus tments to OLAF's establishment plan 
were submitted to the Budget Author ity (Amending Budget 5/2010 and Draft 
Budget 2011). 
41. (European Parliament, §§ 91-92 and 94-95) - Welcomes the undertakings of 15 
January 2010 by the new Commission to unbl ock discussions in the Council about 
the reform of OLAF and to come forwar d, at the latest by July 2010, with the 
promised and long overdue Commission's "reflection paper" as a basis for 
negotiations in the Council; 
 Reiterates the importance of taking into account Parliament’s first-reading position 
of 20 November 2008 on a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 concerning investigations 
conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) , and wishes to re-emphasise 
that, for the future strength  of OLAF, it should remain within the Commission whilst 
retaining its independence; r ecalls that Article 317 of th e Treaty on the Functioning 
of the European Union places an enhanced responsibility on the Member States and 
thus supports Parliament’s continuous cal l for improved cooperation by the Member 
States with OLAF; 
 Requires the Commission to come forward, as  a matter of urgency, with its promised 
and long-awaited ‘reflection paper’, and re iterates the importance of Parliament’s 
above-mentioned first-reading position of 20 November 2008 on the subject; wishes 
to re-emphasise that, for the future stre ngth of OLAF, it shoul d remain within the 
Commission whilst retaining its independenc e; stresses its proposals regarding the 
post of Director-General of OLAF, as contained in Parlia ment’s position, and calls 
for the successful candidate to be appoint ed very quickly; take s the view that the 
selection procedure needs to be carried out in an interinstitutional framework which fully respects Parliament’s prerogatives; 
 Reaffirms its opinion that the procedure for the appointme nt of the interim Director 
General of OLAF must follow mutatis mu tandis the rules contained in the act 
providing for OLAF's legal basis, name ly Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 
1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 
concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) ; 
deplores the Commission's general applic ation of the Staff Regulations and is 
concerned that the Commission's positi on may affect OLAF´s effectiveness.   
 
EN 34   EN Commission's response:  
Reflection paper: 
Commissioner Šemeta presented the reflection paper to the Committee on 
Budgetary Control on 12 July 2010. 
The purpose of the reflection paper is to pu t forward some elements for reflection 
which would help to achieve progress in the inter-institutional debate on the future 
of OLAF. It identifies the convergent an d divergent positions of the EP and the 
Council on the Commission proposal and se ts out possible options in order to 
achieve consensus on the main issues at stake, in particular to increase OLAF’s 
efficiency and accountability while fully respecting its operational independence. 
The proposal for amendment of Regulatio n 1073/1999 and the EP resolution in 1st 
reading represent the starting points for further reflection. 
The Commission hopes that following the re sults of the interinstitutional dialogue 
it can present an amended proposal by the end of 2010 and that the legislative 
process can be concluded by the end of 2011. 
Appointment of the new Director General: 
Following the publication of the vacancy notice, the Commission has endorsed a 
short list of suitable candidates. As required by Regulation 1073/1999, a 
favourable opinion from the Supervisory Committee shall be needed on the short 
list agreed by the Commission. Subsequently, the list of suitable candidates has 
been transmitted to the European Par liament and the Council. While it is 
important to move forward quickly in find ing the new Director General, the first 
priority is to find the best po ssible candidate for this post.  
The Commission is committed to fully resp ecting the provisions of Article 12 of 
Regulation 1073/1999 concerning the appointment  of the Director General and to 
involve the EP and the Council at an early stage.  
Interim arrangements: 
The Commission takes the view  that the acting Director General was confirmed in 
his functions in accordance with the applicable rules and the principle of 
continuity of service. 
42. (European Parliament, § 93) - Wishes to have early sight of the proposal for the 
establishment of a European Public Pros ecutor’s Office (EPPO ) as envisaged in 
Article 86 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; wishes to be involved in the discussions about the establishmen t of an EPPO.   
Commission's response:
 
The Treaty of Lisbon provides for several new means to reinforce the protection of 
the financial interests of the EU. The Union can make use of criminal law (article 
325 TFEU) to reinforce this protection, and set up a body to effectively coordinate 
criminal prosecutions and protect taxpa yers' money: the establishment of a 
 
EN 35   EN European Public Prosecutor's Office from Eurojust as set out in article 86 TFEU. 
The Commission will set out its initial idea s on the ways to promote the cause for 
fighting fraud and enable effective crimin al prosecutions equally in all Member 
States to reinforce the protection of th e EU Budget. To this end, the Commission 
will also adopt, in 2011, an amended proposal on the Regulation on OLAF 
investigations. Preparatory work on the establishment of a European Public 
Prosecutor's Office requires thorough reflection involving all stakeholders. The 
European Parliament will be informed from an early stage. 
 
EN 36   EN Revenue 
43. (European Parliament, § 97) - Takes note, with deep concern, of the Commission’s 
report on the Greek government deficit and debt statistics (COM(2010)0001), which 
raises serious doubts concerning the reliability of the data delivered by the Greek authorities; calls on the Commission to es tablish by its own investigations the 
validity of the data made available in 2008 and to confirm the regularity and legality 
of the calculation and co ntribution of the own resources made available.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. Th e present levels of the Greek Gross 
National Income (GNI) data used for the calculations and contributions for own 
resources, including the data made availa ble in 2008 and 2009, are in line with the 
results of a thorough verification carri ed out by the Commission in 2007. These 
results were discussed and supported by the GNI Committee of Member States. The 
Commission Report COM (2010) 1 final of 8 January 2010 deals with deficit and 
debt data of general government in Greece.  A thorough analysis of the potential 
impact of the issues which emerged from th is deficit and debt verification did not 
reveal a significant impact on GDP/GNI leve ls. It is also reminded that a protective 
regulatory system of reservations is in place that allows the Commission to take 
into consideration, for own resource purposes, possible corrections to GNI data if 
deemed necessary. 
44. (European Parliament, § 98) - Asks the Commission to present its plans on the 
future handling of operations with the Gr eek administration; stresses that staff 
involved in the management of European funds must be excepted from cost-cutting 
measures in order to ensure the mainte nance and integrity of the management 
structures.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission would like to point out that  based on a joined agreement with the 
EU and the IMF Greece has started to implement a comprehensive reform 
programme (Economic Adjustment Programme) as a pre-condition for financial 
assistance. The programme terms include far-reaching reforms of Greek public 
administration, of public financial manage ment and fiscal frameworks as well as 
measures to improve the absorption of EU structural and cohesion funds. 
However, it should be stre ssed that concerning the management of EU funds, 
Greece has already been subject to the same  strict monitoring of the legality and 
regularity of spending as all other Member  States which has inter alia resulted in 
low levels of EU funds disbursement. 
The implementation of the reform progr amme is subject to strict regular 
monitoring. Progress according to the agreed  time-frame is a pre-condition for the 
disbursement of successive tranches of the agreed financial assistance. The first 
phase of the reforms is progressing well and the Commission is convinced that the 
successful implementation of the entire re form programme will lead to substantial 
improvements in Greek fiscal management. 
 
EN 37   EN 45. (European Parliament, § 99) - Notes however, regarding the VAT-based own 
resources, that reservations dating back as far as 1989 contin ue to exist, and calls on 
the Commission, in cooperation with the Memb er States, to conti nue its efforts to 
ensure that reservations are lift ed within reasonable timescales.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has introduced Manageme nt Meetings as an efficient and 
effective tool to address reservations that  merit special attention. The number of 
long outstanding reservations has been reduced from 35 to 12. At the same time 
action has been taken to improve the overal l age-profile of reservations with 63% 
of all reservations now having been set in 2008 or later. 
46. (European Parliament, § 100) - Asks the Commission, regarding GNI-based own 
resources, to follow the C ourt’s recommendation in po int 4.36 of its 2008 Annual 
Report and to communicate to Parliament de tails of the progress made in applying 
direct verification and assessing supervisor y and control systems in Member States’ 
national statisti cal institutes.   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission has set up and applies a 
complete common framework of GNI validation based on the verification and 
improvement of the statistical sources an d methods used by Member States to 
calculate their GNI data (the so-called GNI inventories), taking into account risk 
analysis. The Commission considers that  this approach is essential to reach 
conclusions on the quality of Member St ates' GNI data in accordance with the 
provisions of GNI Regulation (1287/2003). Further to the observations from the 
European Court of Auditors, the Commission started using direct verification since 
2007, and has established specific rules th at were approved by the GNI Committee 
in April 2009. By end February 2010, the Commission carried out direct 
verifications in 24 Member States, cover ing all EU-15 and 9 EU-10 countries. For 
Cyprus and EU-2, direct verifications will be performed in 2010-2011. Finally, in 
continuing to promote the sharing of best practices for the development and 
assessment of national supervisory and control systems between countries, the 
Commission held a seminar on supervisor y and control systems in which Member 
States and the Court of Auditors partic ipated in December 2009. The issue of 
national supervisory and control systems for national accounts will be followed at 
future meetings of the GNI Committee in 2010. 
 
EN 38   EN The common agricultural policy 
47. (European Parliament, § 102) - The overall credibility of the system must not be 
jeopardised by the extreme spread of on-the- spot error rates by Member State in the 
implementation of area aids; calls for well di rected, immediate measures resulting in 
both administrative relief for outperf orming Member States and effective 
countermeasures;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The control requirements on Member States 
in the field of agriculture take into a ccount the principle of proportionality. An 
example is the percentage of direct aid applications to be checked by Member 
States which increases if the level of irregu larities found in the initial 5% sample is 
high. 
Where in the past significant weaknesses ha ve been identified, the Member States 
concerned have been requested to esta blish detailed action plans in close 
cooperation with the Commission. The imp lementation of such action plans is 
closely followed up by the Commission. 
48. (European Parliament, § 106) - Calls for a simplification of complex rules and more 
precise definitions of eligibility criteria, especially for agri-environmental schemes, 
first of all at Commission level but also at national level, in the context of the rural 
development plans, and asks also for all stakeholders to be given more 
comprehensive and clearer instructions and guidelines, and for trai ning actions to be 
organised;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking  the requested action. 
Rural development measures, and notably agri-environmental ones, are 
characterised by more demanding eligibil ity criteria compared to direct payment 
schemes. The resulting complexity is kn own and accepted as a condition to achieve 
the overall objective of providing environm ental benefits and public goods through 
these aid schemes. 
Nevertheless, there is scope for some si mplification of the agri-environmental 
measures. The Commission has taken several measures to simplify existing rules 
and to ensure effective and efficient imple mentation of the control rules in rural 
development. In particular Commission  Regulation (EC) 1975/2006 has for the 
first time established a comprehensive an d transparent legal control framework for 
rural development. Furthermore, the Commission has established in 2007 a final 
version of a guidance note providing gu idelines and additional explanations for 
the implementation of agri-environmental measures. Finally, the Commission has 
enhanced its audit activities in this area. 
However, it should be noted that the rural development programmes are 
implemented under the shared management and that the Community legislation 
 
EN 39   EN only provides a general legal framework whereas it is up to the Member States 
themselves to define detailed eligibility criteria at national level. Furthermore, 
Annex VI of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 requires that the 
managing authorities disseminate the most  comprehensive info rmation possible on 
the financing opportunities covering, in ter alia, application procedure, the 
eligibility conditions and selection criteria. 
Commission Regulation (EC) 1975/2006 will be recast during 2010 in order to 
simplify and clarify certain rules. In  addition, as part of DG AGRI 2010 annual 
audit work programme, a task force has been set up to follow up the high error 
rate reported by certain Member States in 2009 for rural development measures 
under axis 2. 
49. (European Parliament, § 109) - Emphasises the importance of prompt and thorough 
ex-post audits to detect ineligible expenditure and/or inadequate supporting 
documentation, in order to allow the necessary corrections to be made;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken.  
All aid measures other than direct payment s covered by the IACS are subject to ex-
post controls under either Regulation ( EC) No 485/2008 or, for rural development 
measures, Regulation (EC) No 1975/2006. More over, the paying agencies' annual 
accounts and the functioning of their intern al control procedures are verified and 
certified on an ex-post basis by the cer tification bodies. Both types of ex-post 
controls are carried out in accordance w ith an annual audit plan established on 
the basis of a pre-determined audit strategy. 
50. (European Parliament, § 111) - Considers that the question of beneficiaries who do 
not meet the definition of "farmers", as  denounced by the Court in the 2008 Annual 
Report, should be resolved by the Commission in order to provide a greater level of 
assurance which can be gained from the work of the ce rtification bodies;   
Commission's response:  
Under EU legislation, natural or legal pe rsons are entitled to receive SPS/SAPS 
payments if they carry out an agricultural activity. An agricultural activity means 
the production, rearing or growing of agr icultural products including harvesting, 
milking, breeding animals and keeping animals for farming purposes, or  
maintaining the land in good agricultural (and environmental) condition . Thus, it 
is sufficient that the beneficiary fulfils it s obligation to maintain the rural area at 
its disposal in good agricultural (a nd environmental) conditions. 
However, as regards the Parliament's request, the Commission has already 
addressed the issue of the farmer definitio n in the framework of the Health Check 
by giving Member States th e possibility to exclude fr om direct payment schemes 
natural or legal persons whose princi pal business objects do not consist of 
exercising an agricultural activity or whos e agricultural activities are insignificant 
(Article 28(2) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009). 
 
EN 40   EN Further reflexion will take place in the scope of the post 2013 CAP reform. 
51. (European Parliament, § 112) - Takes note of the conclusions of the Court and 
therefore urges the Commission to improve checks in those Member States which 
did not comply with Community legisla tion when allocating entitlements beyond the 
provisions of the regulations;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. We aknesses in the allocation of entitlements 
are being followed up by the Commission in the framework of the conformity 
clearance procedures. 
52. (European Parliament, § 114) - Asks the Commission to carr y out a detailed follow-
up to ensure that the debts at the overall level of the debtors’ accounts are correct and 
properly charged to the Community budget;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission obtained enough 
information on debtors for clearance and accounting purposes. Corrections 
amounting to EURO 14.8 million have been proposed by the Commission based on 
its assessment of the errors found by the certification bodies in their reports. The 
financial errors found are followed up through the normal clearance of accounts 
procedures. 
 
EN 41   EN Cohesion 
53. (European Parliament, § 116) - Stresses the absolute prio rity of further reducing 
global error rates, which remained high in  this spending area in 2008, and of 
improving the Commission's supervisi on and the system of recoveries;   
Commission's response:  
The Court's 2008 Annual report is based on a sample of 2000-2006 expenditure 
only. Therefore the situation was expected to be in line with the previous annual 
reports. For 2000-2006 the Commission will correct the deficiencies identified 
during implementation, and ensu re a rigorous closure process. 
For the 2007-2013 programmes, the Commission  considers that the reinforced 
legal framework has enhanced management and control systems. But also the vast 
simplification measures adopted in 2008-2009 should lead to lower error rates in 
interim payments. The first effects of this reinforced control framework are 
expected to be visible at the end of  2010 onwards, based on the results of 
Community audits and after receiving in December 2010 (and thereafter in 
December each year) the results of th e 2009 audits by Member States' audit 
authorities on the first yearly statistical samples of expenditure declared under the 
2007-2013 programmes. 
An indication on the results of the reinforced control framework is the 
Commission's audit of a sample of projects under the 2007-2013 period, using a 
methodology similar to the Court's. As refl ected in the Commission's Impact report 
of 17 February 2010 (COM(2010)52), the firs t preliminary results of this inquiry 
reveal a clear decrease of the estimated error rate that suggests that actions taken 
are sound. Nevertheless, this result should be read with prudence, as it is based on 
a population of 15 Member States, as not all of them, including some countries 
where most of the important errors were concentrated in the past, had declared 
expenditure by the end of May 2009. 
54. (European Parliament, § 120 (1st part)) - Reiterates its call for further simplification 
of the rules proposed by the Commission a nd, at the same time, for the introduction 
of more efficient controls at national and EU level, with a view to effective 
implementation of the Structural and Cohesion Funds;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission fully agrees and has already taken steps in order to translate this 
request into concrete action. In 2008, the Commission set up a Task Force at 
Commission level between DG REGIO and DG  EMPL, with the aim to identify 
specific measures to be adopted at legislat ive and non-legislative level in order to 
facilitate the financial flows to beneficiar ies and simplify the implementation of 
interventions, while ensuring the EU fina ncial interests. This Task Force had 
several reflections and discussions with  an Expert Group on Simplification, 
composed by national experts from managi ng authorities, certifying authorities 
and audit authorities in the Member St ates. Several of the proposals discussed 
within the Task Force and the Expert  Group are reflected in the three 
 
EN 42   EN modifications of the General Regula tion, the amendment of ESF and ERDF 
Regulations as well as the amendmen t of the Commission's implementing 
Regulation. For simplified costs, whic h have a clear added-value in terms of 
implementation and controls, the adoption of the Commission guidelines on 28 
January 2010 is expected to facilitate Me mber States' use of  these options. In 
parallel, the Commission services are providing their ex-ante assessment on 
national proposals for the calculation of indirect costs on a flat-rate basis, 
trainings and, if needed, assistance to national authorities. 
Simplification of the regulatory framew ork comes to an end but the Commission 
will pursue this objective. After the last se t of simplifying legislative measures was 
adopted by the Parliament in 2010, the Commission intends to pursue its 
simplification efforts by discussing with Member States on further simplification of 
the practical working arrangements. 
The single audit principle incorporated in  the regulatory framework applicable for 
2007-2013 (article 73 of Regulation 1083/2006) is  expected to improve controls at 
national level: national audit authorities will work closely with Community audit 
services in the same assu rance building process. 
55. (European Parliament, § 120 (2nd part)) - Takes the view that an objective 
assessment of the effects of the simplif ication measures introduced in 2008-2009 is 
essential, and calls on the Commission to carry out this assessment by the end of 
2010;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission fully agrees and has already taken steps in order to translate this 
request into concrete action. In 2008, the Commission set up a Task Force at 
Commission level between DG REGIO and DG  EMPL, with the aim to identify 
specific measures to be adopted at legislat ive and non-legislative level in order to 
facilitate the financial flows to beneficiar ies and simplify the implementation of 
interventions, while ensuring the EU fina ncial interests. This Task Force had 
several reflections and discussions with  an Expert Group on Simplification, 
composed by national experts from managi ng authorities, certifying authorities 
and audit authorities in the Member St ates. Several of the proposals discussed 
within the Task Force and the Expert  Group are reflected in the three 
modifications of the General Regula tion, the amendment of ESF and ERDF 
Regulations as well as the amendmen t of the Commission's implementing 
Regulation. For simplified costs, whic h have a clear added-value in terms of 
implementation and controls, the adoption of the Commission guidelines on 28 
January 2010 is expected to facilitate Me mber States' use of  these options. In 
parallel, the Commission services are providing their ex-ante assessment on 
national proposals for the calculation of indirect costs on a flat-rate basis, 
trainings and, if needed, assistance to national authorities. 
Simplification of the regulatory framew ork comes to an end but the Commission 
will pursue this objective. After the last se t of simplifying legislative measures was 
adopted by the Parliament in 2010, the Commission intends to pursue its 
simplification efforts by discussing with Member States on further simplification of 
the practical working arrangements. 
 
EN 43   EN The first effects of the reinforced control framework are expected to be visible at 
the end of 2010 onwards, based on the re sults of Community audits and after 
receiving in December 2010 the results of th e 2009 audits by Member States' audit 
authorities on the first yearly statistical samples of expenditure declared under the 
2007-2013 programmes. An indication on the results of the reinforced control 
framework is the Commission's audit of  a sample of projects under the 2007-2013 
period, using a methodology similar to the Court's. As reflected in the 
Commission's Impact report of 18 February  2010, the first preliminary results of 
this inquiry reveal a clear decrease of the estimated error rate that suggests that 
actions taken are sound. Nevertheless, th is result should though be read with 
prudence, as it is based on a population of 15 Member States, as  not all of them, 
including some countries where in the past where concentrated most of the 
important errors, had declared ex penditure by the end of May 2009. 
56. (European Parliament, § 121) - Present, in addition to the current Action Plan, a 
proposal in cooperation with the Cour t of Auditors for solving the phasing 
difficulties between the multiannual budgetary  framework and the annual auditing 
system;   
Commission's response:  
The Court of Auditors is bound by the Treaties and gives an annual opinion of the 
implementation of the Commission budget. Structural Funds programmes run in a 
multiannual framework. The Commission en sures the protection of the financial 
interests of the Union by applying the management and control systems and 
procedures as provided for in the financ ial and sector regulations decided by the 
legislator in order to prevent, detect and correct errors harming the EU budget. 
Multiannual programmes are subject to multiannual control systems and many 
errors detected by the Court in a given ye ar would normally have been detected 
and corrected by Commission's systems in subsequent years. This can be 
demonstrated by calculating residual e rror rates at the time of closure of a 
programme, which have been shown in th e past to be lower than during the 
implementation period. 
Note 6 to the consolidated accounts presen ts information on financial corrections 
confirmed and implemented in a specific yea r, as well as cumulative information. 
It has been reviewed for the 2009 acco unts. The Commission has improved the 
presentation to respond to stakeholders’ requests. 
57. (European Parliament, § 122) - Asks the Commission to pr ovide for translation in 
due course of the guidelines for public  authorities in the Member States;   
Commission's response:  
Several guidelines are already available for the Member States in all official 
languages. The remaining translations will be made available by the end of 
October 2010. 
 
EN 44   EN 58. (European Parliament, § 125) - Encourages the Commission to further increase its 
efforts by providing guidance to Member Stat es and encouraging them to strengthen 
recovery procedures and reporting;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. It considers appropriate training 
for national authorities of utmost importan ce in the context of shared management 
of the structural funds. Since the beginni ng of the current programming period the 
Commission has provided regular and early training and guidance to the 
competent authorities in th e Member States. Specific tr aining actions were also 
foreseen in the Commission Actio n Plan adopted in February 2008 
(COM(2008)97) in that regard and ar e carried out on a regular basis. 
The strict policy applied by the Commission in matter of payment suspension and 
financial correction is a clear incentive to Member States for implementing 
financial corrections where needed. 
The Commission is also taking  steps to improve the qualit y of information provided 
by Member States on recoveries. It has analysed the information provided in 
previous years and made appropriate recommendations where needed. It has 
written to all Member States in Decembe r 2009 requesting information related to 
2009 and previous years. It has also requested Member States to ensure that gaps 
and inconsistencies of previous reportin g rounds are remedied. Moreover, the 
Commission carried out in 2009 a second seri es of on-the-spot reviews of Member 
States systems for recoveries, covering nine Member States, in addition to the ten 
Member States audited in 2008. It will comp lete the reviews in 2010 with visits to 
the remaining Member States. Those st eps have shown results, as the data 
provided by the Member States in 2009 are of better quality compared to the 
previous years. 
59. (European Parliament, § 127) - Calls on the Commission to verify the origin of the 
infringement of public procurement rules;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. The Commission has recently 
initiated an ex-post evaluation of the releva nce, effectiveness and efficiency of the 
basic EU public procurement legislat ive framework (Dir ectives 2004/17/EC and 
2004/18/EC). The evaluation will focus pr imarily on: (1) analysing the cost-
effectiveness of public procurement pro cedures and rules, including compliance 
costs and administrative burden; (2) e xamining ways in which EU public 
procurement framework can be used to support other policy objectives (promoting 
innovation, environmental protection and social inclusion). The evaluation will 
also include description of Member State implementation and administrative 
structure to implement public procurement policy, including EU legislation in this 
area. The results of th e evaluation will be finalised by summer 2011. 
In addition, a Commission interservice task  force is examining the most common 
public procurement issues arising in th e context of implementation of cohesion 
projects. 
 
EN 45   EN The Commission will, where applicable conti nue to audit the application of the EU 
directives on public procurement by carry ing out its own enquiries in some cases 
or by asking the Member States' audit authorities to perform such enquiries on its 
behalf. 
60. (European Parliament, § 128) - Encourages the Commissi on to present by 2011 at 
the latest a proposal on tolerable risk of error in the Cohesion policy area, which has 
been the most error-prone area;   
Commission's response:  
The Communication "More or less control. Striking the right balance between the 
administrative costs of control and the risk of error" of 26 May 2010 (COM(2010) 
261) included proposals on tolerable risk of error for Rural development and for 
Research, Energy and transport. For "Cohesion Policy", a new analysis will be 
presented towards the end of 2011, once 2010 DAS results are available. It is 
important that this analys is is based on 2010 data du ring which the new legal 
framework (2007-2013 legislation)  with its stronger contro l provisions will govern 
most expenditure and newly implemented simplifications will have kicked in. 
In line with the objective of its future TRE proposals, the Commission will analyse 
the resources available and the part of th ose resources dedicated to the control 
systems when defining a cost-effective leve l of control for all the remaining policy 
areas. 
61. (European Parliament, § 129) - Calls on the Commission to make an initial analysis, 
as a matter of urgency, of the cost-ben efit ratio existing between the resources 
dedicated to control activities in DG RE GIO and DG EMPL and the results obtained 
by these controls;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the recommended action. It has already carried out an 
initial analysis on the cost of controls and their results in the Cohesion area for the 
2000-2006 period. The results of this analys is were published by the Commission 
in its Communication on the concept of  tolerable risk of error (COM(2008)866 
final). The Commission will present toward s the end of 2011 an analysis of the 
same concept, based on analysis of the 2010 DAS, which will cover the first year 
when the strengthened control provis ions for the 2007-2013 legislative period 
govern the majority of expenditure in this area. 
62. (European Parliament, § 131) - Stresses the need to ensure that the situation in 
which, with the 2000-2006 programming period coming to an end, national 
authorities, under pressure to absorb al l committed funds, may have submitted an 
increasing number of unfor eseen projects, wi ll not be repeated in the current 
programming period and calls  on the Commission to strictly apply corrective and 
dissuasive measures (suspens ions of payments and fina ncial corrections) against 
Member States where appropriate;   
 
EN 46   EN Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the recommend ed action. The automatic decommitment 
rule applicable in the period 2000-2006 ensu red that expenditure is used by 
Member States in a uniform manner thro ughout the period, in order to avoid 
massive expenditure declarations in the last year, as was the case in 1994-1999. 
The Commission monitored in addition th e advance in the implementation of 
programmes through participation in mon itoring committees and continuous 
contacts with Member States authoritie s. In addition, in the context of the 
economic crisis and the risk of losing f unds, the Commission granted an extension 
to the eligibility period for some programmes. 
The introduction in the operational progr ammes of projects first financed at a 
national level is not, per se, an irregu lar practice but compliance with all legal 
requirements and control criteria should be  fully applied to those projects. In 2005 
the Commission issued guidance to Member States confirming that these projects 
could only be included retrospectively in the operational programmes if they meet 
all requisite conditions, including fulfil ment of the programme objectives and 
selection criteria, the eligibility criteria, the performance of controls, the publicity 
requirements etc. 
Where these requirements were not me t, the Commission has already applied 
suspensions of payments and financ ial corrections where necessary. 
Finally, the Commission has put in place and is implementing a comprehensive 
closure strategy, which includes a seri es of preventive (c losure guidelines, 
seminars and training to Member States authorities, review of the work of the 
winding-up bodies) and corrective measures  (strict application of suspensions and 
financial corrections and closure audits) in  order to ensure that final expenditure 
declared to the Commission is legal, regular and eligible. 
63. (European Parliament, § 132) - Calls on the Commission to perform its supervisory 
role with the utmost rigour in what concerns  the increased probability that the control 
systems fail to prevent and detect errors du ring the start-up phase due to the slow 
start-up of programmes rela ted to the 2007-2013 programming period due to the late 
submission by Member States of compliance assessment reports a nd audit strategies;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested ac tion. In spite of not having approved 
management and control systems, it considers that there is a limited risk that such 
systems, approved at national level, do not comply with requirements and do not 
function effectively. Mitigating controls are in place and the Structural Funds 
Directorates-General have taken this risk in to account in its aud it strategy and also 
drawn this risk to the attention of th e audit authorities. Each national audit 
authority has to present to the Commission  their conclusions from the audit of a 
representative sample of operations on expe nditure declared in each year and an 
opinion on the effective functioning of systems. 
When irregularities are detected the Co mmission will not hesitate to perform its 
supervisory role and, where necessary has already interrupted payments, or 
 
EN 47   EN launched procedures to suspend payments or  proceed with financial corrections, in 
accordance with the strengthened  regulatory framework for 2007-2013. 
64. (European Parliament, § 133) - Requests the Commission to identify and spread best 
practices amongst Member States in order to  allow an increased absorption of funds 
and improved beneficiary cash-flow by amending and simplifying the Structural 
Funds implementing regulations at national level;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. The Commission will continue its 
training and guidance activities to iden tify and spread best  practices amongst 
Member States at all levels. 
65. (European Parliament, § 135) - Requests the Commission to provide it, in its 
forthcoming synthesis report and its DGs ' annual activity reports, with clear 
information identifying those Member Stat es the control systems of which are the 
least effective and producing an annual grading of Member States for each fund;   
Commission's response:  
The 2009 AARs show a noticeable improve ment across the Commission, both in 
terms of the quality of the evidence presented in support of the assurance and the 
readability of the reports. 
The Standing Instructions for the AARs  were subject to a major overhaul, 
including the introduction of a clear distin ction between the information to provide 
on the financial and nonfinancial internal  control systems and the building blocks 
supporting the declaration of assurance. 
The Peer Review of the annual activity reports was further enhanced by early 
interventions by Central Services (pre-p eer reviews) and syst ematic feedback to 
services on the quality of their reports. 
Most Commission services already provid e in their annual activity reports a clear 
assessment of the effectiven ess of their (and Member State's regarding shared 
management) internal control systems. 
They also provide a clear identification of programmes and Member States which 
are the least effective and detailed info rmation on the identified weaknesses and 
remedial measures underway. 
The Synthesis report adequately addresse s the weaknesses identified and is not 
intended to set up a grading list of th e best and worst management systems. 
66. (European Parliament, § 136) - Draws attention to the Court's observation, similar to 
that for the year 2007, that the scope and scale of the reservations in the annual 
activity reports understate the gravity of the problems of irregularity and ineffective control systems; takes the view, therefore,  that the DGs' approach should be more 
prudent and the scope of the rese rvations consequentially greater;   
 
EN 48   EN Commission's response:  
The Commission considers that the reservations in the 2008 Annual Activity 
reports are in line with the materiality crit eria established and give a fair view of 
the existing system weaknesses. Reserv ations of DGs Regional Policy and 
Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities were based on a detailed 
analysis of each operation al programme, using a variet y of sources, notably the 
Commission's own audit work, the results of the Court's audits, national audit 
work, the Annual Summaries, annual impleme ntation reports and meetings of the 
Monitoring Committees. This analysis result ed in more narrow reservations than 
in 2007 due to the implementa tion of the Action Plan and vigorous action by the 
Commission to suspend payments and to make financial corrections where 
justified. The Commission concluded with effective results 24 national corrective 
action plans, followed up all reservatio ns in the 2007 AARs and applied more than 
€3.8 billion financial co rrections in 2008 and 2009. 
It is important to note that the Court's fi ndings show that the errors detected by the 
Court in Cohesion Policy in 2008 are con centrated on programmes for which the 
Commission was already aware of deficien cies and had put in reservation the 
relevant programmes and had taken befo rehand appropriate action, such as 
suspensions of payments, action plans and financial corrections. 
67. (European Parliament, § 138) - Takes the view that the Commission should make 
sure that, in future, only irregularities iden tified by Member States themselves can be 
substituted for other expenditure without a ny loss of funding for the Member State 
concerned;   
Commission's response:  
The legal framework provides that if th e Commission applies a financial correction 
and the Member States accepts this correct ion, it can re-use the funds for another 
eligible project within the same programme.  
68. (European Parliament, § 139 (1st part)) - Calls on the Commission to take further 
steps to ensure that Member States fulfil th eir obligations by rigorously verifying and 
assessing the reliability and completeness of  the reported data, and looks forward to 
receiving the new guidance note to certifyi ng authorities, including the Commission's 
recommendations for improvi ng reporting procedures;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. In the framework of its 2008 
Action Plan the Commission has carried ou t audits of Member States' systems for 
withdrawals and recoveries in 19 Member  States. The remaining Member States 
will be audited in 2010. 
For the 2007-2013 period, there is a standar dised procedure for submission of 
recovery statements through the IT syst em SFC2007. The Commission expects that 
this reporting procedure will improve the qu ality of information in its disposal. 
Member States are also required to distin guish corrections deriving from their own 
controls and those from EU audits. 
 
EN 49   EN The requested guidance note has already  been finalised in early 2010 (COCOF 
10/0002/00/EN) and will be communicated to the European Parliament. 
69. (European Parliament, § 139 (2nd part)) - Requests the Commission to identify in 
its forthcoming synthesis report those Memb er States that are not fully complying 
with the reporting requirements;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission has published the 
information on the quality of the Member States' reporting systems on withdrawals 
and recoveries in the Annual Report on the implementation of the Structural 
Funds. The Structural Funds DGs have published this information in their 
respective Annual Activity Reports. 
70. (European Parliament, § 142) - Asks the Commission to constantly monitor the 
plausibility of the reported numbers a nd to verify on the basis of its own 
investigations the efficiency of repor ting systems where the reported number of 
irregularities appears to be excessively low;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. In the framework of its 2008 
Action Plan the Commission has carried ou t audits of Member States' systems for 
withdrawals and recoveries in 19 Member  States. The remaining Member States 
will be audited in 2010. 
71. (European Parliament, § 143 (1st part)) - Calls on the Commission to provide 
detailed information on the implementati on figures and distribution schemes for 
payments made out of the European Uni on Solidarity Fund by th e Greek authorities 
following the devastating forest fires;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the reques ted action. Detailed information on 
implementation of the EU Solidarity Fund grants as well as on the obligatory 
controls to be carried out by a Member State under the Solidarity Fund regulation, 
as well as on any possible corrections m ade as a result of such controls, are 
provided by the Member State when it subm its its Validity Statement together with 
the final report. Greece has only recen tly submitted such a statement. The 
document is currently in the process of being analysed by the Commission. 
72. (European Parliament , § 143(2nd part)) - Calls on the Commission to provide 
information on the ex-post controls carri ed out and the results thereof on the 
implementation figures and distribution sc hemes for payments made out of the 
European Union Solidarity Fund by the Gr eek authorities following the devastating 
forest fires;   
 
EN 50   EN Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the reques ted action. Detailed information on 
implementation of the EU Solidarity Fund grants as well as on the obligatory 
controls to be carried out by a Member State under the Solidarity Fund regulation, 
as well as on any possible corrections m ade as a result of such controls, are 
provided by the Member State when it subm its its Validity Statement together with 
the final report. Greece has only recen tly submitted such a statement. The 
document is currently in the process of being analysed by the Commission. 
 
EN 51   EN Employment and social affairs 
73. (European Parliament, § 148) - Encourages the Commission to put its own figure on 
the ESF error rate and to examine the possibility of greater autonomy for the ESF in the forthcoming financing period;   
Commission's response:
 
The error rate provided by the Court of au ditors on a yearly basis is the result of an 
extrapolation based on its audit work co nducted on a sample of transactions 
covering all Member States and all the funds under the Cohesion policy chapter. 
Even if it is not possible fo r the Court to extrapolate an individual error rate for 
the ESF (because ESF transactions are sti ll part of the Cohesion sample), some 
specific figures for each fund can be found in the Annex 6.1 of the 2008 annual 
report. 
It should also be noted that neither the Commission nor the Court compile an 
error rate by fund as this is not required by the applicable legal framework and this 
would require diverting significant resources  from other essential audit activities. 
The audits performed by Member States audit bodies are partially representative 
and partially risk based, and by the Commission risk-based, error rates cannot be 
produced or considered representative of the programmes. For Structural funds, 
for the period 2007-2013, the regulations requ ire the audit author ities to provide 
the Commission with annual control opinions and error rates, as a result of their 
audits, which will be based on random st atistical samples. Therefore such rates 
will better reflect the exact situatio n per programme, year after year. 
Nonetheless, the error rate cannot be used  as the only indicator of the effective 
functioning of the systems. DG EMPL aud it services are already providing an 
overall assessment programme by programme  in the Annual Acti vity Reports; and 
are working closely with the national audi t authorities to provide assurance to the 
Director General for Employment that control systems function effectively. 
The Commission takes note of the sugges tion of the European Parliament for a 
greater autonomy of the ESF. This ques tion will naturally be examined in the 
framework of the discussions and negotiations around the new Financial 
Framework 2014-2020. 
74. (European Parliament, § 150) - Notes that the error rate does not necessarily refer 
solely to fraud, and calls, therefore, for a clear distinction to be made between 
instances of fraud and er ror rates in the future;   
Commission's response:  
In its audits for DAS 2008, th e Court of Auditors did not identify any fr aud case in 
the Cohesion policy area. The Commission pursues actively its activities in the 
prevention and detection of fraud in close co-operation with OLAF. The audit 
services of the Commission are also implementing the "Joint fraud prevention 
strategy for ERDF, ESF and CF" appr oved in December 2008 by DG EMPL, 
REGIO and OLAF. 
 
EN 52   EN 75. (European Parliament, § 151 (1st part)) - Calls for an appraisa l of the reporting 
requirements, with a view to ensuring that information is not sought twice;   
Commission's response:  
All reporting requested to Member Stat es authorities are subject to legal 
requirements in the specific regulation on Structural Funds. The two reports 
mentioned are established by different authorities on different purposes. 
The annual control report contains the find ings of the audits carried out during 
the previous year by the national audit au thority. The common audit strategy set 
up by art. 73 of Reg. 1083/2006 is specifica lly aimed at avoiding duplication of 
audit work by setting up a co-operation framework between national and 
community audit services. 
The annual implementation report is establ ished by the management authority in 
application of art. 67 of Reg. 1083/2006 and co vers all issues (including financial) 
in relation to the implementation of th e operational progra mme on the ground. 
The Commission has specifically addresse d the issue of the simplification in 
reporting requirements by adopting Reg. 846/2009 of 1 September 2009 amending 
implementing regulation 1828/2006 (OJ L 250, 23.9.2009, p. 1–62). 
76. (European Parliament, § 151 (2nd part)) - Calls on the Commission, therefore, to 
develop proposals to impr ove and expand the existi ng reporting requirements, 
incorporating a sanctions mechanism;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission proposal for a new Financia l Regulation (art. 53a) reinforces the 
reporting obligations of the Member St ates in the framework of shared 
management. Although specific sanctions on reporting requirements by national 
authorities are not provided  by the legal framework currently applicable to 
Structural Funds for the 2007-2013 programmi ng period, in the absence of annual 
audit reports, the Commission may interrupt  interim payments until the required 
reports are received. The Commission  has already applied such payment 
interruptions on this basis. 
77. (European Parliament, § 152) - Notes the scope for conflicts of interest between 
those responsible for managing funding and be neficiaries of funding in the allocation 
process; calls on the Commission to take st eps to enforce the rules on the prevention 
of conflicts of interest in the allocati on process by providing national administrations 
with adequate resources;   
Commission's response:  
Regulation 1828/2006 requires in its art. 13 (5) that where the managing authority 
is also a beneficiary under the operational programme, Member State's authorities 
should provide for arrangement for the administrative verifications and on-the-
spot controls to be provided by the managing authority to ensure an adequate 
separation of functions in accor dance with art.58(b) of Reg.1083/2006. The 
 
EN 53   EN Commission services pay attention to the re spect of this obligation in their audit 
activities and take legal actions (interrup tions, suspensions or financial correction) 
where an audit report shows that these legal requirements are not respected. 
78. (European Parliament, § 153) - Underlines the specific ne eds of target groups and 
project leaders in the ESF;  suggests that the co-finan cing of projects should also 
include voluntary activities in non-profit- making organisations and contributions in 
kind;   
Commission's response:  
Non-profit bodies are typical beneficiar ies in ESF operational programmes. In-
kind contributions are specifically r ecognised by art 56 of Reg. 1083/2006 as 
eligible expenditure under the conditions that they are eligible under national 
eligibility rules, their amount is justif ied by accounting documents with probative 
value equivalent to invoices and the co -financing from the Funds does not exceed 
the total eligible expenditure excluding the value of in-kind contributions. 
79. (European Parliament, § 154) - Recalls the latest amendments made to the Structural 
Fund Regulations (Regulation (EC) No  1341/2008 , Regulation (EC) No 284/2009 , 
Regulation (EC) No 396/2009 , Regulation (EC) No 397/2009 and Regulation (EC) 
No 846/2009 ) with the aim of simplifying administrative procedures; calls for a 
report on the effects of these amendments;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission estimates that the full effect of the simpli fication on the error rate 
may only be seen later on in the 2007-2013 programming period, when the impact 
of the new regulatory framework an d all simplification measures adopted, 
including simplified costs, will produce ta ngible results. Nevertheless, it estimated 
in its impact report on the Commissi on Action Plan (COM(2010)52) that the 
decrease in error rate s for representative sa mples taken from 2007-2013 
programmes is already an indication of the first impact of the improved control 
mechanisms in the 2007-2013 regulations and of the strengthened supervisory role 
of the Commission following its Action Plan. 
80. (European Parliament, § 155) - Notes that such simplification procedures are key to 
reducing administrative burdens at national,  regional and local levels; stresses the 
importance of ensuring that such procedures do not lead to a higher error rate in the 
future;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission fully agrees with the Cour t of Auditors which advised to pursue 
further the simplification with care . The Commission intends to pursue the 
simplification exercise through practical working arrangements with Member 
States, while maintaining the momentum re ached through the Action Plan of 2008 
in the strict application of the reinfo rced regulatory framework for 2007-2013, 
including by applying interruptions, su spensions of payments and financial 
corrections where necessary. The Commission services will continue to bring their 
assistance to Member States authorities in the implementation of the simplification 
 
EN 54   EN exercise. In the specific context of ESF operations, the Commission services have 
already offered to Member States authorities to review - before their 
implementation - the schemes envisaged at a national level for the declaration of 
indirect costs at a flat rate, which, at 30 June 2010, conducted to the approval of 20 
schemes applicable to operationa l programmes of 10 Member States. 
 
EN 55   EN Internal policies 
81. (European Parliament, §§ 156-164, 168-169) - As regards research, energy and 
transport, the European Parliament welcomes  the slight reduction in errors compared 
to previous years for this policy group as well as the improvement concerning late 
payments, the Court having found that th e Commission considerably improved its 
performance in 2008 in making timely payments to beneficiaries; 
 Urges the Commission to do its utmost to maintain the positive 2008 trend in this 
area, which is under the Commission' s direct financial management; 
 Nevertheless, notes with concern that, in  general, as regards research, energy and 
transport the Court's audit once again reveals a material level of error in payments to 
beneficiaries and in the Co mmission's supervisory and control systems, which do not 
sufficiently mitigate the inherent risk of  reimbursement of overstated costs; 
 Is especially concerned by the outstandi ng reservation made by the four Research 
family services due to the rate of residual errors affecting cost claims in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6); 
 Notes also the systemic disparity in the treatment of the EU's funds' recipients in 
different sectors, programme s and management modes; 
 Is concerned that the EU's public image may suffer as a result of the stakeholders' 
realisation that stricter control systems are applied to the agricultural domain than to 
research implementation; 
 Notes that some legal provisions rega rding research funding (e.g. concerning 
sanctions) were not applied previously, and calls on the Commission to end this state 
of affairs and to ensure the full and cons istent application of  the existing legal 
provisions; 
 Recalls at the same time its demands rais ed in its above-menti oned resolution of 23 
April 2009 (paragraph 117 et al), in particul ar its request for abstention from any 
retroactive changes and for beneficiaries’ legitimate expectati ons to be honoured, as 
well as speeding up the acceptance of cer tificates concerni ng the methodology 
applied in relation to average personnel co sts, where no visible progress has been 
achieved; calls on the Commission, for th e purposes of good law-making, to submit 
realistic proposals in terms of both ta rgets and procedures in the future; 
 In that regard, notes with deep concer n that only one certific ate concerning the 
methodology applied in relation to averag e personnel costs has been approved; 
 Stresses that the Commission must ensure rigorous application of the controls, in 
particular by improving the reliability of audit certificates and through effective 
implementation of its ex-post audit strategy, imposing penalties where appropriate and making timely recoveries or adjustments in cases of undue reimbursement of 
claimed costs, as recommended by the Court; 
 Also requests the Commission to reflect on the distribution of activities between the 
research DGs, which, combined with the absence of an integrated management 
 
EN 56   EN information system, according to the Court renders coordination more difficult, in 
particular for the follow-up of audit results;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission aims to provide a cohe rent audit programming, respecting the 
single audit approach. 
The implementation of the FP6 audit strate gy in place in the Commission will end 
in 2010 and consequently at that time the Commission will get the final error rate 
for the whole FP6. According to the results of the audit strategy , the situation at 
the end of 2009 has further improved. The error rate is, in 2009, 2.21 % instead of 
2.63 % as it was in 2008. 
The control systems implemented by the Commission in different sectors and 
programmes are not comparable in terms of strictness or leniency. The 
Commission implements internal control systems for the management of these 
programmes in order to meet their pol icy aims and under the conditions and 
restrictions set by the legislative authority  in an effective and efficient manner at a 
reasonable cost. The funding conditions fo reseen in these programmes may differ 
and, as a consequence, a programme may set stricter conditions than other. 
The controls applied in th e research area, including the audit strategy, the 
thorough implementation of its results and the correction of systematic audit 
findings for non-audited contracts (extrapo lation) provide for an stringent control 
of the costs claimed, which has resulted in a reduction of the error rates over time, 
as noted by the Court of Auditors and th e European Parliament. Furthermore, the 
Commission is committed to ensuring that  it provides for uniform interpretation 
and application of the rules and procedures. 
As regard the comparison with Agriculture  it is to be noted that both programmes 
have different policy objectives and funding provisions. The legislation in place for 
Agriculture defines, as a general rule, th at 5% of the benefi ciaries should be 
controlled. For the Research Sixth Fr amework Programme, the audit policy, 
including extrapolation, has already covered  in excess of 50% of the expenditure.  
As regards the application of sanctions, the Commission now systematically applies 
liquidated damages whenever a beneficiary is found to have overstated expenses.  
The Commission can mainly ensure legality and regularity by conducting ex-post 
audits and controls, in particular on the premises of the bene ficiary, and then 
recovering any amount due. Reliance on the ex-post detection and correction of 
errors to ensure the legality and regu larity of the payments requires the 
implementation of a large number of recoveries, putting a very heavy burden on 
both the Commission and the beneficiaries. In accordance with the provisions of 
the model grant agreement, the Commission may carry out audits up to five years 
after the final payment of a project and m ake the relevant financial adjustments.  
The corrections proposed by the Commission do not result from the application of 
new interpretations, but from the aud it of cost statements submitted by 
beneficiaries. In certain cases, the auditors have found accounting practices which 
 
EN 57   EN required legal guidance to decide as of the eligibility of costs. These were newly 
confronted issues; the required interpre tations did not alter prior decisions or 
practices. 
The coverage of expenditure by ex-post au dits has continued to increase and the 
research DGs achieved the targeted number of audits for the year. The number of 
completed audits increased from 1 090 at  the end of 2008 to 1 911 at the end of 
2009. 
The Commission considerably increased the amount of ineligible costs recovered 
during 2009. Nevertheless, additional effo rts will be undertaken in order to 
improve the timely implementation of audit results. The Commission adopted on 15 
December 2009 a Communication on the simp lification of recovery process 
(SEC(2009)1720). The simplification introduced pr ovides the possibility to resort to 
a flat rate to determine the outstanding debts and considers certain charges related 
to personnel (direct taxes and so cial charges) as eligible. 
Concerning the acceptance of the certific ates on methodology, at the end of May 
2010, 25 beneficiaries had received ex-a nte certification of  their costing 
methodologies. In its Communication on simplification (COM(2010)187, dated 
29.4.2010), the Commission proposes to take into account any average personnel 
cost methodology applied as  usual accounting practices of the beneficiaries, 
including a cost centre based approach, as long as they are based on actual 
personnel costs registered in the account s and any double funding of costs under 
other cost categories is excluded. 
As regards coordination between the Re search DGs, the Commission has already 
set up tools and procedures ensuring an effective coordination in particular as 
regards the follow-up of audit results. The audit reports' findings (issued either by 
the Commission services or by the Court of Auditors) are followed up by each DG. 
Their implementation from the audit report till the offsetting in the next payment 
to the same beneficiary (or till their recovery through a recovery order) is 
constantly monitored and reported. 
Moreover, in case the beneficiary is re-sel ected for audit, the respective external 
auditors prepare the audit taking into acco unt the results of previous audit reports. 
The research family DGs have regular mee tings on these issues co-ordinating 
questions of eligibility. A Wiki site wh ere audit reports from all DG's of the 
Research family are up-loaded has been established to exchange information on 
individual audit results. 
Finally and further to the observations fr om the Court and the past requests from 
the Parliament and the Council the Commi ssion has taken remedial action to 
improve the quality of the audit certificates  in FP7. FP7 audit certification is based 
on "agreed upon procedures", which requ ire the certifying auditor to perform pre-
defined procedures and report on that basis  factual findings. This approach should 
lead to a reduction in errors of interpretation  of the eligibility rules by the auditors. 
82. (European Parliament, §§ 166-167) - The European Parliament is concerned that the 
current regulation of the existing Framework Programme does not correspond to the 
 
EN 58   EN needs of a modern research environment a nd believes that further modernisation and 
simplification are essential for a new Framework Programme; 
 Considers that simplification of the calcula tion rules for claimed costs is necessary in 
order to improve the situation, and invites the Commission to continue its efforts to 
devise the most easily applicable rules for beneficiaries of the programmes; asks for 
a clear definition of the necessary criteria for assessing whether beneficiaries’ costing 
methodologies comply with the regulatory requirements;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission acknowledges that despite the simplifications achieved already 
under the 7th Framework Programme, there is  a need for further simplification of 
the regulatory framework governing the imp lementation of EU research, with the 
goal of assuring the attractiveness of the programmes for the most excellent 
researchers worldwide and for the most i nnovative enterprises, including SMEs.  
In this context, a Communication fr om the Commission to the European 
Parliament, the Council, the European Ec onomic and Social Committee and the 
Committee of the Regions on simplifying  the implementation of the Research 
Framework Programmes has been adopted on 29 April 2010 (COM(2010)0187).  
Moreover, on 28 May 2010 the Commission adopted its proposal for a revision of 
the Financial Regulation and a Communication  on the level of tolerable risk of 
error in the policy areas of research, energy and transport as well as rural 
development. 
The messages of the Commission Comm unication on Simplification are the 
following: 
- This is the right time for an inter-institutional debate on simplification. Research 
and innovation are at the core of the Commission's Europe 2020 initiative. The 
European plan for research and innovation and the Innovation Union flagship 
initiative will require clarity of objectives  and instruments, consistency and stability 
of rules and lightness and speed of admin istrative procedures and processes.  
- Simplification is closely linked to the general accountability parameters and to 
the level of tolerable risk of error. Th e Commission agrees with the Parliament and 
the Court of Auditors that in the long run a simplified set of rules would lead to a 
"natural" reduction of the error rates. Ho wever, in the interim period before such 
profound changes take effect, a research-s pecific level of tole rable risk of error 
would permit an adjustment of the cont rol strategy that has exacerbated the 
perceived complexity of grant mana gement by the beneficiaries.  
- Simplification of EU research and inno vation funding requires a re-balancing 
between trust and control and between risk avoidance and risk-taking. The 
Commission cannot act alone. Full commitm ent and political support of the other 
EU institutions is necessary.  
- The Communication does not present le gislative proposals but options for 
opening a debate. 
 
EN 59   EN 83. (European Parliament, §§ 173-175) - The European Parliament welcomes the 
achievement of 99,26 % of the implement ation of the LIFE+ operational budget; 
notes that 196 projects were selected; notes that 52 % of funding granted was 
awarded to ‘nature and biodivers ity’ projects; considers, however, that there is still 
room for improvement in the Commission' s management so as to ensure the 
sustainability of co-financed projects; 
 Notes in that regard that improveme nts could be achieved by ensuring that 
supporting measures are already in place wh en calls for proposals are launched, by 
further improving the dissemination of know ledge generated by LIFE projects and by 
strengthening the systematic follow- up of projects after their closure; 
 Calls on the Commission to develop furt her assistance and specific training for 
applicants and user-friendly guidelines; stresses that im mediate attention should be 
given to those programme parts where the level of implementation has become low 
and to act accordingly.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is currently addressing th e issues of sustainability, knowledge 
dissemination and project follow-up. Incr eased attention is being paid to the 
programme strands with lower implementatio n level, inter alia by clarifying the 
application guidelines and providin g concrete examples in them. 
84. (European Parliament, § 176) - The European Parliament underlines the importance 
of providing further and focused assistance to applicants engaged in implementing 
projects under the public he alth programme, in order to avoid unreasonable cost 
claims and incomplete financial reports, which result in lengthy procedures; additionally, considers that calls for tenders  must be clear and user-friendly, in order 
to avoid project applications  which are clearly not eligib le for funding due to their 
size and associated high costs or which are of poor quality.   
Commission's response:
 
Efforts to improve understanding of Ca ll for proposals have been pursued with 
EAHC since its creation. Results of 2010 Call for proposals show an improved 
satisfaction rate of applicants. 
85. (European Parliament, § 179) - The European Parliament regrets that the annual 
activity reports of the Commission Director ates-General and Services are available 
on-line in only one language; urges the Commission to improve the situation as regards the coming year's reports.   
Commission's response:
 
The Synthesis Report is already translat ed into all official languages. The 
presentation of the Annual Ac tivity Reports of a ll Commission services, annexed to 
the Synthesis Report, in all official languages would, however, not be cost-
effective. The translation of those manage ment tools in all EU official languages 
would substantially increase the ad ministrative costs of the Commission. 
 
EN 60   EN 86. (European Parliament, § 181) - The European Parliament deplores the fact that the 
frequency of physical checks done by Member s States on imports remains very low, 
despite the frequent recomme ndations of the Court of Au ditors and the fact that 
customs duties represent a considerable amount of the total revenue for the 2008 budget; consequently, calls on the Commissi on to ask Member States to find an 
appropriate balance between physical checks at import and the pos t-clearance audits 
of operators.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is taking the requested action.  
1) The setting-up of adequate levels of physical checks and post-clearance audits 
of operators at import should be based upon appropriate risk assessment of the 
products and/or economic operators in qu estion. The appropriate control methods 
are thus closely connected to the identi fied types of risks. In practice the 
Commission encourages the Member States  to use appropriate risk analysis 
methods and controls through the legally binding exchange of risk related 
information via the electronic Community Risk Management System and is 
monitoring periodically the use of such information by the Member States. In 
addition the Commission in July 2009 initia ted a project to study and assess the 
degree of convergence of the Member States' customs controls and control 
methods and make recommendations as appropriate. 
2) The Commission considers that these ri sk-based checks should be supplemented 
by some randomly selected checks. It has already expressed this view in its replies 
both to the Court of Auditors, concerning the simplified procedures audit, and to 
Member States by a variety of mean s including own resources inspections. 
3) When drafting the modernised Cust oms Code Implementing Provisions on 
simplified procedures and centralised clearance and relevant guidelines (2009-
2011) special attention is given to the need for: 
- performance of physical checks of the goods, both for fiscal and safety/security 
purposes 
- improvement of pre/post audit controls with regard to simpli fied procedures and 
centralised clearance. 
87. (European Parliament, §§ 188-191 & 195) - The European Parliament is concerned 
that, for the second consecutive year, th ere has been a low uptake of payment 
appropriations for transport safety (79 %); notes that the uptake of payment 
appropriations for the Marco Polo II program me was particularly low (40 %) and that 
only 67 % of payments for the optimisati on of transport systems was taken up; 
recalls that, in all these cases, the amount in the 2008 budget was the one proposed in 
the Commission’s preliminary draft budget (PDB); 
 Regrets the exceptionally low take-up rate  of payment appropriations for passenger 
rights (27 %); notes that the payments unde rtaken represent only 55 % of the amount 
proposed by the Commission in its PDB; unde rlines that investing in, inter alia, 
 
EN 61   EN information to passengers on their rights is  of high importance for the effective 
application of the rules; 
 Insists that the take-up rate of paymen t appropriations for the GALILEO programme 
(50 %) is inadequate, given its importance for the sustainable logistics and transport 
sectors; 
 Calls on the Commission to  provide a detailed explanat ion of this underspending and 
to give an account of the measures it will  take to ensure that the problem does not 
recur in future; 
 Repeats its demand to the Commission to fo rward to Parliament and to the Council, 
each year, a more detailed description of expenditure against each budget line 
compared with the comments/remarks made in respect of the line;   
Commission's response:  
The underexecution for transport safety an d optimisation of transport systems in 
2008 was mainly because implementation reports were received later than 
expected. For passenger rights, the underexecution is because an information 
campaign to increase public awareness on passenger rights in airports was 
postponed from 2008 to 2009 due to a change of priorities. The Commission 
continues to monitor implementation fore casts in order to ensure that credit 
requests are realistic. For Marco Polo II, the underexecution was mainly because 
no financial guarantees were received on  time and because there were lower than 
expected payments for previous calls. This  situation has now been resolved and the 
budget execution is in li ne with expectations. 
For Galileo, the Commission has also taken the necessary measures. The lower 
take-up rate experienced in 2008 stemmed fr om the fact that the legal basis was 
only adopted in June 2008 and the resu lting delegation agr eement with the 
European Space Agency could only be signed in December 2008. It was thus not 
possible to fully execute the budget fina lly adopted, which was 200% higher than 
requested by the Commission; neverthel ess, 150% of the Commission's initial 
request was executed. In 2009, the adopted bu dget was fully execu ted, even though 
it was more than 200% of the Commission's initial request. 
The Commission already sends weekly budgetary implementation tables to the EP 
as well as regular implementation overview s in the context of the Budget forecast 
alert (a spring note in June showing that th e plan up to the year end is realistic, an 
autumn note in October confirming th at the necessary adjustments have been 
made and the further note in February N+1 describing the outcome of the 
financial year along with lessons learnt).  It also sends additional information to 
the EP should the need arise, for exampl e in 2009 it sent at the end of August, at 
Parliament's request, an additional note on the reasons for the under-
implementation of the budget. 
88. (European Parliament, § 194) - The European Parliament regrets the lack of data on 
actions in the field of tourism and welcomes the new legal and economic framework provided by the Lisbon Treaty, which allo ws the development of actions at the 
 
EN 62   EN European Union level (social and cultural tour ism, destinations of excellence, etc.) in 
this sector supported in a multiannual budgetary framework;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission also welcomes the new legal and economic fr amework provided 
by the Lisbon Treaty which will allow a more comprehensive set of actions, data 
and reports on European Tourism. Taking full account of this new institutional 
framework, the European Commission adopted  on 30th June the communication " 
Europe, the world's No 1 tourist destin ation - a new political framework for 
tourism in Europe - COM(2010) 352/fina l" which outlines 21 actions grouped 
under four priorities:  
(1) stimulating competitiveness in  the European tourism sector; 
(2) promoting the development of sust ainable, responsible and high-quality 
tourism; 
(3) consolidating the image and profile of  Europe as a collection of sustainable 
and high quality destinations; 
(4) maximising the potential of EU fi nancial policies and instruments for 
developing tourism. 
A comprehensive action plan will be disc ussed with the Member States and with 
public and private European tourism st akeholders by the end of the year. The 
planned actions will mostly complement the initiatives already being carried out in 
the tourism field at EU level and provide added-value to the various tourism-
related measures undertaken by Member States at national/regional level. 
89. (European Parliament, §§ 196-198, 201) - In the area of culture  and education, the 
European Parliament welcomes the Co mmission's efforts to achieve greater 
transparency and customer-friendliness, and supports further steps in that direction; 
requests, for the upcoming mid-term review s of the multiannual programmes, that an 
in-depth assessment be carried out of im plementation and management structures; 
recommends the inclusion of elements to measure client satisfaction in relation to 
national agencies; reca lls in this context that almo st 70 % of the funds of the 
multiannual programmes are implemen ted through national agencies; 
 Supports the guidance provided by the Commi ssion to national authorities as regards 
the supervision of the work of national agen cies with a view to further facilitating 
programme management in Member States; encourages the Commission to continue 
the active monitoring of programme manage ment by national agencies, in order to 
avoid interruptions in the implementati on of parts of the multiannual programmes; 
supports the strict line ta ken by the Commission of susp ending payments to national 
agencies in cases where management weakne sses are detected; calls on all parties 
involved to avoid the negati ve consequences for bene ficiaries caused by such 
failures; calls on the Commission, in the interest s of transparency a nd cost control, to 
separate the organisational and staff costs of national agenci es from funds to be paid 
in grants; 
 
EN 63   EN  Draws attention to the dangers of control measures which are disproportionate to the 
budgets administered; consider s that the relevant cont rol requirements must not 
under any circumstances result in pressure to  make increases in scale which will raise 
the threshold for participants; 
 Notes the significant reduction of errors related to payments; considers, however, 
that further improvements are needed for interim and final payments; calls on the 
Commission to supervise more closely the annual ex-post declaration process in 
respect of the Lifelong Learning Program me, by means of monitoring visits and 
direct verification.   
Commission's response:  
As regards client satisfaction, for the interim evaluation of the Lifelong Learning 
Programme (LLP), selective surveys in vari ous countries will be carried out which 
are proxy to "customer satisfaction". 
The guidelines for the mid-term evaluation of the Youth in Action Programme also 
include questions relating to client satisfaction.  
Moreover the Commission has launched, beginning 2010, a survey among more 
than 4 500 participants (young people, youth workers, youth NGOs) in the 
Programme, with a view to measure the impact of this participation on their 
employability and thei r active citizenship. The results of this survey are available 
at: http://ec.europa.eu/yo uth/focus/focus1757_en.htm 
As regards "organisational and staff costs of National Agencies" and "funds to be 
paid in grants", although they are cover ed by a single agreement between the 
Commission and a National Agency, these two sources of funding are separated: 
- in their presentation: the annual dr aft budget submitted to the Budgetary 
Authority indicates separately the funds allocated to the "management fee" aimed 
at cofunding the operating costs of the National Agencies; they are also separated 
in the presentation of the annual budgetary outturn; 
- in their management: the National Agencies  are not entitled to transfer any funds 
from one of these two parts of their agreement to the other. 
The only holistic approach of these two sour ces of funding rela tes to their being 
part of a single agreement. This correspon ds to the wish of speeding up the 
transfer of funds to the National Agencies , so that they can as soon as possible 
implement their annual work programme and make payments to the final 
beneficiaries of the programmes concerned. 
As regards the cost of controls, th e Commission considers DG EAC's control 
measures as currently proportionate to  the budgets adminis tered because of: 
- the single audit approach which avoids ov erlaps and duplicatio n of controls and 
thus limits the cost and admin istrative burden for beneficiaries, National Agencies 
and Commission; 
 
EN 64   EN - extensive use of lump sums wherever possible (in particula r for mobility and 
other small grants) with limited contro l effort for beneficiaries and National 
Agencies; 
- positive feedback from National Agen cies witnessing on the decreased 
administrative burden on benefici aries and on National Agencies. 
As regards errors in interim and final pay ments, the most recent results of ADEC 
audits confirm very good results in centralised indirect management.  
For centralised direct management, an anal ysis of results of ex-post controls has 
been performed and an action plan has been established. 
As regards closer supervision by monitori ng visits, this has been implemented in 
the audit plan 2010-2011. 
90. (European Parliament, § 199) - The European Parliament calls on the Commission, 
in the light of the revision of the Fina ncial Regulation, to work towards a new 
arrangement under which beneficiaries can be allowed to acquire more assets without having to fear that this will result in a re duction in the support allocated to them on 
the basis of EU cofinancing.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission refers to its Proposal fo r a regulation of the Parliament and the 
Council on the Financial Regulation applicab le to the general budget of the EU 
(COM(2010) 260 final).  
To comply with the principle of co-financ ing, the beneficiary has to assure either 
third party financing, revenue from the ac tion (difficult to prove in advance) or 
self-financing. Often the beneficiary has to  rely on his own co-financing. The new 
proposal introduces the rule that the benefi ciary may substitute his own funds if : 
- the beneficiary is able to receive additiona l third party funding during the course 
of an action or 
- income is generated from the project. 
In this way, additional revenue shall not be treated as profit (and shall thus not be 
recovered). 
If profit is still generated, recovery shall be  made on a pro-rata  basis of the grant 
given. This means that if the project re ceives co-financing of 60% from the EU 
then 60% of the profits  will revert to the EU instead of  100% as today (always up to 
the limit of the amount of the grant). 
91. (European Parliament, § 200) - The European Parliament calls on the Commission, 
together with the national agencies, to seek  a reasonable and flexible solution to the 
problem of interest on unspent decentra lised budgets, on which withholding tax is 
paid in the Member States but which national agencies must repay in full.   
 
EN 65   EN Commission's response:  
This issue has been resolved for the vast  majority of National Agencies either 
because a withholding tax does not apply or because the NAs have obtained an 
exemption from their tax authorities or because NAs can accommodate these 
amounts under their operating budget. DG EAC continues to monitor the situation 
and to assist the NAs concerned in order to find a satisfactory solution for the few 
remaining cases. 
92. (European Parliament, § 202) - The European Parliament calls on the Commission 
to review the bureaucratic obstacles impe ding the 'Youth in Action' Programme; calls 
especially for the measures under Actions 1.1 and 1.3 of the Programme to be made available as low-threshold services; empha sises that selection criteria must be 
transparent and comprehensible for appli cants; calls on the Commission to consider 
the introduction of a new mode  of allocation of funding under the 'Youth in Action' 
Programme so as to make funding availabl e to small-scale and youth projects which 
are unable in the current situa tion to raise their own finance.   
Commission's response:
 
As of 2010, following consultation of the National Agencies, the Commission has 
further simplified the acce ss to the Action 1.1 of the Youth in Action Programme, 
by making it possible for one single prom oter to submit a grant request for an 
entire bilateral youth exchange; moreover the lump sums and scales of unit costs 
applicable to the Programme have been simplified and streamlined; further 
clarification has also been introduced in  the 2010 Programme Guide, available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-in-action-
programme/doc/how_to_participate/ programme_guide_10/guide_en.pdf 
93. (European Parliament, §§ 203-204) - The European Parliament calls on the 
Directorate-General for Freedom, Security a nd Justice to try to continue maximising 
the level of implementation of commitments and payments in 2009; 
 Regrets that, within the framework of the External Borders Fund, the first pre-
financing payments to Member States co uld not be made by the Commission until 
the final months of 2008, as the implemen ting rules were only adopted on 5 March 
2008 and some Member States submitted the initial versions of Descriptions of 
Management and Control Systems as well  as of the programming documents with 
substantial delays or insufficient quality.   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission closely monitors the budget 
implementation and works for the maximisation of the implementation rate in the 
area of Freedom, Security and Justice,  in the respect of sound financial 
management of budget appropriations. At the end of 2009, the implementation rate 
for commitments was 98% and 90% fo r payments. In 2009, the Commission 
recovered the implementation delay regarding the Solidarity Funds encountered in 
2007 and 2008, due to the late adoption of  the legal base. All the commitments 
appropriations have been committed and tw o reinforcements for a total of 110.9M€ 
 
EN 66   EN in payment appropriations were reques ted and received from the Budgetary 
Authority in order to meet payment requests from the Member States. 
94. (European Parliament, § 209) - As regards the second-generation Schengen 
Information System (SIS II), the European  Parliament stresses that the Commission 
should comply with its reporting obligati ons in a more timely and transparent 
manner.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. The Commission very regularly 
informs the EP on the state of  play of the SIS II projects: 
a) Twice a year, the Commission transmit s a progress report on SIS II to the EP 
and the Council which describes the latest technical developments together with a 
detailed financial state of pl ay of the project. Work on the drafting of this report 
commences immediately at the end of each  reporting period. As this is a formal 
report, approved by the Commission, it is su bject to standard internal procedures 
for consultation of other Commission se rvices and adoption of the document, 
which in some cases take several months . In addition to the twice-yearly reports, 
the Commission has also addressed other im portant reports to the Parliament, in 
particular the comparison report between SIS 1+RE and SIS II in August 2009. 
b) Furthermore, the Commissioner regula rly informs the Chairman of the LIBE 
on any SIS II-related outcome of JHA Co uncils, and has on several occasions 
addressed SIS II matters in EP plenary session. Additional updates on the general 
status of SIS II have also been provided in the framework of the discussions in 
LIBE concerning the amendments to th e migration proposals and the proposal for 
the establishment of the IT Agency. Simila rly, information on the status of the 
project has also been provided in the framework of discussions in COBU on 
budgetary matters and on the Agency proposal. 
c) The Commission has responded to 12 written and oral Parliamentary Questions 
on SIS II since the beginning of 2008. A number of letters have also been 
addressed to the Parliament providing fu rther information on the project, in 
particular, in follow up the resolution  of EP plenary from 19 October. 
95. (European Parliament, §§ 212-215) - The European Parliament reminds the 
Commission that under Article 8 of the Tr eaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union the promotion of equa lity between men and women is a fundamental principle 
of the European Union and should be respec ted in all European Union activities, and 
therefore should also be traceable in  the European Union budget discharge: 
 Regrets that gender budgeting has still not b een implemented; therefore reiterates its 
demand to the Commission to take furthe r steps towards ensuring that gender 
mainstreaming becomes a reality in budgetary planning; 
 Welcomes the feasibility study prepared by the Commission on gender budgeting, 
and calls on all partners in  the European Union budgetary  process to take the study 
into consideration when preparing, implementing or auditing the budget; 
 
EN 67   EN  Calls on the Commission to make further e fforts to develop gender-specific data that 
can be included in the budget discharge repor ts, since the very limited data available 
so far do not give an appropria te overview of the situation.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has taken the requested action. 
The Roadmap for equality between women and men comes to an end in 2010. The 
Commission will present a Strategy fo r equality between women and men (2010-
2015) in September 2010. 
The yearly EU budget mostly reflects the implementation of the programmes that 
have already been decided. To succeed with gender equality, the necessary 
objectives and requirements must therefor e be incorporated in the relevant EU 
programmes. The right moment to ensure this is when preparing impact 
assessments of new legislative proposals.  Evaluation of the programmes is another 
moment for assessing the resu lts achieved in this field. 
The Commission's new impact assessment guidelines ( 2009) include guidance for 
assessing social impacts that will help rein forcing the analysis of  gender issues in 
impact assessments. 
As far as the annual budget is concer ned, the Commission has already taken 
appropriate measures ensuring reporting on  gender issues, when available, by 
exploiting existing tools, structures and pr ocedures. In the context of preparing the 
draft budget (PDB 2010 and DB 2011), the DGs  concerned have been instructed to 
integrate the gender dimension where appr opriate into the activity statements 
justifying the budget proposal. This i ssue has further been addressed during 
internal training. 
Also, the Commission's Interservice Group on gender equality has been informed 
about the new instructions of the budgetary  circular and the members were invited 
to raise awareness inside their DGs on the possibility to insert gender aspects in 
activity statements. 
So far, the information presented in the activity statements takes the form of 
"specific objectives" or "result indicato rs". Some factors might limit the progress 
in quality of the information provided  on gender dimension in the activity 
statements. One issue to mention is: "a vailability of data disaggregated by 
gender". This issue has also been recognised by the gender specialists as a major 
problem. Moreover, if the legal act defini ng the programme does not integrate any 
specific objective in terms of gender, it is more difficult to follow the 
implementation of the gender dimension. 
However, the Commission notes in its assessment of the Roadmap 2006-2010 
presented in the background document acco mpanying the Strategy for Equality 
between Women and Men 2010-2015, that the development and the dissemination 
of EU-wide comparable and reliable ge nder statistics and indicators have 
contributed to better monitoring and asse ssment of progress in the EU. This should 
contribute to improve the reporting to the budgetary authority on the impact of EU 
 
EN 68   EN policies on gender equality. The improved  gender specific data could yet again be 
useful for the budget discharge. 
This positive development confirms that the current practice in relation to the 
preparation of the EU budget which has been in place since 2009 (budget 
procedure 2010) should be maintained. It would obviously deliver clearer results if 
the gender related issues are also better integrated in the next generation of 
programmes themselves. 
 
EN 69   EN External actions 
96. (European Parliament, §§ 218-220) - The European Parliament notes from 
experience in 2007 and in 2008 that it is essential to ensure that transparency in this 
policy area continues to improve in terms of expenditure, particularly in view of the 
setting-up of the European External Action Service (EEAS); 
 Calls on Commission to submit, before the end of the 2008 discharge procedure, 
concrete, detailed and all-encompassing plans for the staffing, organisational and 
control structure of the EEAS, showing in pa rticular the increase in and allocation of 
staff, the envisaged budgetary implications and changes to the Statute and the Financial Regulation, and to enter immediat ely into negotiations  with the budgetary 
authority on the basis of the proposals submitted; rejects negotiations based on vague framework agreements; 
 Is strongly of the view th at Parliament's right of sc rutiny as discharge authority 
should in no way diminish with the sett ing-up of the EEAS; e xpects the Commission 
to bear this in mind when proposing the re view of the current Financial Regulation; 
stresses that this latter revi sion should be part of the nor mal triennial revision; rejects 
the idea of a fast-track procedure as envisaged by the Commission.   
Commission's response:
 
See Article 1 of the Proposal for a Regulation of the Parliament and the Council 
amending Council Regulation (EC, Eu ratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial 
Regulation applicable to the EU budget, as  regards the European external action 
service (COM (2010) 85 final). In budgetary  terms, the EEAS will be treated as an 
institution in the sense of Article 1 of the Financial Regulation so that it will have 
budgetary autonomy, i.e. its own section in the EU budget. It will implement its 
own administrative expenditure (like all other institutions) and will therefore 
receive discharge from the European Parlia ment for it. The European Parliament 
will therefore exercise its full budgeta ry and control powers towards the EEAS. 
97. (European Parliament, §§ 221-222) - Notes with great concern that the Court's 
overall assessment that the supervisory and control syst ems of all DGs concerned 
(AIDCO, RELEX, ELARG and ECHO) are still only partially effective, as well as 
the Court's conclusion that payments in th is policy group were affected by material 
error; points out that, as pr eviously, errors are to be found mainly at delegation and 
beneficiary level; 
 Welcomes DG AIDCO's improvements in its supervisory and control systems; 
however, encourages EuropeAid to make th e necessary improvements to its ex-ante 
checks, to have recourse to external audits and to remedy the inconsistencies and shortcomings in its Annual Audit Plan, in  the CRIS audit modul e and in the overall 
monitoring of audit results.   
Commission's response:
 
EuropeAid will continue to improve its su pervisory and control systems with regard 
to the EP requests and the Court recomme ndations, including improvements in its 
 
EN 70   EN audit strategy. EuropeAid has already imp lemented significant improvements to 
the audit methodology and IT tools (CRIS)  and welcomes the recognition of the 
Court of Auditors on the substantial progre ss made in particular in relation to 
audit planning for 2010. The Commission is presently studying the implementation 
of a Tolerable risk of error for external  aid and will present a proposal in the 
beginning of 2011. 
DG ECHO is pleased to see that the Cour t recognises that DG ECHO supervisory 
and control systems are improving and will go on working on the strengthening of 
its supervisory and control systems taking into account the recommendations of the 
various control bodies (e.g. ECA, IAS). 
98. (European Parliament, § 223) - Urges DG RELEX to strengthen its ex-post controls 
and to remedy the weaknesses revealed by the Court in respect of its financial management and supervision of project s; welcomes the recognition by DG RELEX 
of the need to pay more attention to this problem.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission already took measures in 2009 to addr ess the recommendations 
of the Court of Auditors regarding ex-pos t controls in DG Relex and the Court has 
recognised progress made in 2009. Th ese efforts are continuing in 2010. 
99. (European Parliament, § 224) - Draws attention to the substantial number of possible 
fraud cases (102 cases) under investigati on by OLAF in this policy group – the 
second highest number, just behind intern al investigations; welcomes the focus by 
OLAF on External Aid, in investigative and preventive work and intensified cooperation activities.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission welcomes the Parliament’s support for its efforts in focusing on 
external aid cases. It should also be  borne in mind that some external 
investigations conducted by OLAF take pla ce in difficult circumstances in view of 
the remoteness of the country concerned, the specific complexity of the modus 
operandi, the level of security and the absence of an identifiable administrative 
counterpart to OLAF. 
The Commission intends to continue its work  in intensifying cooperation with the 
authorities in regions which are major re cipients of EU funds. Following the 
success of its 4 conferences jointly organ ised by EuropeAid and OLAF in Rabat, 
Cape Town, Kampala and Cairo, it will now turn its attention to Latin America 
with the organisation of a conference in Panama in October 2010. 
100. (European Parliament, §§ 225 & 227) - Deplores the delays in achieving 
transparency over EU funds administer ed by international organisations and 
especially by the UN (in "joint management"); deplores the difficulties the Court has had to face, despite the Commission's repeat ed calls for observance of the Financial 
and Administrative Framework Agreement (F AFA), in obtaining audit reports and 
supporting documents from the UN; recognise s and welcomes the progress made, in 
 
EN 71   EN particular the conclusion of an agreem ent on terms of reference for verification 
missions in April 2009 and the signature of the joint guide lines on reporting; 
 Notes the ongoing trend of increasing cont ributions to the multi-donor funds and in 
particular to the UN, in line with the principles of good donor cooperation; however, 
expresses its dissatisfaction concerning the persisting problems faced by the Court of 
Auditors in accessing the financial documents emanating from the UN agencies; welcomes the steps taken by the Commission to facilitate the auditing processes of 
the Court of Auditors and cal ls for further measures in order to fully safeguard the 
financial interests of the European Union and to increase the transparency of the 
process including, if necessary, modifications to the FAFA.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission fully supports the Court’s requests to obtain necessary supporting 
evidence from UN organisations, and this pr inciple is clearly stipulated in the 
FAFA. As soon as the Court informs it of difficulties encountered in this respect, 
the Commission does its best to ensure that its counterparts at the UN find a 
solution, and that the Cour t receives the information it needs. The adoption, in 
April 2009, of standard terms of reference for verification missions has improved 
the cooperation between UN age ncies and the EU, and has helped to ensure that 
the UN co-operates more efficiently with the Court. The Commission continues to 
work to improve the system, and it agr eed with the UN in April 2010 that 
additional information, including extracts fr om internal and external audit reports, 
could be made available on request. 
101. (European Parliament, § 226) - Appreciates that UN orga nisations often possess 
specific experience and expe rtise not readily found elsewhere; none the less, 
expresses concern that the Commissi on does not convincingly demonstrate 
beforehand whether the choice of a UN organi sation is in fact more efficient and 
effective than other ways of delivering ai d; calls on the Commission to implement a 
more transparent and objective process for selecting aid implementation channels   
Commission's response:  
The UN is often selected for reasons su ch as its unique mandate, expertise, 
capacity or in-country presence and alternat ives may not always be available, in 
full compliance with the Fina ncial Regulation and the transparency. The selection 
process has been further enhanced since June 2009, when instructions were issued 
to Delegations and operational services to improve the way decisions to channel 
funds through the UN are documented and to  ensure that alternatives have been 
considered, in line with the EP requests and the Court recommendations. The 
instructions to Delegations also ensu re that efficiency and effectiveness 
considerations are considered when selecting a UN partner. 
DG ECHO provides funding on a need s-based approach. Each UN funding 
proposal is scrutinised and assessed on its own merits on the basis of a detailed 
logical framework and compared to other proposals. In many cases, the UN is the 
only possible means to reach the beneficiaries. 
 
EN 72   EN 102. (European Parliament, § 228) - Stresses in this context its deep frustration and 
dissatisfaction that the Commi ssion has so far failed to act in order to create a truly 
European instrument for the implementati on of crisis management, as it has been 
asked to do in previous discharge resolutio ns; once more insists that this should be 
done urgently, and calls on the new Commissi on to give itself the possibility of 
managing multi-donor trust funds itself in th e forthcoming revision of the Financial 
Regulation.   
Commission's response:  
The European Commission, in the framewor k of the FR triennial revision, has 
proposed in art 164 FR that the European Commission can set up and manage 
Trust Funds for external actions, which would intervene in emergency, post-
emergency crisis operations or for thematic  actions, fully in line with EP requests. 
103. (European Parliament, § 230) - Notes the Court's recommendation that clear 
strategic objectives and meas urable performance indicator s should be established in 
the strategy programming documents for the European Neighbourhood and 
Partnership Instrument; considers that simila r steps should also be taken in relation to 
other external instruments, which con tinue to be very general in scope.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission considers that this requ est was implemented in the recent Mid 
Term review of ENPI  programming documents. 
In the Mid Term review of the ENPI St rategy Papers new indicative programmes 
were prepared for the period 2011-13. In drafting the new programmes particular 
attention was paid, as recommended by th e Court, to improve the logical chain 
between General Objectives, Specific Objectives, Expected Results and Possible 
Indicators of Achievement. As a result the NIPs are now better structured, clearer 
on what assistance should achieve and can be more easily monitored. However 
when it comes to indicators, programming documents can only reasonably aspire 
at identifying “possible” in dicators of achievement. Thes e indicators will then need 
to be further defined and quantified in the project identification phase when a 
more direct correspondence can be esta blished between the specific amount of 
resources allocated to a measure an d the direct results it can achieve. 
104. (European Parliament, § 231) - Suggests that the Commission draw up a study 
assessing the scope for making external po licy budgets more flexib le; considers that, 
in view of the budget surpluses which have ar isen to date and th e still growing needs 
in this field of policy, scope for greater flexibility should be provided for in advance, 
although not at the expense of pr oper budgeting and budgetary control.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has identified th e lack of flexibility in external policy budgets as 
one of the issues to be addressed. The even ts of the last years,  such as the food 
prices crisis and the impact of the econo mic and financial crisis have all shown 
that the lack of flexibility of the budget limits the ability of  t h e  E U  t o  r e s p o n d  
quickly and comprehensively to major crises, unforeseen needs or new major 
 
EN 73   EN initiative. This issue will be taken on board in the on-going budget review and the 
preparation of the next mult i-annual financial framework. 
105. (European Parliament, §§ 232-235, EDF §§ 6, 23-25) - Deplores the finding by the 
Court's audit that budget support commitments  were affected by a high level of non-
quantifiable errors; insists that the Comm ission should assess these payments even 
more rigorously; notes with satisfaction in this context the revi ew in February 2009 
of the financial circuits for this type of payments; 
 Notes with satisfaction the improvement in the clarity and structure of the 
Commission’s assessments of compliance with the requirements of the DCI Agreement (Financing instrument for deve lopment cooperation); however, deplores 
the fact that the Court has found frequent  cases in which the Commission did not 
demonstrate in a structured and formalised  manner that public finance management 
was sufficiently transparent, accountable and eff ective, or, at least, that a credible and 
relevant reform programme was in place; 
 Agrees with the Court that the Commission should pursue its efforts to support its 
decisions on the eligibility of budget support and to ensure that all future financing agreements provide a comprehensive and clear basis for the assessment of 
compliance with payment conditions; looks forward to receiving information on the 
outcome of the guidance review promised  by the Commission for the end of 2009; 
 Calls on the Commission, as regards budget support, to bolster supervisory and 
control systems for ensuring the regularity of payments, to monitor more closely 
organisations implementing EU-funded projec ts, to carry out more effective audits, 
with rigorous follow-up, and to develop more resu lts-oriented budget support 
guidelines.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission continues to focus on imp roving the clarity of its Financing 
Agreements in order to provide a clea rer basis for assessing budget support 
eligibility. The Court already noted sign ificant improvements in this respect for 
Financing Agreements. The Commission is seeking to further underpin the clarity 
of the assessment budget support eligibil ity by developing a more structured 
framework to be used in identifying obj ectives and tracking progress in Public 
Financial Management reform. Further to what stated before, the Commission is 
revising its Guidelines on Budgetary Suppor t that are scheduled to be finalised by 
the end of 2010, and that take  into account issues raised  by stakeholders, including 
the Court and the European Parliament. Within the scope of this revision, 
particular attention is given to supervisory and control systems. In addition, the 
monitoring and annual reporting on the comp liance with the elig ibility criteria will 
be strengthened as well. Capacity buildin g projects within the scope of budget 
support operations are under the same supervisory and control system as any other 
project, which includes audits. 
106. (European Parliament, § 236, EDF § 26) - Urges the Commission to help partner 
countries develop parliamentary control and audit capacities, in particular when aid 
is provided via budget support,  and invites the Commissi on to report regularly on 
progress achieved.   
 
EN 74   EN Commission's response:  
In line with its policy to foster Count ry Ownership, the Commission encourages 
and supports efforts of partner countries  to develop parliamentary control and 
audit capacities. Thus, the Commission ha s been and is supporting many capacity 
building initiatives in this area and will re port on this within its annual reports on 
external assistance. A study on the suppor t to parliaments in external development 
and cooperation programmes is currently being finalized and includes an 
assessment of EC support to Parliament s in the ACP region (covering 2000-2009) 
with a related database of projects, as well  as a practical guide to parliamentary 
support for EU Delegation and HQ staff and a training module piloted in 
September 2010 in collaboration with the EP's Office for Promotion of 
Parliamentary Democracy (OPPD). The different results of the study are to be 
made public before the end of 2010. The Commission has in the meanwhile 
already shared preliminary results of the study with the EP an d in particular its 
OPPD. The Commission will continue to re port on its work in this field on a 
regular basis. 
107. (European Parliament, § 237, EDF §§ 27-28) - Points out that its role as regards 
budget support is to hold the Commission accountable for the results of spending, 
and that budget support is an aid instrume nt which requires a paradigm shift in 
oversight behaviour, moving from control over inputs to the checking of results 
against indicators; 
 Repeats its request to the Commission to identify, w ith the utmost rigour, the 
countries or issues in budgetary s upport implementation where particular 
parliamentary attention could prove us eful in improving donor accountability in 
addition to the special guidance on how to manage budget support operations in 
countries in a situation of  fragility promised in th e Commission’s replies of 2 
December 2009 to the Committee on Budgetary  Control’s written questions to 
Commissioner Karel De Gucht.   
Commission's response:  
New guidelines on budget support in fragile  states have been made available since 
February 2010. One of the principles of budget support is the alignment to 
national systems. This implies the role of national parliaments in partner countries 
to oversee the national budgetary process including external donor budget support 
implementation (and/or other external donor interventions). Therefore, budget 
support implementation, particular parliamen tary attention, proves useful in 
improving donor accountability. The stre ngthening of the role of partner 
parliaments and supreme audit institutions (S AIs) in the oversight of the national 
budgetary process is systematically encouraged by the Commission, in particular in 
fragile states, and is part of the policy dialogue with the partner countries. On the 
basis of country requests the Commission is in fact supporting Parliaments and 
SAIs in many budget support receiving co untries within budget support operations 
and also under separate support programmes.  In this context there is a leading 
partner in the INTOSAI (International Organisation of Supreme Audit 
Institutions)/Donor initiative to streng then SAIs and the Commission has also 
 
EN 75   EN developed Guidelines for the working with  Parliaments that will be publicly 
available in the third quarter of 2010. 
108. (European Parliament, §§ 238-239, EDF §§ 31-32) - Reiterates its request that 
development aid in general and budget support  in particular shoul d be progressively 
linked to an ex-ante country disclosure statement, issued  by the recipient country's 
government and signed by its finance minister, concerning selected issues that affect 
the governance and accountability stru cture of a beneficiary country; 
 Invites the new Commission to  take the lead and to present this proposal to other 
international donors – in particular the Wo rld Bank – with a view to developing and 
implementing such an instrument in ag reement with other donors; waits to be 
informed by the Commission about a po ssible timeframe for such negotiations.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission does not consider that a Country Disclosure Statement would 
provide significant added value to the existing wide range of governance and 
accountability assessments that are curren tly available and routinely used. The 
Commission notes that the Council also declined to adopt such an approach when 
this was suggested in the context of the St ructural Funds. It wo uld be difficult to 
persuade partners to adopt an approach that  has been considered inappropriate for 
EU Member States. Besides it could be sa id that such a Disclosure Statement may 
become legally contradictory with th e normal legal framework of Budget 
accountability, role of Legislative pow ers (Parliaments) and Supreme Audit 
Institutions in providing discharg e and audit of public accounts. 
109. (European Parliament, § 240) - Urges the Commission to de fine strategic objectives 
and adequate performance indicators that would allow an efficient impact assessment 
of EU actions.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is defining strategic obj ectives through increased emphasis on 
the performance framework owned by partner  countries. Having tested predefined 
indicators to undertake general impact as sessments, the Commission arrived at the 
conclusion that this is  not implementable. (In la te 2006, DG AIDCO launched a 
pilot initiative to test a method based on a list of A ggregated Standard Indicators 
(ASI) in order to synthesize, in a quantitative way, the results of development 
programs in terms of output and outcome and increase the visibility of programs 
financed by the Commission. After one year of test phase, on the basis of the 
assessment of 145 projects worth of € 2.8 b illions, it appears that the exercise of the 
ASI is not conclusive and does not lead to the expected effects in terms of better 
visibility of results. The difficulties were  due to the complexity of the ASI system 
which does not integrate itself, or hard ly, into the national monitoring and 
evaluation system of the partner country le ading to a lack of appropriate statistics 
for calculating ASI). In order to impr ove guidance and policy achievements the 
Commission does intend to strengthen th e dialogue with partner countries on 
results and impacts and establish a rel evant performance assessment framework 
for the reforms initiated by partner countries. This framework will be matched to 
the particularities and speci fic objectives of each partner country. This dialogue 
 
EN 76   EN will enable the Commission to better discu ss the performance and results for each 
country using the methodology described in  the new guide 'Policy Steering – The 
Role and Use of Performance Measurement Indicators.'  
The launch of the guide in the second half  of 2010 will be accompanied by a series 
of training initiatives using case studie s. The output from this work will be a 
strengthened performance framework owne d by the partner country and usable for 
the Commission's own assessment of individual EU actions. 
110. (European Parliament, § 241, EDF § 40) - Invites the Commission to place greater 
emphasis on women's health in developing c ountries in general, and improvements in 
maternal health in particular, as this is the area in which the MDG targets are furthest 
from being met.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has reinforced its commi tment to maternal and child health 
through reaffirming its support to gender equality, the rights and the health of the 
child and the rights and the health of wo men and girls in the various international 
fora. The contribution of the EU to maternal  and child health is first and foremost 
through general budget, sector budget an d programme support at  country level for 
health systems strengthening and universal access to basic health care, including 
universal access to reproductive health. 
It is also important to r ecognize the impact of the Global  fund to fight AIDS, TB 
and malaria (GFATM), and of the Global Al liance for Vaccines and Immunisation 
(GAVI) on maternal and child health. The European Commission is a founding 
member and one of the main contributo rs to the GFATM, and active supporter of 
GAVI, supporting their move towards mo re aligned and harmonized support to 
countries, including through Health system strengthening activities. 
The Commission has been very active to help ensure that the G8 Flagship 
Initiative on Maternal Health is fully in line with the implemen tation of the ICPD 
Programme of Action and the MDG targets.  The Communication on a twelve-point 
EU action plan in support of the MDGs in cludes the re-allocation of funding to 
countries most off-track. 
111. (European Parliament, §§ 242-243) - Welcomes progress as regards division of 
labour between donors, as well as other aid effectiveness principles; feels, however, 
that the Commission should step up its efforts to coordinate Member States' activities in this respect; 
 Stresses the need to increase aid effec tiveness and to reduce aid fragmentation; 
considers that the great number of projects managed by the Commission and 
Member States (some 40 000 pr ojects) should be reduced by giving the pr iority to 
more effective programmes and better c oordination with EU donors through a clear 
focus on a more limited number of priority  intervention areas for each beneficiary 
country, whilst not excluding small but  effective NGOs working in the field.   
 
EN 77   EN Commission's response:  
Some progress has been made in the field of  Division of Labour, especially in the 
countries where the so-called EU-Fast Track Initiative on Complementarity and 
Division of Labour is be ing implemented. The Comm ission has stepped up 
significantly its coordinating efforts, bu t is in many cases held back by the 
reluctance of Member States to participate fully, especially when it comes to sector 
concentration. Two issues will have to be looked at more closely in the future, the 
first being coordinating the entrance of new Member States in partner countries 
and sectors, the second being monitori ng Member States living up to the 
agreements made in Council. 
In partner countries where the national government has showed a higher level of 
ownership and assumed a pro minent role in leading th e (sector) dialogue with 
donors, more progress has been made. 
112. (European Parliament, § 244) - Notes that 63 % of funds committed so far under the 
'Food Facility' have been channelled thr ough international organi sations, and recalls 
that Regulation(EC) No 1337/2008 stipulates  that, as regards implementation, the 
Commission is obliged to maintain an "appropriate balance" between international 
organisations and "other eligible entities";   
Commission's response:  
The "Food Facility" balance was carefully justifie d and approved by the 
Regulation Committee and by the Parliament  when they examined the overall plan 
of the food facility. 
113. (European Parliament, § 245) - Calls once again for greater involvement of 
parliaments and consultation of civil societ y in partner countrie s when drawing up 
and reviewing DCI Country Strategy Papers.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission agrees with the princi ple that parliament and civil society 
organizations must be bette r involved in the elaboratio n and revision of CSPs. 
However, the level of involvement differs according to the various legal bases 
considered. 
In the framework of the Cotonou Agreemen t, the need for consultations is agreed 
and legally binding both for the Commi ssion and Partner States. For DCI 
countries, the Commission applies an EU regulation: EU efforts to consult 
effectively civil soci ety organizations should be acco mpanied by the willingness of 
national authorities to do so. 
In the majority of DCI countries, EU De legations are consulting parliaments and 
civil society, taking into consideration th e specific (and sometim es rather difficult) 
context in which they are operating. This implies different degrees of involvement. 
114. (European Parliament, § 246, EDF § 40) - Urges the Commission to ensure better 
visibility for EU-funde d activities overseas.   
 
EN 78   EN Commission's response:  
The requested action has been implemented. A new communication and visibility 
manual has been adopted (covering also UN agencies since 2008 and World Bank 
since 2009). This promotes mainstrea ming of communication and visibility 
activities in the project  cycle resulting in visibility at  project level. Efforts continue 
to ensure compliance and to monitor quality of the communication activities 
implemented. 
115. (European Parliament, §§ 247-248) - As regards Non-governmental organisations 
(NGOs), notes the written comments  from Commissioners Maroš Šef čovič and 
Algirdas Šemeta dated 8 March 2010 includ ing detailed information about financing 
of NGO-type organisations by the Co mmission and the Executive Agencies; 
 Invites the Commission to es tablish a public register of  NGO-type bodies funded by 
Commission services, to harmonise its va rious databases on beneficiaries receiving 
funds from the EU budget or  the European Developmen t Fund, to indicate in its 
accounting system the 'not-for-p rofit" nature of the benefi ciary entities and to look 
into the possibility of expanding the regist er of interest repr esentatives by including 
information about their funding received from the EU.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has initiated a phased  project aiming to establish the 
classification "for-profit" versus "not-for- profit" in the Commission's central data 
base of legal entities. The first phase concen trates on legal entities in the Member 
States, which accounts for the vast majo rity of the registered entities. The 
Commission targets the implementation of this objective as from 2011 onwards. 
In the second phase, reconciliation pr ocedures between the centrally managed 
legal entity data base and the Register of In terest Representatives -the latter being 
based on voluntary self-registration- will  be set up by mid-2011. In addition, the 
feasibility will be assessed to broaden the scope to legal entities in non-Member 
States as from 2012. 
116. (European Parliament, § 249) - The European Parliament remains concerned about 
the fundamental weaknesses concerning potentia l irregularities in the management of 
Phare funds by two implementing agencies in Bulgaria, even though the contracting 
for Phare funds has been terminated; notes the commitment on the part of the current 
authorities to investigate the irregulariti es and to reform the management of EU 
funding.   
Commission's response:  
During 2009 and following corrective actions  from the Bulgarian authorities, DG 
ELARG lifted the suspension of pay ments to Bulgaria. However, the 
implementation of the post-accession funds in  Bulgaria will continue to receive the 
special attention needed until all programmes are closed. 
117. (European Parliament, § 250) - Notes that decommissioning work at the Kozloduy 
nuclear power station (Kozloduy blocks 1 to  4) is to be completed by 19 October 
 
EN 79   EN 2035; notes a lack of transparency in the origin of the funds from various 
Directorates-General at the Commission; reque sts the Court of Aud itors to scrutinise 
the funds used there.   
Commission's response:  
In the context of the Community fina ncial support for the Kozloduy Programme, 
the decommissioning funds are only impleme nted by DG ENER. This is done in a 
clear and transparent way based on de dicated procedures and through joint 
management with the EBRD. 
118. (European Parliament, § 251) - Deplores the absence of substantial progress in 
addressing the weaknesses identified (in pa rticular in relation to the National Road 
Infrastructure Fund); consequently, supports  the Commission’s pr udent approach and 
its undertaking to closely monitor the situat ion, to follow up on the findings and to 
provide advice and assistance to the Bulgaria n authorities with a view to addressing 
the weaknesses identified; urges the Commi ssion to apply the ut most vigilance and 
rigour when approving the compliance assessment reports submitted for the operational programmes proposed by the Bulgar ian authorities and before starting to 
disburse the intermediate payments in respect of the 2007-2013 programming period; 
notes the steps taken by Bulgaria; we lcomes the positive outcome of the 
Commission’s compliance assessment procedures for all operational programmes, whilst stressing that effective control a nd guidance from the Commission should be 
further applied.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. The Commission has examined rigorously 
the system descriptions and compliance a ssessment reports for Bulgaria, in order 
to make sure, before interim payments be gin to flow, that effective management 
and control systems have been set up to  manage the funds. The programmes for 
the 2007-2013 period contain a significan t technical assistance component to 
increase administrative capacity. The Commission will continue to use throughout 
the period all the means at its disposal prov ided by the regulations to ensure proper 
management of these funds. 
In the context of the 2007-2013 programming period, where the National Road 
Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) is a bene ficiary under two Operational Programmes 
(Transport and Regional Development),  the Commission paid close attention 
during the compliance assessmen t review to the arrangemen ts in place for effective 
management verifications by the respecti ve Managing Authorit ies to ensure the 
legality and regularity of expenditure , in particular where the NRIA is a 
beneficiary. It will continue closely monitoring the implementation of the 
programmes throughout the period. The compliance assessment for all 
ERDF/Cohesion Fund Operational Programmes have been approved by DG 
REGIO. In response to a series of 'dis claimers of opinion' contained in Annual 
Control Reports submitted by Bulgaria's Audit Authorities (AA), however, the 
Commission has sent a letter to the Bulgarian AA requesting additional 
information and the opinion from the Audit Authority on the Operational 
Programme Environment (ERDF/Cohesion Fund). For the Operational 
 
EN 80   EN Programmes Competitiveness, Regional Development, Transport and Technical 
Assistance, interim payments can now be made. 
119. (European Parliament, §§ 254-255) - Regrets the weaknesses, in particular the 
failure to identify irregula r support applications and adequately to follow up the 
irregularities, and ur ges Bulgaria to adopt a detailed action plan in close cooperation 
with the Commission and under close supe rvision by an independent auditor; 
 Stresses that this action plan must attain  specific, measurable, achievable, relevant 
and timed targets, in particular, wher e relevant, the creation of transparent 
procurement rules which meet international standards and do not restrict competition from international bidder s by imposing huge internal administrative burdens on 
them; further considers that these targets must focus on the establishment and maintenance of fully operational judi cial and administrative structures.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission has taken the requested action. 
In 2008, the Bulgarian authorities set up  a SAPARD action plan to cover the 
weaknesses referred to in this request.  Its implementation has been closely 
followed up by the Commission services and OLAF which requested Bulgaria to 
take corrective measures to address the co ntrol deficiencies and to provide an 
updated and complete version of its debt ors' ledger. Based on the information 
received from the Bulgarian NAO and the independent audit authority and taking 
account of the latest version of the de btors' ledger submitted by the Bulgarian 
authorities, it was concluded that the ac tion plan has been implemented and the 
reimbursement of the expenditure has been restarted on 9 September 2009. 
A conformity audit mission has been carried  out in Bulgaria by DG AGRI services 
in December 2009 in order to  assess the implementatio n of the SAPARD action 
plan and the continued correct application in practice of the amended procedures 
and reinforced controls, also  for recently paid projects. In this context, particular 
issues such as related parties, pricing at ar ms length and the reliability of the price 
data base were checked. The Commission auditors concluded that the 
management, control and sanction system has improved in comparison to the past 
and that the action plan has been implemented. However, recommendations were 
given and additional documents were requested. These outstanding issues will be 
managed with the Bulgarian authorities in the framework of the conformity 
clearance procedure. 
120. (European Parliament, §§ 256-257) - Welcomes the updated information from the 
Commission on the status of implementation of EU funds in Bulgaria and Romania; 
however, notes the continuous existence of inconsistencie s and irregularities in the 
progress reports submitted; finds its efforts to evaluate progress in the judicial and 
administrative system frustrated by the ex isting designs of the progress reports; 
requests the Commission to continue to closely monitor those Member States’ 
systems and the implementation of the agr eed action plans, and suggests that OLAF 
also should maintain the support given by it to those Member States in fulfilling their obligations concerning the protection of the financial interests of the Union; 
 
EN 81   EN  Demands that the reports give clear indicati ons as to progress in the key areas of the 
fight against fraud and corrupt ion; recalls its demand for a traffic-light system (red, 
amber and green), based on specific indicators (quantity and quality of legal and administrative measures taken to prevent, deter and punish fraud and corruption), so 
as to give a clear picture of the evoluti on of existing systems in those countries; is 
astonished that OLAF was not always c onsulted in the compilation of the reports; 
asks the Commission to include OLAF ’s comments in the upcoming progress 
reports.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission reports regularly under the Cooperation and Verification 
Mechanism on progress in judicial refo rm, the fight against corruption and - for 
Bulgaria - the fight against organised  crime. On 23 March 2010, the Commission 
adopted interim reports, the latest set of  reports was adopted on 20 July 2010. In 
these last reports, the Commission provides  a detailed assessment on progress in 
both Member States and also refers to th e situation regarding public procurement. 
OLAF is consulted on an informal basis  on operational matters under its area of 
responsibility in relation to the 2 Member States. The reports can be found at the 
following website: 
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secr etariat_general/cvm/progress_reports_en.htm" 
121. (European Parliament, §§ 258 & 262) - The European Parliament notes the steps 
taken by the Commission to improve the overall performance of pre-accession 
assistance in Croatia in close cooperation w ith the national author ities and to closely 
monitor the conditions for the full decentralis ation of IPA funds; stresses that lessons 
learned from problems con cerning the implementation of pre-accession funds in 
Bulgaria and Romania should help the Croa tian authorities, w ith the Commission’s 
assistance, to avoid similar difficulties wh en implementing the pre-accession funds in 
respect of their country; depl ores the fact that the Commission failed to act on 
Parliament’s request for a traffic-light system (green, amber and red) to be 
introduced into the progress reports, s howing developments in areas of high 
importance for the fight against fraud such as the establishment and maintenance of 
stable and efficient structures for the judiciary and the administration; 
 Recalls that the 2009 progress report for Croa tia shows deficiencies in the fields of 
the judiciary due to shortcomings in the transparency and application of uniform, objective criteria in the sele ction of judges and prosecuto rs; doubts, ther efore, that 
the funds spent on Chapter 23 were spent efficiently and effectively.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is closely monitoring th e conditions for the full decentralisation 
of IPA funds. Croatia took a number of important steps to address weaknesses 
identified by the Commission in the decen tralised management of pre-accession 
aid. These steps led to the conferral on  Croatia of decentralised management 
powers (with ex ante controls by the EU De legation). Croatia needed to ensure that 
the conditions set out in the aforementio ned Commission Decisions on conferral of 
management powers were met. Findings of  follow-up audits which were carried 
out are being thoroughly addressed. 
 
EN 82   EN The main challenge for Croatia in the horizon of 2011 will be to obtain from the 
Commission the waiver of ex-ante contro ls. The National Authorising Officer in 
Croatia submitted roadmaps to waive ex an te controls by the EU Delegation. These 
roadmaps provide a framework for the mo nitoring and assessment of progress 
towards waiving ex ante controls in cluding an improvement of the pace and 
quality of contracting. Particularly in the second quarter of 2010, a significant 
reduction in rejections of files submit ted for ex-ante approval by the Delegation 
has been achieved. The sustainability of this trend will have to be confirmed over a 
longer period. 
Identified deficiencies in  Croatia's appointment procedures for judges and 
prosecutors will be improved by application of benchmarking procedures and new 
legislation which was adopted in D ecember 2009. Furthermore EU financial 
assistance is also linked to Croatia 's reform efforts in this area. 
The process of the overall re form of the judicial syst em in line with the key 
Accession Partnership requirements is still underway and significant progress has 
already been achieved . The Commission will closely mo nitor the process and will 
use all available instruments, including the joint bodies under the Stabilisation and 
Association Agreements, to identify  and tackle possible shortcomings. 
The Commission already extensively repo rts on a yearly basis (Enlargement 
Package) on the state of progress of cand idate countries, including in developing 
their judicial systems and public adminis trations and in fighting corruption. The 
Commission believes that it would not be appropriate to establish a "traffic light" 
system in the Progress Reports as this co uld be assimilated or confused with a 
political "judgement" regarding the acces sion of candidate countries and its 
timeline. 
Formal accession negotiations already cont ain extensive benchmarks, including in 
Chapter 23 (Judiciary and fundamental ri ghts) and Chapter 24 (Justice, freedom 
and security) which have to be met at va rious stages in the enlargement process 
before accession negotiations ca n be successfully concluded.  
122. (European Parliament, § 259) - Is disappointed by the fact that key weaknesses (lack 
of programming readiness and uneven performance across sectors), which have resulted in a ‘moderately unsatisfactor y’ overall performance as regards pre-
accession assistance in Turkey, continue to prevail.   
Commission's response:
 
A number of improvements in the manageme nt of pre-accession are already under 
implementation to increase the effectiveness of financial assistance: 
1. The Commission will complement the current programming practice with a 
more sectoral approach where appropriate, wi th sector strategies aiming at both 
improved ownership and impact. 
2. The Commission is taking steps to follo w up the recommendations of last year’s 
IPA conference and the December Council conclusions on IPA to better link 
financial assistance to political priorities. 
 
EN 83   EN 3. The Commission will ensure that future  projects have clearer objectives that 
result in an improved intervention l ogic through relevant and measurable 
indicators and benchmarks. 
4. Where necessary, clearly defined conditional ities will be used to ensure that the 
Turkish beneficiaries implement commitments necessary for financial assistance 
to achieve results and impacts. 
5. Together with the Turkish authoritie s, monitoring systems will be further 
improved to increase the focus on results and impact of projects under 
implementation. 
6. Further action will be taken to addre ss outstanding recommendations from 
audits and evaluations to strengthen the management and control systems for DIS 
(decentralised implementation). 
7. Audits, evaluations and close monitori ng will ensure that improvements are 
effective and further adjustme nts are brought under way to  the system if necessary. 
123. (European Parliament, § 260-261) - Notes the steps taken by  the Commission in the 
candidate countries and othe r countries in the Western Balkans to fight corruption, 
and encourages the implementation of proj ects strengthening the independence of the 
judiciary, the development of professional law enforcement and support for the fight 
against corruption, wi thin the framework of the regional and national assistance; 
recalls that under the Thessaloniki Ag enda for the Western Balkans the EU 
undertook to work closely with the western Balkan countries to further consolidate 
peace and to promote stability, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human and minority rights; stresses that this also appl ies to the fight against organised crime and 
corruption as well as to the enha ncement of regional cooperation; 
 Recalls that the Court of Auditors found no clea r Commission methodology by 
which the Commission measures progress in those areas; in particular, asks the 
Commission’s Secretariat-Ge neral to provide Parliame nt with a report on the 
implementation of the Thessaloniki Agenda  which could serve as  the basis for an 
external evaluation of its progress; calls  on the Commission to establish a clear 
connection between the payment of pre- accession funds and evidenced and visible 
achievements in the fields of the Thessaloniki Agenda.   
Commission's response:
 
Progress in the areas under the Thessalo niki Agenda is measured through the 
mechanisms used to asse ss the Western Balkan countries' progress towards 
integration to the EU. The Western Balkan  countries are committed to a process of 
integration to the EU with an eventual accession as member state. To this end they 
are striving to meet the Copenhagen crite ria which cover most of the areas under 
the Thessaloniki agenda: 1) the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, 
the rule of law, human rights and respect  for and protection of minorities; 2) the 
existence of a functioning market eco nomy and the capacity to cope with 
competitive pressure and market  forces within the Union; 3) the ability to take on 
the obligations of membership, includin g adherence to the aims of political, 
 
EN 84   EN economic and monetary union and the adminis trative capacity to  effectively apply 
and implement the acquis. 
Their progress is measured by the Commission through the yearly  enlargement 
package which includes a Strategy Paper and progress reports, which assess 
reforms undertaken by the Western Balkan  countries in the above areas over the 
past twelve months, including the  key priorities of the Thessaloniki Agenda such as 
the fight against organized crime and corrupt ion, as well as initiatives to promote 
regional cooperation. In certain years,  the enlargement package also includes 
proposals to the Council of Ministers for revised European and Accession 
partnerships for each country, in which the Commission lists priority areas for 
further reform.  The upcoming enlargement package  will be adopted in November 
2010 and will include a Communication from the Commission to the European 
Parliament and the Council . The Commission considers that the existing reporting 
is adequate and sees no need for a comp lementary report to be issued by the 
Commission's Secretariat General on the same subject. 
Furthermore, on 5 March 2008 the Commission issued a Communication to the 
European Parliament and the Council entitled: "Western Balkans: Enhancing the 
European Perspective". Following up on the Thessaloniki Agenda and the 
Salzburg Communication, the Communicatio n reiterated the EU's commitment to 
the European perspective of the Western Balkans and pointed the way forward for 
an enhanced progress of the region towards the EU. It set out new initiatives for 
promoting people-to-people co ntacts, covering areas such as visa liberalisation and 
scholarships, for developing civil societ y and for enhancing the region's economic 
and social development. The Communication al so provided a succinct analysis of 
the situation of each partn er in the light of recent developments and the main 
regionally relevant EU activities in th e Western Balkans. On 3 February 2009 the 
Commission issued a Staff Working Paper on  "EU regionally relevant activities in 
the Western Balkans 2008/2009". This Staff Working Paper outlines EU activities 
of regional relevance to the Western Bal kan countries and corresponding regional 
activities related to the Eur opean agenda of the Western Balkans. It is an update of 
the Annex to the March 2008 Commission Communication on the Western 
Balkans.  
As regional cooperation is a priority of the Thessaloniki Agenda, the Commission 
has taken a number of measur es to enhance regional cooperation. Between 2007 
and 2010 around €430 million has been allo cated to projects supporting either 
regional cooperation or ac tivities addressing common needs in the region. 
124. (European Parliament, § 263) - Notes that the Regional Cooperation Council has 
been active for more than a year; asks the Commission to provide information with a view to strengthening regional cooperati on under the decentralised implementation 
system and to present to the budget authority its strategic consider ations in that area.   
Commission's response:
 
The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is a regionally-owned cooperation 
structure located in Sarajevo and co-financed by the countries of the region, the 
European Commission and other interested donors. The RCC took over from the 
Stability Pact in 2008 and after three years it is a well established and functioning 
 
EN 85   EN organisation. The work of the RCC focuses on six priority areas: economic and 
social development, energy and infrastructure, justice and home affairs, security 
cooperation, building human capital, and parliamentary cooperation as an 
overarching theme. 
In line with the Enlargement Strategy, the EU will continue to support local 
ownership of initiatives in regional  cooperation. The RCC being the key 
interlocutor for regional cooperation becomes then a fundamental actor for 
supporting and implementing a number of th ematic or sector specific regional 
initiatives originally launched under the Stability Pact which have been identified 
as priorities and confirmed by the RCC Board through the approval of the RCC 
Strategy Paper (2011-13) on 23 June 2010. 
The Commission is preparing a number of ac tions in the area of  cultural heritage 
and economic development which count with the strong regional leadership of the 
RCC. It is also the intention of the Commission to provide complementary 
technical assistance in order to enhance its  role for identification and formulation 
of regional priorities and for the follow up and prioritising of  the several existing 
regional initiatives. 
125. (European Parliament, § 264-265) - Recalls the need for the candidate countries to 
ensure effective implementation of new a nd reformed legal provisions by means of 
an ambitious, transparent, accountable, eff ective and efficient publ ic service; notes 
with concern that – notwithstanding differe nt developments in both countries – both 
in Croatia and in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) corruption 
is still widespread and constitutes a very serious problem; deplores the fact that in 
cases of high-level corruption only limited investigation was carried out and that, 
overall, only a small number of investigations  led to criminal charges; stresses that 
this indicates serious shortcomings in the judicial system; 
 Asks the Commission to continuously mon itor and report to the budgetary authority 
on the backlog and number of new criminal charges and verdicts and the backlog and 
number of new court cases brought on charges of infringement of public 
procurement laws in Croatia and in FYROM.   
Commission's response:  
As regards Croatia, the Commission continues to promote an appreciation and 
acceptance of the need for an ambitious, transparent, accountable, effective and 
efficient public service, e .g. at the Stabilisation and A ssociation Council in March 
2010. While corruption is still prevalent in many areas, good progress has been 
achieved in the fight against corruption whic h is receiving greater attention than 
in the past. Most of the increased num ber of cases investigated recently and 
indictments remain to be brought to a completion before the legal system. The 
office for the fight against corruption (USK OK) continued to be active and issued 
indictments in some important cases. USKOK also began to investigate possible 
high level corruption involving senior po litical figures. Recently upgraded legal 
and administrative structures to combat corruption have yet to be fully tested in 
practice. 
 
EN 86   EN As regards the former Yugoslav Republic  of Macedonia, the Commission has given 
high priority to reforms concerning pub lic administration, the judiciary and the 
fight against corruption. These were esta blished as key priorities of the 2008 
Accession Partnership and were used as benchmarks to determine the readiness of 
the country to undertake accession negotiations. The 2009 Progress Report 
concluded that some progress was made in  public administration reform, including 
reform of the civil service, which is a key priority of the Accession Partnership. 
Further progress has been made on judicial  reform, which is another key priority 
of the Accession Partnership. Good pr ogress has as well been made in 
strengthening and implementing the an ti-corruption framework. Nevertheless, 
corruption remains prevalent and continues to  be a serious problem in many areas. 
Continued efforts are needed, in particular  as regards implemen tation of the legal 
framework. Finally, as concerns public pr ocurement progress could be reported as 
regards the remedies system. However, adm inistrative capacity and coordination 
mechanisms of the main stakeholders in th e public procurement system still need 
further strengthening. 
The Commission monitors and reports on the judicial backlog and on the situation 
with respect to the public procurement syst em in Croatia as well as in the former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in its annual progress reports published in the 
autumn. These issues are also regularl y discussed in the Joint Parliamentary 
Committee, which holds meetings twice a year. The Commission is currently 
preparing the 2010 Progress Report whic h will be published in November 2010. 
126. (European Parliament, § 266) - Concludes that the need fo r constant, objective and 
transparent progress monitoring remains; in  that regard, calls on the Commission in 
the event of accession proceedings to establis h a starting-point in key areas relevant 
for accession and to use that starting-poi nt as a reference and benchmark throughout 
the accession process; considers that the sustainability of progress in the accession 
process and affirmation of the aims achie ved during such process are of paramount 
importance for the successful continuation of the Union; consequently, asks for a 
regular post-accession follow-up.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has made concerted effo rts to improve the monitoring process 
and has established clear benchmarks throughout the whole process.  
Learning from previous enlargements, the EU has refined its enlargement policy 
which is now a carefully managed proce ss, leading through successive stages to 
accession, provided the necessary conditions  are fulfilled at each stage of the 
process. As an example, the political criter ia need to be (sufficiently) fulfilled for 
accession negotiations to be opened. Th e policy is based on the own-merits 
principle, i.e. countries approach the EU depending on the pace of their political 
and economic reforms and their capacity to take on the obligatio ns of membership. 
Reform priorities are set out in Accessi on Partnerships (for candidate countries) 
and European Partnerships (for potential candidates) in the form of Council 
decisions, based on proposals by the Commission. 
The pace of advancement in EU-related reforms is monitored in detailed annual 
Progress reports. When asked by the Council to prepare an opinion on a country's 
 
EN 87   EN EU membership application, the Commission examines the candidates' 
preparedness with regard to the Copenhage n criteria as well as the impact of the 
accession on key policy areas.  
The first stage in the accession negotiatio ns is the so called screening process 
where Commission experts explain the acquis under the different chapters and 
experts from the candidate countries explain their plans for implementing the 
acquis. The results are screening repor ts by the Commission, addressed to the 
Council, recommending either the opening  of a chapter or setting opening 
benchmarks that need to be fulfilled before the chapter can be opened. These 
recommendations need to be endorsed by the Council. Once the Council confirms, 
on the basis of a Commission  recommendation, that a ca ndidate fulfils the opening 
benchmarks, the candidate country is invi ted to send its opening position for the 
chapter. Therein it describes in detail how it will implement the acquis and can ask 
for transitional periods, limited in time and scope. The EU reacts with a common 
(opening) position, prepared by the Comm ission. Therein it defines its position 
regarding the requests for transitional periods as well as conditions that need to be 
met for the chapter to be closed ("closing benchmarks"). Once the closing 
benchmarks have been met and agreemen ts on possible transitional measures 
found, the EU reacts with a closin g common position, prepared by the 
Commission. After the negotiations are concluded and before the European 
Parliament gives its assent and the Co uncil decides to proceed to signing the 
Accession Treaty, the Commission delive rs a final formal and brief opinion.  
Throughout the negotiations and all the way upon accession, the fulfillment of 
commitments taken by the candidate country  is systematically monitored through 
regular reports to the Council, peer asse ssment missions, and subcommittees under 
the bilateral agreements, to name just some. Follow-up post accession does take 
place, in particular when specific arra ngements have been agreed regarding the 
acceding countries. 
 
EN 88   EN Administrative expenditure 
The European Parliament has made no specific request to the Commission. 
Commission's response:  
No reply necessary. 
 
EN 89   EN Special Report No 10/2008 on EC Developm ent Assistance to Health Services in Sub-
Saharan Africa 
127. (European Parliament, § 268) - The European Parliament invites the Commission to 
consider increasing its aid to the health sector during the 10th EDF mid-term review 
to support its commitment to th e health MDGs, and to ensure that its assistance to the 
health sector is distributed respecting its policy priority of  support to health systems.   
Commission's response:  
During the ongoing 10th EDF Mid-term  review exercise, the Commission has 
given particular attention to the MDGs and to its support in this respect. It is 
considering how to best invite countries to give more attention to their record in 
terms of MDGs, starting with a reinforced  attention to policy dialogue and quality 
of policies. Through direct in crease of focal sector suppor t (where health is a focal 
sector) or through general budget support,  the Commission is working toward an 
increase of its assistance to the hea lth sector, while fu lly respecting and 
strengthening ownership by partner countri es and division of labour with other 
donors. In the health sector, such support will be guided by the policy framework 
adopted during 2010 on "the EU role in Global Health (Comm unication and Staff 
Working Documents 31/03, Council conc lusions 10/05) which commits the 
Commission and also EU Member States to enhance the strengthening of health 
systems by adhering to the aid effecti veness commitments, and committing to the 
specific targets of two thirds of EU he alth aid through national programme-based 
approach, and 50% by using country systems. 
128. (European Parliament, § 269 & EDF § 40) - Reminds the Commission of the 
undertaking given in the context of the Development Cooperation Instrument to 
devote 20 % of funds to health and ba sic education by 2009 in all European 
development policy spending, and requests it to regularly inform Parliament what 
percentage, broken down by country, of the to tal development assistance allocated to 
sub-Saharan Africa is committed for basic and secondary education and basic health.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has allocated 277 million € to basic and secondary education and 
basic health through its DCI in 2008, which is equivalent to 20,2 % of the total DCI 
allocation during this year. In 2009, 470 million € or 35% of the DCI allocation 
have been committed mostly for Educ ation. Thus, commitments are above the 
undertaking of 20% in 2008 and 2009 but va ry significantly from year to year. 
On 8 April 2009, EuropeAid sent to th e European Parliament Development 
Committee a complete information broken down by country on the amount and 
proportion of EC support provided to health  and education in Sub-Saharan Africa 
(SSA). This information covered the 5-year period 2003 - 2007 as well as the 
planned 10th EDF support to health and education in SSA. 
129. (European Parliament, § 270) - Urges the Commission to ensure that it has sufficient 
health expertise to play an effective role in the health  sector dialogue by ensuring 
that all delegations where health is a focal sector have health specialists, by working 
 
EN 90   EN more closely in post-conflict countries with  ECHO health advisers, by forming closer 
partnerships with World Hea lth Organization country offices  with a view to drawing 
on their expertise and by entering into formal  agreements with EU Member States to 
use their expertise; reque sts the Commission to communicate to Parliament the 
number of health and education experts respectively available in the region, at 
delegation level as well as in its headquart ers, and an overview indicating whether it 
has succeeded in increasing this number.   
Commission's response:  
In March 2009 the Commission took stock of the public health expertise at its 
delegations in Sub-Saharan Africa. At that time there were 13 public health 
specialists at 11 delegations. 
1/ Of the ten delegations with health as a focal sector or with significant activities 
in the health sector nine had health e xpertise. Eleven of th e 30 delegations which 
did not have health expertise drew, where necessary, on the expertise of the 
Member States, and two of them drew  on the UN agencies (WHO, Unicef). 
2/ Of the 24 delegations providing General Budgetary Support (GBS), seven of 
them under "MDG contracts", five had public health expertise. The other 
delegations draw on the expertise of the Member States (e.g. under the work-
sharing arrangements in Tanzania) or co llaborate with the national offices of the 
World Health Organisation (WHO) (11 EU delegations associated the WHO in the 
mid-term review of the 10th EDF). 
130. (European Parliament, §§ 271-273) - Invites the Commission to continue to increase 
use of Sector Budget Support in the health sector, to focus its General Budget Support (GBS) on improving health services and to continue to use projects for support to policy development and capacity-building; 
 Urges the Commission to put in place mechanisms and monitoring tools to ensure 
that an adequate proportion of  GBS aid is supporting basic needs, particularly in the 
health sector, to use targets that directly measure the outcome of policies, to provide 
support for capacity-building and to inform Pa rliament about the st eps it has taken to 
that end; 
 Invites the Commission to establish clear er guidance on the use of each instrument 
and their combinations, as well as to work more closely and efficiently with the Global Fund in beneficiary countries.   
Commission's response:
 
In order to maximise the impact of Gene ral Budget Support on social sectors, the 
Commission is trying to increase its departments' capacity, coordinate the 
dialogues and thus contribute  more effectively to monito ring the implementation of 
sectoral policies. Its actions are cons istent with the Code of Conduct on 
complementarity and division of  labour in development policy. 
Financial assistance under Budget Support may not be allocated to a specific 
sector. It helps to increase the tax revenue  of the beneficiary country and hence its 
 
EN 91   EN ability to fund activities which it would otherwise have been unable to undertake. 
The dialogue with the governm ental authorities serves to establish a performance 
framework which defines the conditions and the results to be achieved. The 
disbursement of variable instalments is also partly linked to  achieving results. 
As regards the work of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria 
in the beneficiary countries: 
(i) the Commission has signed an agree ment with the WHO to contribute 
€2 million for implementing a programme to enhance the capacity of six countries 
in SSA to plan, carry out and monito r their action plans against HIV/AIDS, 
(ii) the Commission has developed a guide for EU delegations entitled 
'Strengthening of the partnership on  a local scale between the European 
Commission and the Global Fund'. It was produced in English and French and 
sent to all Heads of Delegation in J une 2009. EuropeAid is currently drafting 
Programme and Project Cycle Management  (PPCM) guidelines which revise, 
update and reorganise all the gu idelines in a single document. One of the aims of 
this exercise is to strengthen the link s between programming and aspects relating 
to implementation. 
131. (European Parliament, § 274) - Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the 
Court of Auditors, to identify how the wea knesses noted in the C ourt's report can be 
addressed, and to report to Parliament  on the outcome of these discussions.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested action. Progress will be reported to 
Parliament in the context of Eu ropeAid's Annual Activity Report 2010. 
 
EN 92   EN Special report No 12/2008 on the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-accession 
(ISPA), 2000-2006 
132. (European Parliament, § 275) - Urges the Commission to  closely follow up the 
implementation of ex-ISPA projects, to ex amine how delays in the implementation 
of projects could be avoided or reduced in the future when implementing similar 
instruments (for instance, the IPA), and to take all necessary steps in order to prevent 
delays in the preparation of  future guidance documents;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested actio n. The satisfactory functioning of the 
decentralised implementation system is co nstantly monitored, in particular in 
relation to public procurement and imple mentation of projects. With regard to 
public procurement, the entire process is reviewed by the Commission Delegations. 
Audits and evaluations are ca rried out on a regular basis . On the spot visits are 
frequently organised to verify adequate progress of the projects. Roadmaps to 
gradually waive ex-ante controls by Commission Delegations on public 
procurement have also been prepared. The achievement of the benchmarks 
included in the roadmaps w ill confirm the preparedness of the national institutions 
to assume full ownership for preparation and implementation of programmes and 
projects. This is relevant for both ISPA and IPA. 
133. (European Parliament, § 276) - Calls for more rigorous and realistic planning by 
projects’ applicants and for ways to speed up the procedures, when implementing similar instruments in the future, both at  the Commission level and within national 
administrations of beneficiary countries;   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. Re gular meetings are organised with the 
national administrations of beneficiary countries to discuss implementation of 
projects and propose solutions for probl ems encountered (pub lic procurement, 
expropriations, administrative issues). Mo re rigorous and realistic planning by 
projects' applicants is ensured through review and appraisal by independent 
consultants. 
134. (European Parliament, § 277) - Invites the Commission to continue its systems 
audits in order to ensure that reliable sy stems are created for the management of the 
Structural and Cohesion Funds, and to preven t potential high-risk situations in the 
future;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the requested actio n. The satisfactory functioning of the 
decentralised implementation system is co nstantly monitored, in particular in 
relation to public procurement and imple mentation of projects. With regard to 
public procurement, the entire process is reviewed by the Commission Delegations. 
Audits and evaluations are ca rried out on a regular basis . On the spot visits are 
frequently organised to verify adequate progress of the projects. Roadmaps to 
 
EN 93   EN gradually waive ex-ante controls by Commission Delegations on public 
procurement have also been prepared. The achievement of the benchmarks 
included in the roadmaps w ill confirm the preparedness of the national institutions 
to assume full ownership for preparation and implementation of programmes and 
projects. This is relevant for both ISPA and IPA. 
 
EN 94   EN Special report No 1/2009 on banking measures in the Mediterranean area in the context 
of the MEDA programme and the previous protocols 
135. (European Parliament, § 278) - The Commission should improve the effective 
coordination of assistance by the Union, th e European Investment Bank (EIB) and 
other international and local partners, a nd regular exchange of information, in 
particular at the local level, in order to increase the consistency and complementarity of activities.   
Commission's response:
 
The level of coordination between the European Union, the EIB and other 
European multilateral and bilateral finan ce institutions has significantly improved 
since the creation of the Neighbourhood Investment Facility  (NIF) in mid 2008. 
The Commission has led the way by enco uraging co-operation among European 
Public Finance Institutions and by prom oting a harmonised approach towards the 
partner countries (e.g. in terms of procurem ent rules, single reporting, etc.). The 
NIF paves the way for the concrete implementation of grant/loans coordination, 
division of labour and harm onisation of procedures. 
An important step in that direction is the NIF Framework Arrangement, signed at 
the end of 2009 between the European Commis sion and the nine European Public 
Finance Institutions, which clarifies the ro le and the responsibilities of each 
institution in the implementation of NI F operations. The cooperation between the 
Commission and the finance institutions, as  well as among the finance institutions 
themselves, has reached a new level in te rms of mutual recognition of procedures. 
For each NIF project, a European Public Finance Institution is designated as the 
Lead Finance Institution, coordinating pr oject implementation with the European 
Neighbourhood Partner (ENP) country on behalf of the others. 
This innovative approach significantly re duces transaction costs for the partner 
country while increasing the competitivene ss, effectiveness and visibility of the 
joint European cooperation. This is fully in line with the objectives of the Paris 
Declaration, the Accra Agenda for Ac tion and the European Consensus on 
Development. 
The information flow with delegations has also been enhanced with a systematic 
consultation on new operations to be fina nced under the NIF (investment projects) 
or under the EU-funded Support to th e Facility for Euro-Mediterranean 
investment and partnership FEMIP (techni cal assistance, risk-capital). EIB’s 
reports are also sent to th e delegations, and monitori ng missions regularly take 
place. 
136. (European Parliament, § 280) - The EP underlines the importance of a management 
agreement concerning the referred banking measures mandated to the EIB on behalf 
of the Commission in order to ensure appropriate monitoring, to cover the 
environmental aspects, to safeguard the fina ncial interests of the Union and to ensure 
that the intermediaries and promoters fulf il their financial and reporting obligations.   
 
EN 95   EN Commission's response:  
The new Framework Agreement is currently under negotiation with the EIB. 
137. (European Parliament, § 281) - The EP stresses the importance of a tailor-made 
evaluation and monitoring programme for bank ing measures to be applied within the 
framework of the European Neighbo urhood and Partnership Instrument.   
Commission's response:  
The new Framework Agreement currently und er negotiation shall also cover these 
issues. 
 
EN 96   EN Special report No 2/2009 on the European  Union's Public health Programme (2003-
2007): an effective way to improve health? 
138. (European Parliament, § 282) - Invites the Commission to report to Parliament on 
the outcome of its mapping exercises for the current PHP and stresses that the risk of dilution should be addressed in the mid- term and ex-post evaluations of the 
programme;   
Commission's response:
 
The communication to Council and Parliament on the results of the evaluation of 
the Public Health Programme 2003-2007 whic h should be finalised end of 2010 or 
early 2011 takes this recommendation into account and will provide the requested 
information on mappings exercises. 
139. (European Parliament, § 284) - Considers, therefore, th at any successor PHP should 
focus on networks and exchange of best practice and that more use should be made of the open method of coordination with a view to encouraging the exchange of 
'good practices';   
Commission's response:
 
Results of the final evaluation of the fi rst Health Programme and of the mid-term 
evaluation of the second Health Programme  as well as recommendations following 
the ECA's Special report will  be taken into account for the design and impact 
assessment of any succe ssor Health Programme. 
140. (European Parliament, § 285) - Invites the Commission to set out an explicit 
intervention logic for any putative successor programme to the current PHP; stresses that this should be done in its ex-ante impact assessment which is to accompany the 
Commission proposal for such a programme;   
Commission's response:
 
An explicit intervention logic will be to set out for any successor Health 
programme. This will be done in the impact assessment which is to accompany the 
Commission proposal. 
 
EN 97   EN Special report No 3/2009 on the effectiveness of Structural Measure s spending on waste 
water treatment for the 1994-1999 and 2000-2006 programme periods 
141. (European Parliament, § 287) - Takes note of the under-utilisation of some treatment 
plants and urges the EU-funded treatment plants to mainta in a cost-effective system 
of functioning; therefore encourages the Commission and Member States to find 
ways to ensure that EU-funded treatment plants are adequately connected to the 
sewage networks;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has taken the requested action. In addition to its reply to 
paragraph 59 (a) of the ECA's Special re port on Waste Water, the Commission 
believes that under-utilisation of Wast e Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) was 
rather a transitional problem due to constructing in parallel the treatment plants 
and the sewage networks. Thus this problem appeared mostly in situations prior to 
2005, which was the last deadline set by the Waste Water Treatment Directive: 
Member States tried to be in conformity  with the Directive by having first the 
WWTP and then construct all other connected and associated works. This is no 
more a problem as these plants are now adequately connected to sewage networks. 
142. (European Parliament, § 288) - Acknowledges the Commission's efforts to bring 
about a revision of the relevant Dire ctive (Council Direct ive 86/278/EC – the 
Sewage Sludge Directive), encourages the speeding-up of the current revision 
procedure in order to incorporate recent developments and adjust Member States' 
different practices in this field,   
Commission's response:  
The Commission takes note of the recommen dation and confirms that work on the 
revision is progressing, aiming at a legisl ative proposal within the shortest delay 
possible, in 2011 if appropriate. 
143. (European Parliament, § 289) - Underlines the need for a more rigorous examination 
of projects at the application stage in orde r to prevent shortcomings in anticipated 
effect; therefore invites the Commission to  further develop internal guidelines and 
checklists for use in the appraisal process, in order to improve consistency of grant 
applications, and to ensure proper fo llow-up action in cases where required 
information or action is not forthcoming;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission developed an internal 
checklist for co-financed wa ter projects at the applicatio n stage during the first 
half of 2009. This was discussed with th e environmental authorities in the Member 
States in the format of the European Ne twork of Environment Authorities (ENEA) 
on 10.06.09, with comments requested by 30.09.09. Following the incorporation of 
their comments, the intern al checklist dated 20.11.09 was made available on both 
the websites of DG ENV and DG REGIO in  November 2009 in order to improve 
transparency with the Member States. Appropriate and targeted training has been 
 
EN 98   EN provided for desk officers in DG ENV and DG REGIO on using this checklist 
during 2009 and 2010, and it is proposed to repeat this regularly due to staff 
turnover. An updated and improved version of the checklist has been prepared in 
July 2010. 
 
EN 99   EN Special report No 4/2009 on the Commissio n's management of Non-State Actors' 
involvement in EC Development Cooperation 
144. (European Parliament, § 290) - Regrets and cannot accept the existing gap between 
EU policy commitments as regards the invol vement of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in 
development corporation and actual implemen tation practices, and therefore expects 
the competent Member of the Commission to present evidence showing full political support and leadership action for an effec tive implementation of policy commitments 
vis-à-vis NSAs, on the part of both its h eadquarters and the Commission delegations; 
further regrets that the success criterion for development is reduced to "economic development", because this approach ignores  the fact that the gap between those who 
have and those who have not has dramati cally widened; request s the Commission to 
see to it that, by the end of 2010, every delegati on has at least on e responsible full-
time expert dealing with NSAs' policies, contacts and contracts;   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is working on the reques ted action. The new instruments (2007-
2013) reflect the main changes in the NS A sector worldwide. Programmes are no 
longer restricted to European NGO but are opened to a large spectrum of 
organizations, especially to local stakeho lders representing specific groups. This 
evolution of EC programmes has been posit ively appreciated but nonetheless, the 
goals are ambitious and ofte n difficult to attain. 
In addition, the EC is currently organiz ing the "Structured Dialogue for an 
efficient partnership in development." Th is one-year process will involve civil 
society organisations and local authorit ies from Europe and Partners countries 
and also EU Delegations, the European Parliament and Member States through 
the organisation of Working Group sessions in Brussels and other regions of the 
world. Commission launched this process in March 2010 and it is expected that 
outcomes of this initiative will contribu te to improving the effectiveness of all 
stakeholders involved in EC cooperation. The Structured Dialogue will have its 
final conference in May 2011 in Budapest. 
Concerning HR resources in Delegations, the EC agrees that additional efforts 
have to be made to enable Delegations to have in-depth  understanding of the NSA 
sector and work is already in progress (regional seminars, mapping studies, 
guidelines on the involvement of NSA's in budget support programmes, etc.). But 
within the limited resources it is not possibl e to have at least one full time expert on 
NSAs. 
145. (European Parliament, § 291) - Notes that those developing countries which have 
taken their development process into thei r own hands have achie ved good levels of 
poverty reduction; underlines th e key role of the State in development and invites the 
Commission and its delegations to further im prove relationships with partner country 
governments in order to enable there to  be more effective engagement and 
consultation with NSAs;   
 
EN 100   EN Commission's response:  
The EC is taking the requested action an d, to promote enabling environment for 
Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in co untries, the EC is engaged in political 
dialogue with the States (especially ACP  countries through Article 8 of the 
Cotonou Agreement) and has at its disposals geographic and thematic 
programmes: 
- Geographic programmes result from a dir ect negotiation with the Partner States. 
Civil society capacity-building progra mmes are implemented and bring very 
positive results, thanks to the commitment  of national authorities. In other 
specifics contexts (case of partnerships), it  is difficult to push partners towards a 
more inclusive process (reluctance of the sovereign state). 
- Thematic programmes can be more flex ible; they follow another intervention 
logic called "Actor Oriented". They correspond to the need for addressing a 
specific issue worldwide and aim at prom oting EU common values around the 
world (promotion and protection of Human Rights, gender equality, sustainable 
development, etc.) even in the cases of difficult partnerships (EIDHR). 
The mid-term review of the ENP, DCI and EDF has provided opportunities for 
consultation on the design of developmen t strategies. EC Delegations are asked to 
organise regular consultation sessions for the preparation of geographic and 
thematic programmes when NSA are important stakeholders.  
146. (European Parliament, § 292) - Finds the lack of complete and reliable data 
extremely regrettable and expects the Commission to take remedial action 
immediately in so far as reliable data is a condition for starting to measure results; 
therefore calls on the Commissi on to submit to Parliament a full financial overview 
of the EU funds channelled  through NSAs from the diffe rent budget lines subdivided 
by the countries concerned before the start of the 2011 budget procedure;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is already publishing the li st of all grants an d contracts awarded 
including to Civil Society Organisa tions on the EuropeAid Web-site: 
http://ec.europa.eu/euro peaid/work/funding/beneficiaries_en.htm  
The data covering 2009 were published in  the middle of June 2010. Furthermore, 
the EC can provide the EP with a prelim inary list of grants awarded to Civil 
Society Organisations with inter alia the name and nationality of the organisation, 
title of the action, amount of the EC cont ribution and the name of the programme 
(domain) from where the action is finan ced. The list would also indicate whether 
the grant have already been subject to pu blication on the EuropeAid Website or 
whether publication was restricted with a view to protect the security of the 
beneficiaries in line with Article 30 (3) of the Financial Regulation. 
In view of the fact that  the list contains informat ion about grants not to be 
published, the list would be submitted under the confidential procedure agreed 
between the European Parliament and the Commission. 
 
EN 101   EN The Commission has recently improved its cl assification system of Civil Society 
organisation active in the area  of external assistance an d the reclassification is 
ongoing. The process is expected to be completed in end 2010 at which stage the 
refined lists could be made available. 
147. (European Parliament, §§ 293 & 294) - Takes the view that quality of aid is more 
important than quantity of aid and invites the Commission to play an important role 
in addressing the evident chaos in development assistance by promoting strong and efficient donor coordination and improving th e current aid architecture; requests the 
Commission to consider whether this ma y not be the right moment, taking full 
account of the Court's remarks, to overhau l the whole system of (co-)financing of 
NSAs in order to make sure that NSAs can rely on transparent and efficient rules for the purposes of participation in programmes and projects; 
 Invites the Commission to gi ve due consideration to the fact that donors are political 
actors and that in some cases there might  be conflicting interests between donors and 
recipient countries; underline s that strong democratic na tional institutions and a well-
defined policy for distribution of wealth are preconditions of sustainability; is of the 
opinion that, in order to achieve a more coherent policy in programming and 
subsequent programmes and projects and adequate evaluation, there should be a 
substantial shift from co-f inancing projects for NSAs to a 100 % EU funding of 
projects;   
Commission's response:
 
Genuine donor coordination can help to  face common challenges and overcome 
problems. The EC works naturally towards c oordination of donors, especially since 
Member States and EC play a key role in the global aid effectiveness debate 
following the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, which 
emphasized (among other issues) donor coordination. Concerning civil society 
issues, EC is an active player within th e Donor Group on civil society and Aid 
Effectiveness which has as a main objectiv e a contribution to the OECD debate in 
the view of the next High Level Forum in  2011. Issues identified are also faced by 
others donors, including Member States. Fo r that reason, the EC is engaged in the 
"Structured Dialogue for an efficient partnership in development" involving 
Member States, EP and civil society organ isations and aimed at increasing the 
effectiveness of all st akeholders involved in EC coopera tion. This first year of this 
initiative (March 2010 - Ma y 2011) will be organized around working groups' 
sessions in Brussels and regional semin ars in Africa, Latin America and Asia. 
Other initiatives like the development of me thodologies for mapping studies and a 
currently on-going study on how to engage  NSA in new aid modalities are aimed at 
providing guidance to EC Delegations on how to enhance and facilitate NSA 
participation in political dialogue as well as in programmes and projects. 
Concerning the last sentence of the requ est: the Commission is not able to apply 
the requested action as the key principle of the EC grant award process is the "co-
financing", in application of the FR 
 
EN 102   EN - This principle ensures a minimum ownership  of the action by partners as well as 
the (financial) sustainability of the actio n. The EC should rely on organizations 
which have a minimum of fi nancial capacity to act. 
- EC co-financing starts with 50% and ca n go up to 90% of the Action and even in 
some very specific areas and exceptional ca ses (EIDHR small grants), the EC can 
finance 100% of the project. 
148. (European Parliament, § 296) - Invites the Commission to present proposals for 
modifications of the Financial Regulation wh ich will allow the EU to act as a strong 
player among other international donors;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission refers to its proposal for a regulation of Parliament and the 
Council on the Financial Regulation applicab le to the general budget of the EU 
(COM (2010) 260 final). In particular, in Article 164 it is proposed to authorise the 
Commission to set up and manage Union trust funds for external actions, which 
would intervene in emergency, post-emergency crisis operations (e.g. Haiti), or for 
thematic actions, and would pool the contribution of the Union budget with funds 
from other donors. The main objective of su ch a delivery instrument is to allow the 
Union to act as a major and more visible player in the field of development aid. 
 
EN 103   EN Special report No 5/2009 on the Co mmission's Treasury Management 
149. (European Parliament, § 297) - The Commission should improve its oversight of the 
different treasury management activities  performed and, as recommended by the 
Court of Auditors, meetings should take place more regularly between the two DGs concerned (DG Budget (DG BUDG) and the DG for Economic and Financial Affairs 
(DG ECFIN)) with a view to sharing information on risks and exchanging 
experiences and best practic es regarding treasury and as set management activities on 
a Commission-wide level.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. Meetings are regularly held between the 
Directorates General for Economic an d Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) and for 
Budget (DG BUDG) with a view to sharin g information on risks and exchanging 
experiences and best practices regarding tr easury and asset management activities 
on a Commission-wide level. 
150. (European Parliament, § 298) - The Commission should continue to take all 
necessary action to ensure th at significant financial risk s are effectively and closely 
monitored throughout the course of the year; the EP welcomes the fact that, in order 
to further improve the situ ation, the Commission has alre ady proposed to and agreed 
with the Court of Auditors that as from the 2008 closure an official  circular letter is 
to be sent to the financia l organisations concerned in order to obtain from them 
accurate, complete and standardised info rmation regarding the fiduciary accounts.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has a long standing practi ce of annually sending circular letters 
to all the banks it has opened accounts with. The answers to these letters are 
addressed by the banks directly to the Co urt of Auditors, and are copied to the 
Commission. Since 2008 such letters are also  sent to financial institutions where 
Commission services have opened fiduci ary accounts. All these accounts are 
disclosed in the Commission's annual accounts. 
151. (European Parliament, § 299) - The Commission should draw  up a control plan in 
DG BUDG for each 12-month period on the ba sis of risk analysis, to carry out 
controls during and after the year, and to  report to Parliament on the problems 
encountered no later than three months after the end of th e year concerned.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission's risk management framew ork requires servic es to carry out a 
full risk assessment each year to inform  their Annual Management Plans. This 
includes the identification of the level of risk for each activity, and for the 
Directorate-General for Budget includes the Treasury function. Services must 
define action plans to manage critical risks and the results of these should be 
reported in their Annual Activity Reports. 
 
EN 104   EN 152. (European Parliament, § 300) - The Commission should move ahead with the 
overview of the risks related to its tr easury operations (DG BUDG), which forms 
part of its annual accounts and which pr ovides a clear and comprehensive summary 
of the risks to which it is exposed, of the ways in which such risks are managed, and of the measures which have been put in plac e to control, minimise or neutralise them.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. A consolidated risk management document 
for the Directorate-General for Budget tr easury operations is available since 
September 2009. 
153. (European Parliament, § 301) - For the sake of transparency, the Commission should 
more clearly document its procedures for transferring funds between Member States’ 
own resources accounts, and should and be tter document the specific selection 
procedure followed in each case.   
Commission's response:  
The existing procedure for this purpos e is complete and adequate and well 
documented; in addition it is complemented by step-by-st ep instructions. There are 
no selection procedures to be applied in this context. Also, in the meantime, this 
procedure has been updated by the Co mmission; so the Court of Auditors' 
recommendation in this area is now fully implemented. 
154. (European Parliament, § 302) - The Commission should improve its database 
record-keeping, to optimise cr oss-checks and to follow up on the Court's observation 
concerning the coordination improvement needed  in order to take into consideration 
the Commission’s overall risk exposure with each commercial bank when the accounts’ limits for holding funds with co mmercial banks are established by the 
Directorates-General concerned.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. The two Directorates General (DG BUDG 
and DG ECFIN) have put in place practices  to exchange information on their 
respective exposure with commercial banks , and to organise regular meeting to 
review issues of mutual interest. 
155. (European Parliament, § 303) - The EP welcomes and supports the Commission's 
endeavours to propose the current system for the management of provisionally 
cashed fines, which was subject to a review  in 2008, and expects that the proposal for 
a Commission decision on this matter i ssued in early 2009 by DG BUDG will 
increase its security.   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has b een taken. A new system for the management of 
provisionally cashed fines, which addresse s all concerns raised by the European 
Court of Auditors, is in pl ace since the beginning of 2010. 
 
EN 105   EN Special report No 6/2009 on European Unio n food aid for deprived persons: an 
assessment of the objectives, th e means and the methods employed 
156. (European Parliament, § 306) - Believes that better criteria are needed to target aid 
at those countries and recipients that are most in need;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission proposal to reform the food 
distribution scheme to the most depr ived persons (COM(2008)0563) foresees 
requesting Member States to define cl earer priorities via the drawing up of 
national food distribution programmes, se tting their objectives and priorities for 
food distribution to the most deprived. It is to be underlined that the participation 
of Member States to this scheme remains voluntary. 
157. (European Parliament, § 309) - Expects the Commission to implement the Court's 
recommendations in order to allow the budg etary authorities to have complete and 
objective information on the results of the programme;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. The Commission proposal to reform the most 
deprived scheme (COM(2008)056 3) foresees reinforcing Member States' reporting 
obligations to be subsequently laid down by the Commission. However, the data 
currently available already allow the Commission to state that the impact of the 
programme is very substantial since, as th e Court recognises in its special report, 
the programme provides betw een 30 and 70%, depending on the charities and the 
Member States, of the total food distribute d in the participating Member States to 
the most deprived people. 
 
EN 106   EN Special report No 7/2009 on the management  of the Galileo progr amme's development 
and validation phase 
158. (European Parliament, §§ 311 & 315) - The European Parliament asks the 
Commission to follow up on the Courts ' recommendation in the forthcoming 
Communication on the future of Galileo w ith a view to clarifying the Galileo 
programme's political objectives and transl ating them into strategic and operational 
objectives in order to establish a solid roadmap for Galileo pending full deployment; 
 Calls on the Commission to prepare updated figure s and cost benefit analyses of the 
Galileo project and to inform Parliament accordingly.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission will be in a position to inform Member States and the Parliament 
of an update of the cost figures concerning the Galileo program through the mid 
term review to be adopted before end 2010. 
159. (European Parliament, § 312) - The European Parliament is worried by the Court's 
finding that the Galileo Joint Undertaking faile d to achieve most of  its objectives and 
that its activities were  seriously constrained by governance issues; asks the 
Commission to ensure, in line with the C ourt's recommendation, that in the case of 
future joint undertakings the governance stru cture does not impede the activities of 
the joint undertaking   
Commission's response:  
The Commission carefully examines the ra tionale and optimal governance of any 
new joint undertaking. For doing so, it also takes into account the 
recommendations formulated by a repor t of January 2010, which draws lessons 
from the experience of Joint Tech nological Initiatives so far. 
The Commission already presented some propo sals addressing this issue within the 
triennial revision of the financial regulation. 
160. (European Parliament, § 313) - The European Parliament considers that the 
European taxpayers should be informed of any participation by third countries in the 
Galileo and EGNOS programmes; therefore requests that the Commission provide 
Parliament with detailed information on a ny kind of cooperation between the EU and 
third countries concerning th e Galileo and EGNOS programmes.   
Commission's response:  
It is noted that the agreements which the EU concludes with third countries on the 
cooperation in the European GNSS programmes are approved by the Council and 
are publicly accessible documents. The signature of the cooperation agreement 
with Norway is scheduled in September 2010. This document will be send to the EP 
for consent in accordance with the article 218 of the Lisbon Treaty. 
 
EN 107   EN 161. (European Parliament, § 314) - The European Parliament calls on the Commission 
and the European GNSS Supervisory Authority, in its accounts, and the Court, in its 
reports, to provide the discharge authority with clear and comprehensive information 
concerning the tangible and intangible assets created und er the Galileo and EGNOS 
programmes, which are owned by the European Union.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission became the owner of the EGNOS assets in April 2009 when they 
were transferred from the European Space Agency (ESA). As a result, the 
Commission did not include these assets in  its 2008 accounts because it was not the 
owner. The accounting treatment of the Galileo expenditure as research 
expenditure is continued and in accor dance with the EU accounting rules. The 
transfer of the assets being created is not foreseen until the end of the In-Orbit 
Validation (IOV) phase, expected to be during 2012. The Commission is already 
working closely with ESA to ensure that  at the time of this  transfer all the 
necessary accounting and technical inform ation will be available to ensure a 
smooth handover. 
 
EN 108   EN Special report No 8/2009 on "Networks of excellence" and "Integrated projects" in 
Community Research policy: did they achieve their objectives? 
162. (European Parliament, §§ 316-321) - The European Parliament notes the existence 
of a high "expectation gap", i.e.  the fact that fewer than 55  % of all projects reviewed 
ex post maintained their initial "excel lent" evaluation; as ks the Commission to 
reconsider its evaluation procedures; 
 Recalls that the vast majority of a pplications do not exceed  the "excellence" 
threshold (only 15 % to 20 %), whereas appl ication costs (amounting in some cases 
to as much as EUR 300 000) are borne by  applicants; in this regard, urges the 
Commission to apply coherently and effici ently sensible discretion (e.g. multi-stage 
procedures) in order to make most efficien t use of the money allocated to research 
instead of "administration of research"; 
 Considers it unfortunate that, depending on their eventual success in the application 
procedure, only 53 % to 86 % of all partie s concerned fully understood the nature of 
the instruments applied in the Sixth Fram ework Programme (FP6); regrets the fact 
that in some cases the choice  of instrument was apparently  g e a r e d  t o  f i s c a l  r a t h e r  
than material considerations; notes that the existence of a high number of partners in 
the Networks of Excellence (NoEs), as we ll as the Commission's strong focus on 
legal integration, constitutes a specific ch allenge, and that th e expert group on the 
future of NoEs has recommended that larg er partnerships should be formed only in 
exceptional, duly justified cases; 
 Regrets that, notwithstanding Parliament 's demands for a more service- and 
customer-oriented implementation of research programmes, only limited progress has been achieved in the formation of "one-stop shops" coveri ng the full range of 
Directorates-General within the research  family, standardisation in terms of 
application procedures, prerequisite doc umentation and consistent communication; 
highlights the fact that the public re gards the Commission as a single entity; 
 Demands in that respect that the Comm ission finally take the appropriate steps 
towards a pro-active approach in terms of customer support, internal quality control, 
including second-level standardisation, and coherent management; asks the 
Commission to make available on-line all legal texts on which the grants contracts 
are based including, where appropriate , references to Belgian law; 
 Recalls Parliament's constant demands fo r a reduction of the administrative burden, 
in particular in grants procedures ; deplores the fact that the time to contract averages 
13 months, representing an in crease of four months comp ared to the FP5; with a 
view to the FP7, demands th at the Commission make use of existing administrative 
tools (e.g. Personal Identification Codes (PICs) and Legal Entity Appointed 
Representatives (LEARs)).   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission when carrying out evaluatio ns monitors that within the current 
legal framework the best proposals have been  chosen. Further to this process the 
implementation of projects can result in unexpected difficulties that are 
 
EN 109   EN subsequently tackled. Nevertheless, accord ing to the results of expert questionnaire 
surveys, and feedback from independen t observers, the current evaluation 
procedure continues to be rated highly , including in comparison with other 
national and international schemes. 
The Commission is aware of  the significant costs th at can be incurred when 
consortia prepare proposals. However, the fi gure referred to is much higher than 
figures normally quoted to the Commission, even as an upper limit. The two-stage 
procedure can indeed alleviate the effort re quired of applicants. It is being used in 
many calls for proposals. Ho wever, while a two-stage pr ocess works well in many 
areas, it is not a panacea, since experience shows that often the effort required to 
prepare a good first-stage represents a subs tantial portion of the effort to write a 
full proposal. Generally observers and applic ants are ambivalent about the possible 
benefits of two-stage procedures. Finally, it should be recalled that the two-stage 
procedure prolongs the time to grant. 
The start of FP7 has seen a number of simplifications compared to previous 
Framework Programmes. Some of them ar e linked to improvements in the systems 
and processes of implementation and contri bute to reducing resources needed for 
the administrative management of grant related activities. This includes: 
- the guarantee fund that allow reducing the number of several ex-ante controls; 
- fewer certificates on the financial stat ements (FP6: audit certificates) as a 
threshold for making them necessary has been introduced (€ 375 000); 
- much fewer ex-ante financial capac ity checks. Only coordinators and 
beneficiaries asking for more than € 500 000 contribution will be checked, leading 
to the effect that nine out of ten FP7 participants will be exempt from ex-ante 
checking; 
- the unique registration of participants an d the related IT systems. Participants 
are registered and validated once and th e legal information is reused for all 
subsequent participations. The central registry is used for all programmes 
managed by the five "research DGs". Nearly  20 000 entities are already registered 
and validated now. The system of uniqu e identifiers (Participant Identity Codes - 
PIC) and unique contact persons for each legal entity (Legal  Entity Appointed 
Representative) leads to major streamlining of grant management at all stages, and 
also to better data quality; 
- streamlined processes and guidelines for amendments and for project reporting, 
leading to reduced burden both for beneficiaries and Commission services; 
- the average reporting period has been ex tended , which reduces considerably the 
number of reports and financial statements to be prepared by the beneficiaries and 
processed by the Commission; 
- the majority of interactions with beneficiaries now via Web-based online 
applications (move towards e-FP7) that  are integrated under a Researchers 
Participant Portal. All these systems ar e interlinked and connected to the back 
office systems, presenting the user at ea ch process step with  Web forms pre-filled 
 
EN 110   EN with all the existing data, avoiding t hus repeated requests for the same 
information. 
Average time-to-grant in FP7 is about one month shorter than in FP6, and further 
reduction is expected as a re sult of the above simplifications. 
Since the start of FP7, the Commission opera tes a single research enquiry service 
for all questions on participants rela ted to proposal and grant management. 
Besides, the Commission is constantly wo rking on the improvement of the clarity 
and accessibility of guidance documents an d services, by streamlining the guides, 
removing unnecessary jargon and using co nsistent terminology - to reduce the 
entrance barriers for newcomers, in particular SMEs. 
All legal and guidance documents for FP7 participants are available on CORDIS 
since the start of FP7. 
In addition, the Research Participant Portal launched in 2009 has started acting as 
a unique platform ("one-stop shop") for FP participants 
(http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants /portal/appmanager/participants/portal). 
The medium-term goal is to integrate a ll front office IT systems under this 
common umbrella. 
The overall median in FP7 is currently 330 days, i.e. 30 days shorter than in FP6. 
Hence, the Commission can say that the start of FP7 went much more smoothly 
than the start of the pr evious framework programmes.  But the Commission must 
also note that a comparison of 17 funding agencies in the field of health research 
in the world showed that a 1-year time-span  from calls' deadline to research start 
seems to be the rule for collaborative sc hemes with many beneficiaries requiring 
negotiation elements (this is in particular  the case for the US National Institutes of 
Health centres of excellence). 
163. (European Parliament, § 322) - Is dissatisfied that th e FP6 did not attain the 
objective of stronger par ticipation of private participants, in part icular SMEs; shares 
the Court's view that some provisions activ ely discouraged their participation; on the 
whole, takes the view that the legal provi sions and rules (including model contracts 
and guidelines) are excessively complex and in themselves clog up the effective and efficient implementation of research policies.   
Commission's response:
 
Several measures where introduced in FP7 to simplify SME participation: The 
reimbursement rates and the flat rate s for indirect costs for SMEs were 
considerably increased in FP7 in comparison to FP6. The introduction of 
thresholds for ex-ante verif ication of financial capacity and the revised set of 
protective measures for financially weak participants (no more bank guarantees, 
blocked accounts or reduced pre-fina ncing) took some financial and 
administrative burden from SMEs and are particularly helpful for young start-ups. 
The introduction of thresholds for providin g certificates on financial statements 
reduces the administrative burden for financial reporting. In some thematic areas 
under the specific programme "Cooperation" calls with specific topics for projects 
 
EN 111   EN with obligatory SME participation were implemented. As foreseen in the Small 
Business Act (COM(2008) 394), SMEs partici pating in an FP7 project keep their 
SME status (and the 75 % funding rate) during the lifetime of the project, even if 
they grow during the project above the thresholds in the SME definition. 
164. (European Parliament, § 323) - Observes that the focus of evaluations is placed on 
"input" checks rather than output assessments; shares the Court's view that the proper 
definition of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed (SMART) objectives at the outset of the project is a key element for the purposes of 
determining its progress and eventual succ ess; stresses that reporting requirements 
have to be designed as a pur poseful tool for monitoring and assessing progress in the 
integration and material progress and must not be used as a means of sanctioning or 
interfering with the coordina tor's other discretionary mana gerial activities as long as 
they are in line with the legal provisions.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission's research evaluation system  addresses issues related to rationale, 
implementation and achievements. In this context, 'achievements' covers both 
short-term outputs as well as the longer-t erm impacts of the research activities. 
Concerning SMART objectives, it is ch allenging, in particular given the 
uncertainty of research, to ensure all objectives fit precisely within the strict 
definitions of SMART criteria. 
On the question of project reporting, reporting procedures were revised under FP6, 
and have been further improved for FP7 (e .g. periodic reporting will be simplified; 
interim questionnaires have been suppresse d; final reporting will become more 
useful, notably with regard to the collec tion of data on project implementation and 
results). 
165. (European Parliament, § 324) - Regrets that in most cases  sustainable integration 
extending beyond the initial funding period could not be achieved and that, in the Court's assessment, the initia l funding period of five year s proved to be unrealistic; 
supports the proposal to apply highly comp etitive and selective criteria to the 
prolonged funding of NoEs that claim to be  able to achieve self-sustainability.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission's view is that some ‘N etworks of Excellence’ have been less 
successful than others but several NoEs reac hed self-sustained integration. This is 
normal given the wide range of areas cover ed, the various participants in dozens of 
different projects, the realities of collaborat ion in consortia etc. On their side, the 
IPs were quite successful, for example, in the areas of energy and transport 
industrially led demonstration IPs. Many projects have led to market deployment 
and replication after the successf ul end of the FP6 contracts. 
166. (European Parliament, § 325) - Notes with interest the expert group's proposal to 
explore the possibility of coordinate d calls between ERA-NETs and the FP7 
combining national and Community funds as  well as all measures to enhance the 
 
EN 112   EN transparency and accessibility of the CORDIS database so as to ensure an exchange 
of research results in the ERA (e xchange of best practice examples).   
Commission's response:  
Combined ERA-NET and FP7 calls, combin ing national and community funding, 
exist since 2008, when the new FP7 ERA-NET Plus instrument st arted being used 
by several networks of European rese arch programme managers and programme 
owners. A recent report by independent experts examined the first 9 such ERA-
NET Plus concluding that the mechanis m appears well suited to implement joint 
calls combining national and FP funding, e.g. in the framework of the recently 
launched Joint Programming Initiatives. 
Since this spring, the Netwatch porta l (http://netwatch.jr c.ec.europa.eu/nw/) 
presents all joint calls currently funded under the ERA-NET scheme, providing a 
transparent access for researchers to a ll these calls, in addition to the national 
portals and web-services. The portal also  presents a toolbox of best practices 
developed by European programme owners and managers in the joint activities 
undertaken through ERA-NET support, as identified and synthesized by the 
supporting ERA Learn lear ning platform action 
http://netwatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/nw/inde x.cfm/static/eralearn/eralearn.html." 
167. (European Parliament, § 326) - Is deeply concerned by the fact that the application 
of the Commission's audit strategy for the FP6 has already resulted in two court cases initiated by former participants; stresses that  reliability is the basis for any long-term 
cooperation and calls once again on the Comm ission, with a view to ensuring legal 
certainty, to refrain from recalculating the financial statements of projects under the 
FP6 that it has already approved and settle d, by applying new inte rpretations to the 
eligibility criteria for costs established in the General Conditions (Annex II) of the 
FP6 model contract ; urges the Commission to  reinforce its efforts to find a solution, 
in particular by simplifying the recovery pr ocedures through the use of appropriate 
flat-rate procedures and taking into account the good faith and legitimate 
expectations of beneficiarie s, and expresses its desire for a solution-based dialogue.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission has devised a control stra tegy aimed to ensure the legality and 
regularity of the 6th Framework Progr amme on a multiannual basis for the 
detection and correction of any errors whic h could not be identified before making 
the payment. This is achieved by ex-post auditing and thoroughly recovering any 
amount found to be overpaid to the audited beneficiaries, even for non-audited 
contracts. 
The re-calculation of the financial statemen ts of projects is a necessary condition 
to correct the detected systematic errors lik ely to affect non-audited contracts. The 
acceptance of this particular request would therefore mean that amounts 
receivable would not be recovere d. The Commission does not apply new 
interpretations to the eligibility criteri a for costs established in the General 
Conditions (Annex II) of the FP6 model cont ract. The control system is such that 
the administrative burden for the benefici aries has been lowered before payment 
under the condition that costs may be check ed for their eligibility after payment. 
 
EN 113   EN This is done during ex-post audits. Ex- post audits may therefore reveal that the 
contractor's interpretation of the rules with  regard to their elig ibility was incorrect, 
but this cannot be considered a new interpretation. 
The Commission adopted on 15 December 2009 a Communication on the 
simplification of recovery process (SEC(2009) 1720) that provides the possibility to 
resort to a flat rate to determine th e outstanding debts and considers certain 
charges related to personnel (direct taxes and social charges) as eligible. This 
Communication confirms the Commissi on's will to look for solutions. 
Lastly, it is pointed out that it is not th e Commission's audit strategy for the FP6 as 
such that has resulted in two Court cases.  The initiation of the cases was triggered 
by the fact that audits have identified ineligible items for which recovery orders 
were launched. The fact that this happene d with important and large participants 
also worries the Commission. 
It is recalled that, if cont ractors are confronted with matters of eligibility when 
establishing their cost statements, they ca n contact the Commission services, which 
are always available to give their view on  matters of eligibility before payments are 
made, therewith avoiding any recovery process. 
168. (European Parliament, § 327) - Asks the Commission to find solutions that ensure 
reliability and mid-term continuity in th e implementation and planning of framework 
programmes, notably with a view to the FP8, and, in particular, to homogeneously 
apply fixed deadlines and firm rules of procedure.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is committed in ensuring continuity in the implementation of the 
Framework programmes. In this regard, th e Commission has already started with 
the preparation of the next framework programme. As example, the Commission 
Communication on Simplification ("Simp lifying the Implementation of the 
Research Framework Programmes" (COM(2010)0187)) presents options for 
profound changes of the funding mode l towards a result-based approach using 
individual lump sums for whole projects. It also proposes a num ber of principles 
such as the acceptance of the be neficiaries' accounting methods. 
 
EN 114   EN Special report No 9/2009 on the efficiency an d effectiveness of the personnel selection 
activities carried out by the Euro pean Personnel Selection Office 
169. (European Parliament, § 328) - The European Parliament encourages the European 
Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) to take in to account the Court's recommendations 
in its Development Programme (EDP).   
Commission's response:  
EPSO has accepted all of the Court's reco mmendations in its audit report. Some 
have already been implemented, the others are about to be introduced. 
170. (European Parliament, § 329) - The European Parliament takes the view that EPSO 
and all EU institutions should improve their communication to  citizens about the 
concept of an impartial European civil se rvice and should enhance the image of the 
EU as an employer.   
Commission's response:  
Several initiatives, including EPSO's new website, have taken up this 
recommendation. For example, notices of  competition have been  simplified and 
are published in 23 languages. Their logi cal structure has been improved to make 
them easier to administer and to impro ve the institutions' communication and 
image, given that the notice of competition is often people's first contact with the 
institutions. 
171. (European Parliament, § 330) - The European Parliament poi nts out in this context 
that EPSO should also aim at impr oving its communication with the public 
administrations in the Member States in orde r to exchange best practices in the areas 
of the provision of inform ation/advertising to the publ ic and of promoting job 
opportunities in a targeted manner so as  to bring them to the attention of 
professionals; considers that similar co mmunication should be undertaken with 
relevant international organisations.   
Commission's response:  
As part of the 'Attractivene ss and Diversity' plank of its development programme, 
EPSO is taking a number of steps, for example extra, targeted publicity in the 
Member States and campaigns to raise awareness among pote ntial candidates. 
172. (European Parliament, § 331) - The European Parliament  is convinced that 
improving cooperation with universities coul d be beneficial in the long term by, on 
the one hand, providing the EU instituti ons with desirable employees and, on the 
other hand, by assisting graduates in  enhancing their career options.   
Commission's response:  
EPSO is developing its external communicatio n strategy to include actions that are 
directed at raising the profile of EU j obs among the various target groups, e.g. 
universities. 
 
EN 115   EN Competitions for administrators at gr ade AD5 may be advertised as graduate 
trainee schemes. The manner of implementing this would be developed in 
conjunction with the Institutions. 
173. (European Parliament, § 332) - The European Parliament encourages EPSO to 
continue its efforts to diagnose and pr event the geographical imbalances amongst 
candidates and subsequently among the laureates.   
Commission's response:  
The geographical imbalances result essent ially from factors outside EPSO's 
control, such as the economic situation in  the Member States, the perception of the 
European Union and relative salary levels.  EPSO is well aware of the institutions' 
statutory obligation to  recruit their staff from a broad geographical base. Working 
with the institutions,  EPSO continuously monitors the geographical composition of 
competitions and takes appropriate measures  when the number of candidates from 
a particular Member State is felt to be inadequate in relation to its population. 
Particular measures include extra, target ed publicity in these Member States and 
campaigns to raise awarene ss among potential candidates. 
174. (European Parliament, § 334) - The European Parliament takes the view that EPSO 
should improve the administration of the laureates' waiting lists by providing them 
with information on current vacancies in orde r to facilitate their final recruitment; at 
the same time, considers that efforts s hould be made to reduce the time spent by 
successful candidates waiting for employment.   
Commission's response:  
In an effort to introduce greater tran sparency, EPSO has al ready implemented a 
tool allowing candidates to monitor on-line their status on the reserve list and their 
availability to Institutions. In addition, successful candidates are now being 
advised as to the sequence of events for recruitment, including timing and 
practicalities and they r eceive a full explanation of the flagging system. 
Discussions are ongoing with the Institu tions in order to give access to the 
laureates to certain vacancy notices. 
The timing of their recruitme nt is the sole responsibility of the Institutions. 
175. (European Parliament, § 336) - The European Parliament calls on EPSO to avoid 
any ambiguity in competition notices and enc ourages EPSO to review its procedures 
for verifying compliance with eligibility requirements.   
Commission's response:  
This recommendation has been accepted an d has already been implemented. When 
EPSO was reorganised in April 2008 an internal quality control function was 
introduced. At the same time, external qu ality control was improved on EPSO's 
initiative, both at the level  of translation with DGT and in terms of linguistic 
checks with the departments of OPOCE. 
 
EN 116   EN 176. (European Parliament, § 337) - The European Parliament calls on EPSO to improve 
its appeal procedures, e.g. by assigning di fferent panels in the first and second 
instance.   
Commission's response:  
Each competition notice contains a se parate section on appeal procedures 
including the formalities to observe. Ther e are currently four possible levels of 
appeal: request for review, compliant pursuant to Ar ticle 90 of the Staff 
Regulations, petition to the European Ombudsman and petition to the Court. 
Although it is not always possible to advise candidates on the most appropriate 
means of redress to challenge a decisi on of EPSO or the Selection Board, 
guidance is given inter alia by highlig hting that individual Selection Board 
decisions based on assessment can only be  changed by the Appointing Authority or 
the Civil Service Tribunal in case of a manifest error of appreciation. 
Furthermore, EPSO introduced in 2009 an internal review m echanism seeking to 
advise Selection Boards in the best possibl e way to deal with problematic issues 
including better ways of communicating decisions to candidates and thus 
preventing a large number of complaints. 
As an EU inter-institutional office EPSO is  obliged to give effect  to each ruling of 
the EU Courts by executing the measures imposed by the Courts. 
177. (European Parliament, § 338) - The European Parliament notes that there are several 
cases pending against EPSO before the Ci vil Service Tribunal in connection with 
failures in the selection procedure (in part icular on the issue of  languages); takes the 
view that, once these cases ar e concluded, they should prov ide lessons to be learned 
and should be incorporated into the EDP by EPSO.   
Commission's response:  
As an EU inter-institutional office EPSO is  obliged to give effect  to each ruling of 
the EU Courts by executing the measures imposed by the Courts. In addition, 
EPSO has always changed its practices where general problems were identified by 
the Civil Service Tribunal. Further to  one ruling of the CST in 2008, EPSO 
introduced new evaluation grids of written and oral tests that are communicated to 
candidates at their request since early 2009. 
 
EN 117   EN Special report No 10/2009 on information provision and promotion measures for 
agricultural products 
178. (European Parliament, § 340) - Urges the Commission to specify the policy 
objectives, bearing in mind the need for c onsistency between stated ambitions and 
the committed budget, and to express these objectives in a SMART way, as well as to define and monitor suita ble performance indicators;   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission is taking the requested action.  
Though the Commission considers that the four objectives as set out in Council 
Regulation (EC) No 3/2008, as well as the specific objectives for the internal 
market for each of the various product s laid down in Annex I of Commission 
Regulation (EC) No 501/2008 are already "S MART," it will certainly continue to 
further develop the objectives of the policy. 
To this end, the Commission has already  set up an Advisory Committee on 
Promotion with the aim of defi ning an overall strategy of  and to better complement 
the various existing promotion measures. The input of this advisory committee is 
feeding the reflections on the strategy for the promotion policy for agricultural 
products which will be an  important element of the Commission Communication 
on the future of the CAP to be adopted in November 2010. 
179. (European Parliament, § 341) - Calls on the Commission to continue the 
improvements to the selection procedure, in particular by maintaining the requirement to include in proposals inform ation concerning the expected impact of 
the measures in question and on the manner in which that impact will be gauged;   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken. 
The Commission has continued to improve the selection procedure by putting the 
emphasis on good evaluation methodology in  each programme. A revised version 
of document AGRI/63454/2007 has been prepared by the Commission services and 
is for the sake of clarity and precision su bdivided in two parts specifically intended 
for the preparation of programmes and their posterior evaluation. 
 
EN 118   EN Special report No 11/2009 on the sustainabi lity and the Commission's management of 
the LIFE-Nature projects 
180. (European Parliament, § 345) - Invites the Commission to review its selection model 
in order to prioritise LIFE -Nature project proposals whic h can provide an assurance 
as to the continuity of results;   
Commission's response:  
When selecting LIFE-Nature proposals, the Commission does prioritise proposals 
which can give assurance as to the continuity of results (i.e. this is one of the main 
criteria considered, though not the only  one). The Commission has taken steps to 
make the sustainability criterion more visible for the Nature and Biodiversity 
component. Relevant text has been added to both the Application Guidelines and 
the Evaluation Guide. 
181. (European Parliament, § 345) - Suggests to the Commission that it consider 
separating the management of the ‘N ature’ and ‘Environment’ strands;   
Commission's response:  
The management of the Nature and Environment strands of the LIFE+ 
programme is now done by separate units. 
182. (European Parliament, § 346) - Urges the Commission to cooperate closely with the 
European Environmental Agency and the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity in defining the appropriate criter ia and indicators for the selection of 
proposals as regards their sustainability as we ll as to take the necessary initiatives to 
improve project monitoring in respect of  the results achieved, and to develop 
appropriate indicators and criteria  for monitoring project outcomes;   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission has already developed indi cators for all projects selected. The 
indicators for LIFE Nature & Biodiversity  projects are quite robust. They are 
currently being analysed for the first tw o years of LIFE+. The Commission is also 
studying the possibility of including thes e indicators in its main database (Butler) 
so as to complete the existing set of data already available for all LIFE Nature 
projects since 1992. Further developments may be planned for the long term, but 
no additional short-term action is currently foreseen. 
183. (European Parliament, § 347) - Invites the Commission to review its communication 
strategy, paying particular attention to the dissemination of relevant information and 
lessons learned, and to ensu re that beneficiaries are required to provide more 
technical details concerning the methods us ed, lessons learned and best practices 
identified;   
 
EN 119   EN Commission's response:  
The Commission welcomes the Court's recommendations on disseminating more 
technical information and lessons learne d, noting that it has significantly 
improved its communication strategy in the past and will continue to do so, inter 
alia by making more information ava ilable on the LIFE Programme website, and 
by organising thematic workshops and EU-w ide meetings to promote exchange of 
experience. 
184. (European Parliament, § 349) - Calls on the Commission to introduce a follow-up 
scheme for post-LIFE funding in order to assess the effectiven ess of the projects 
financed and to ensure the sustainability impact of th e EU funding after the closure 
of the projects;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has set up a mechanism fo r carrying out more systematic ex-post 
visits to projects since 2009. The Commi ssion is currently  reviewing this 
mechanism in order to strengthen it an d has increased the number of ex-post 
missions (to around 26 ex-post visits in a 12-month period). 
185. (European Parliament, § 350) - Calls on the Commission to develop appropriate 
measures to resolve the existing legal issues and implementation constraints 
regarding the long-term follow-up of the projects;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission, as agreed, has investi gated the possibility, legality and 
opportunity of establishing post-contra ctual obligations for the “after-LIFE 
funding”, going beyond the existing ones, to include legal obligations on 
beneficiaries to maintain project results beyond the closure of the project. The 
conclusions are negative and the Commissi on deems it is not feasible, opportune 
nor cost-effective to modify the grant agr eement to include such post-contractual 
obligations. 
The Commission will concentrate its efforts on securing the long term 
sustainability of project results by way of  using the tools presently available and by 
developing additional tools as agreed in re sponse to the other recommendations 
formulated by the Court of Auditors in its report. 
 
EN 120   EN Special report No 12/2009 on the effectiveness of the Commission's projects in the area 
of Justice and Home Affairs for the western Balkans 
186. (European Parliament, § 352) - Recalls that the Commission ensures the 
management of projects in the field of jus tice and home affairs in a difficult political 
and institutional environment; taking into consideration the C ourt's conclusions 
showing that the investment projects were  more successful than the institution-
building projects, expects from the Commi ssion a significant strengthening of the 
link between projects aimed at the reinforcement of institutional capacities and investment projects in  the region concerned;   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission generally combines equi pment and infrastructure investment 
with institution- and capacity-build ing. The provision of equipment and 
infrastructure is combined with support for training and organisational reforms. 
Within this context, the history of impl ementation of several Institution Building 
projects shows that the Commission has repeatedly and steadily attempted to exert 
a positive influence in order to foster the sustainability of the projects. 
187. (European Parliament, § 353) - Agrees with the Court that  the appropriation of local 
actions and projects represents a determini ng factor for success in strengthening the 
rule of law, and also consid ers that the lack of commit ment and ownership at local 
level weakens the sustainability of the pr ojects; calls on the Commission to ensure 
that the assistance provided is accompa nied by a strong will on the part of the 
beneficiaries actively to encourage the in stitutional reforms a nd to increase the 
involvement of the beneficiaries in the projects;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has learned from past expe riences and now acts according to a 
formalised approach which sees the bene ficiary in the driving seat of the 
assistance process, taking full responsi bility for the anticipated objectives, 
methodologies and results. 
Further enhancement of the projects' owners hip by the beneficiaries is a priority 
under IPA. 
188. (European Parliament, § 354) - Considers, like the Court, that EU aid in the Western 
Balkans is generally effective, but that real  risks exist regarding the sustainability of 
projects; notes with satisfaction that th e sustainability and ownership of projects 
should improve under the IPA programme du e to project conditionalities and co-
financing by the beneficiarie s; is of the opinion that ma intenance plans would further 
increase the durability of projects, and as ks the Commission to consider introducing 
them as a prerequisite for obtaining EU financial support;   
 
EN 121   EN Commission's response:  
Beneficiaries are now involved in the procurement process from project 
preparation to the evaluation of bids (where a representative of the beneficiary is 
always present as a voting member). 
Since the 2007 programme, in order to e nhance sustainability  and ownership of 
projects, IPA project fiches include specific conditionality on infrastructure 
maintenance. 
189. (European Parliament, § 355) - Expects the Commission to en sure scrupulously that 
interventions related to infrastructure in th e field of the integrated management of the 
borders are now designed and implemented in such a way as to encourage regional cooperation;   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission considers that a join t border crossing point can enhance 
cooperation between the two countries co ncerned, and as such fits within the 
global approach related to bilatera l cooperation at the border. 
190. (European Parliament, § 356) - Calls on the Commission to do its utmost to ensure 
better cooperation between the various donors on the spot and more efficient 
coordination of their actions;   
Commission's response:  
In endeavouring to coordinate donors, the Commission maintains regular contacts 
for policy and financial assistance coordi nation with the Council of Europe, the 
Venice Commission, UN High Commissioner fo r Refugees, International Office of 
Migration, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and 
bilateral donors. Meetings are held regu larly between the EC delegations and the 
Member States' Embassies for coordinatin g their bilateral financial assistance 
with that of the Community. The Commissi on organised conferences in autumn 
2008 and in April 2009 with the main donors, aimed at improving donor 
coordination methodologies. The last conference held in October 2009 has mainly 
focused on the practical aspects of coordination on the ground.  
Moreover, on the ground, the Regional Cooperation Council took over during the 
first half of 2008 the role of the former St ability Pact as faci litator of regional 
donor cooperation in the JHA area and is  organising conferences to this end. 
Donor cooperation meetings are also organ ised through regional initiatives. 
191. (European Parliament, § 357) - Considers that the visibility  of the EU as the largest 
donor in the region needs to be significantl y improved so as to match its share of 
contributions; awaits a proposal from  the Commission in that regard;   
Commission's response:  
Article 51 of the IPA implementing regu lation provides abou t the information 
concerning the assistance related to the IPA regulation. 
 
EN 122   EN Implementation shall be the responsibility of the final beneficiaries and shall be 
funded from the amount allocated to the relevant programmes or operations, in 
accordance with an agreement to be made prior to the start of implementation. 
The Commission has also enhanced its information and communication effort 
concerning the use of IPA funds, addressing the public in both the EU and the 
enlargement countries. IPA assistance is extensively covered on the enlargement 
website on Europa, including reader-friendly factsheets on the most representative 
projects. The outreach of the website was enhanced, notably than ks to greater use 
of multilingualism. Overall, in 2009, 120,000 hits were registered for the 
Enlargement on Europa site. The Commission  also developed material for use in 
public events such as a popular general br ochure on IPA, roll-ups on IPA, as well 
as specific printed factsheets on country  specific themes or on cross-cutting 
instruments such as the Western Balkans Investment Framework or the European 
Fund for South-East Europe. The Commissi on also organised visibility events 
about the EU's pre-accession assistance, notably the conference "The Western 
Balkans - overcoming the economic crisis" in December 2009 with the 
participation of several ministers and t op IFI executives. Each of these events 
included media relations and gave rise  to numerous reports by journalists. 
 
EN 123   EN Special report No 13/2009 on delegating impl ementing tasks to ex ecutive agencies: a 
successful option? 
192. (European Parliament, § 359) - The European Parliament re grets that according to 
the audit the Commission's control over the agencies’ activities is not fully effective, and stresses the need to develop new indicators enabling the measurement of the Agencies' performance by the supervisory DGs to be enhanced.   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission sees its supervision res ponsibility as a broader task which it 
fulfils with due diligence. The combina tion of numerous and regular management 
and supervising mechanisms, including the Steering Boards of the executive 
agencies composed of high ranking Commis sion officials, the appointment of the 
Directors and the management staff by th e Commission, as well as the detailed 
reporting requirements allow the supervisory DGs to closely monitor the 
performance of the Agencies. A revision of the number of indicators and the 
development of new indicators should allow the supervisory DGs to improve the 
performance measurement of the Agencies. 
Guidelines on performance indicators, including a number of key performance 
indicators, were given to parent DGs and agencies in March 2010. The 
Commission expects these guidelines to be applied in the 2011 work programmes 
of the agencies. 
193. (European Parliament, § 363) - The European Parliament requests the Commission 
to provide information on the different c ontractual time periods applicable for the 
different contractual tasks and the duration of the different cont ractual employments 
in the executive agencies.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission will prepare the information as reques ted and transmit it to the 
CONT Committee before the end of 2010, t ogether with the information on staff 
numbers. 
194. (European Parliament, § 364) - The European Parliament requests the Commission 
to take measures to improve and simplify the recruitment of the agencies’ staff; 
moreover, requests the Commission to take  the specific recruitment needs of the 
executive agencies into consideration.   
Commission's response:  
The simplification of the recruitment pro cess introduced in the framework of the 
EPSO Development Programme will apply to institutions and agencies alike. 
195. (European Parliament, § 365 (1st part)) - The European Parliament requests the 
Commission to present detailed informa tion on the number of contract staff 
employed in the executive agencies and th e tasks assigned to them and the salary 
 
EN 124   EN levels corresponding thereto, as well as an overview on how much experience is 
required for each employment grade.   
Commission's response:  
The information will be sent to th e CONT Committee befo re the end of 2010. 
196. (European Parliament, § 365 (2nd part)) - The European Parliament requests the 
Commission to present information on the different cases in which suitable staff 
could not be rapidly found and on how much delay occurred in the staff recruitment, 
as well as an analysis of the reasons for the delay.   
Commission's response:  
Delays in recruitment of contract agents are due to the creation of this category of 
staff as of 01/05/2004, precisely at the ti me when the first executive agency was 
created. These delays were also encountered by Commission services. There is no 
particular additional delay from the perspect ive of executive agencies (other than 
those relating to either massive recruitment at start-up phase or needs for specific 
profiles. 
With regard to the duration of filling the Directors' posts, the Commission would 
like to recall that there are only few Dir ectors' posts and recruitment of senior 
managers is a delicate process. 
As of today, the delays are back to normal. 
197. (European Parliament, § 366 (1st part)) - The European Parliament invites the 
Commission to collect and use reliable data  on workload and productivity related to 
the delegation of tasks with a view to carry ing out an impact assessment, both before 
and after externalisation.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission acknowledges that initial CBAs and financial statements did not 
always provide all possible workload and productivity indicators before 
externalisation and for the triennial evalu ation pursuant to Article 25 of Council 
Regulation 58/2003. Improvements have been made in the more recent CBAs, and 
the Commission will in the future go deep er into the assessment of workload and 
productivity. This will of course only be possible to verify the next time a task is 
delegated to an executive agency. 
198. (European Parliament, § 366 (2nd part)) - The European Parliament invites the 
Commission to identify the success factors and conclusions which led to better results at the executive agencies and to apply the lessons learned to all programmes 
which continue to be managed by the Commission services.   
Commission's response:
 
The success of the executive ag encies lies in their capac ity to recruit extensively 
contractual agents (up to 75%) with contra cts of much longer duration than in the 
 
EN 125   EN Commission; to target their recruitment to  specific skills; and to specialise on 
recurrent executive tasks. These advantage s are inherent to the concept of the 
executive agencies and can therefore no t be reproduced within the Commission. 
Firstly, the Commission has to maintain the overall current balance of staff which 
includes predominantly permanent offici als and may only employ contractual 
agents for maximum of 3 years. Secondly, in  order for the Commission to focus on 
its strategic and policy tasks as an in stitution, the recruitment profile (more 
"generalist") has to be different fr om that of the executive agencies. 
199. (European Parliament, § 366 (3rd part)) - The European Parliament invites the 
Commission to improve the s upervision of the agencies by setting results-oriented 
and targeted objectives, using a limited num ber of relevant performance indicators, 
which should form the basis for objectives in respect of coming years.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission sees its supervision res ponsibility as a broader task which it 
fulfils with due diligence. The combination of regular formal meetings and the 
detailed reporting requirements allow th e supervisory DGs to closely monitor the 
performance of the Agencies. A revision of the number of indicators and the 
development of new indicators should allow the supervisory DGs to improve the 
performance measurement of the Agencies. 
As regards timing, the adoption of th e Executive Agencies' Annual Work 
Programmes should be speeded up through earlier adoption of the DGs' Financing 
Decisions. Instructions to this effect, as well as on the content of agency Work 
Programmes, were given to parent DGs and agencies in March 2010. At the same 
time, instructions were also given on performance indicators and a number of key 
performance indicators were defined for further use by parent DGs and agencies. 
The Commission expects these guidelin es to be applied in the 2011 work 
programmes of the agencies. 
 
EN 126   EN Special report No 14/2009 entitled "Have th e management instrume nts applied to the 
market in milk and milk  products achieved their main objectives?" 
200. (European Parliament, § 367) - Expects the Commission, in  view of the massive 
fluctuations and disparities on the world ma rket, to take effective precautionary and 
compensatory measures to strengthen sm all and medium-sized  businesses and to 
promote security of food supply through a wide range of businesses within the 
European Union;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking  the requested action. 
The Commission has taken all the necessary  measures in the framework of the 
2009 dairy crisis, such as the prolonga tion of the buying in period for the 
intervention of butter and skimmed milk powde r, the prolongation of the period in 
which private storage aid is applicable for butter, and the temporarily re-
introduction of export refunds. 
Moreover, the High Level Group on Milk has finalised its report on 15 June 2010 
with seven recommendations on contract ual relations between milk producers and 
milk processors; collective bargaining power of producers; the possible role of 
inter-branch organisations in the dairy sector; transparency in the dairy supply 
chain; market measures and futures; ma rketing standards and origin labelling; 
innovation and research. A copy of the re port has been sent to the Council and the 
Agriculture Committee of the European Pa rliament. The Council will discuss the 
recommendations in July and the Commis sion is expected to put forward 
legislative proposals before the end of the year, considering medium to long term 
measures that address the lessons learned fr om last year's crisis, with a view to 
better structuring the sector as a whole. 
201. (European Parliament, § 369) - Points out that the Comm ission should give a high 
priority to fair competition on the world ma rket without dumping, so as to counteract 
the disadvantaging and financia l annihilation of businesses by sudden fluctuations in 
world trade;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. 
One of the goals of the revision of the CAP was to improve competitiveness of the 
agricultural sector while keeping a safety-net  at a low level which is only triggered 
in exceptional circumstances and no longer represent a structural outlet for 
farmers. This contributed to ensure ma rket stability and fair competition on 
commodity markets. As a consequence, it is not justified to associate the 
Commission's actions with any type of "d umping" and "sudden fluctuations in the 
world markets" as shown by the extremely restricted and targeted use of our export 
support mechanisms. 
 
EN 127   EN 202. (European Parliament, § 369) - Calls for the funding of appropriate marketing 
measures and market research  studies in countries outside  Europe, and points out that 
agricultural structures or thei r creation in developing count ries must not be destroyed 
by the export of agricultural goods and accompanying market measures;   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. 
Milk products already benefit from the information and promotion measures 
intended for third countries laid  down by Council Regulation 3/2008 and 
Commission Regulation 501/2008. Studies of ne w third country markets, necessary 
for the expansion of the market outlet ar e specifically covered by this policy. 
The EU has come a long way in maki ng its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 
more development friendly. Export subs idies and domestic trade-distorting 
subsidies have been reduced drastically through the successive CAP reforms. In 
the case of milk, export subsidies have not been activated since November 2009. 
The EU has taken commitments under the Policy Coherence for Development to 
increase synergies between its developmen t policy and other EU policies, including 
CAP. 
203. (European Parliament, § 370) - Agrees with the Court that there is a need for 
continuing supervision of the development of the milk market, and calls for the 
Court’s recommendations to be acted on, so as to identify inappropriate 
developments as they arise and counteract them with suitable measures at an early 
stage;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking  the requested action. 
The Commission has continuously closel y monitored the developments in the 
sector and will continue to do so in the future. As agreed in the context of the 
Health Check, market reports on the diary sector will be submitted to Parliament 
and the Council in December 2010 and 2012. The High Level Group on Milk has 
finalised its report on 15 June 2010 with  seven recommendations on contractual 
relations between milk producers and milk processors; collective bargaining power 
of producers; the possible role of inter-br anch organisations in the dairy sector; 
transparency in the dairy supply chain; market measures and futures; marketing 
standards and origin labelling; innovation and research. A copy of the report has 
been sent to the Council and the Ag riculture Committee of the European 
Parliament. The Commission is expected  to put forward legislative proposals 
before the end of the year, considering me dium to long term measures that address 
the lessons learned from last year's crisis , with a view to better structuring the 
sector as a whole. 
 
EN 128   EN Special report No 16/2009 on the European Commission’s management of pre-accession 
assistance to Turkey 
204. (European Parliament, § 376) - Underlines the Court’s ca ll for a robust methodology 
with which to determine the strategic objectiv es for which EU financial assistance is 
most needed; considers that the designate d measures for achieving each strategic 
objective need to be clearly defined; requests the Commission to ensure that the 
various project proposals include specific,  quantifiable, rea listic and relevant 
objectives so that their c ontribution demonstrably ach ieves strategic objectives;   
Commission's response:  
During the ongoing revision of the Multiannual Indicative Programming 
Document (MIPD) 2011-2013, the Commission has taken measures in order to 
better define strategic objectives for EU  financial assistance, for example by 
focussing assistance on certain key sect ors. Moreover, in the annual programming 
exercise for the national programmes, the Commission now insists on coherent 
project intervention logic, which includes  specific, quantifiable, realistic and 
relevant objectives, results and indicators as a condition for the financing of 
projects. 
205. (European Parliament, § 377) - Criticises the fact that pr e-accession assistance funds 
were allocated to Turkey despite the fact that there were missing indicators and that progress towards fulfilment of the accession cr iteria could not be measured; therefore 
calls for funds to be concentrated on projects which are relevant to accession, 
actually measurable and capable of being implemented;   
Commission's response:
 
Since the introduction of the new Instru ment for Pre-Accession (IPA) in 2007, the 
Commission has brought under way measures to improve the programming of 
funds, which was confirmed by the Court.  As of IPA 2010, further measures were 
taken to improve project relevance, to include more measurable indicators and to 
insist on the readiness for implementation of projects selected for financing. 
During the ongoing revision of the Mu ltiannual Indicative Planning Document 
(MIPD) and in future programming, the Commission will take further steps to 
improve the programming of funds. 
206. (European Parliament, § 378) - Points out that, even though the Commission has 
introduced measures aimed at addre ssing many of the weaknesses in the 
Decentralised Implementation System, in part icular since the introduction of the new 
Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA 2007-2013), the Commission still has 
to address the remaining weaknesses in  overall programming and performance 
management, as recommended by the Court; also expects the Commission to make 
the Turkish authorities aware of this fact so that pr oject proposals are drawn up 
which would allow the strategi c objectives relating to the financing of the European 
Union to be achieved within a realistic timescale; considers that the Commission 
should undertake new initiatives in order to improve the design and implementation 
of the projects by the institutions of th e Decentralised Implementation System 
 
EN 129   EN (measures such as compulsory needs assessments and better scheduling of 
contracting arrangements);   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has held intensive discu ssions with the Turkish authorities to 
improve the quality and readiness of project  proposals drawn up. Following a Joint 
Monitoring Committee in June 2010, the Co mmission has also issued additional 
recommendations on how to improve the implementation and monitoring of funds 
under the Decentralised Implementation Sy stem (letter of Michael Leigh of 2 
August 2010). The Commission expects the performance to improve further, ones 
these recommendations are taken on board. 
207. (European Parliament, § 379) - Given the inability to measure progress towards 
accession goals; asks the Commission to carr y out a more precise analysis of the 
goals and the efficiency of the Instrument  for Pre-Accession Assistance, based on the 
remarks of the Court of Auditors, an d to present this by 15 September 2010;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission will provide the requested information as part of the Annual IPA 
report for Turkey, which is to be pres ented in autumn 2010. As agreed with the 
Parliament, the delay for the requested pr esentation of the anal ysis was postponed 
until 15 October 2010. 
208. (European Parliament, § 380) - Recalls the importance of an evaluation by the 
Commission of the entirety of the programm e for pre-accession assistance to Turkey;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is currently completing a Country Programme Interim 
Evaluation for Turkey which covers the 2005-2008 programmes. Further 
evaluations will be planned in the future. 
 
EN 130   EN European Development Funds 
209. (European Parliament, EDF §1) - Welcomes the implementation of the Lisbon 
Treaty, particularly the creation of the offi ce of High Representative of the Union for 
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the creation of the European External Action 
Service (EEAS); is concerned that the e ffectiveness of European development aid 
could be hindered by the fragmented way in  which it is managed, and points out that 
improvements aimed at better management of  the EDFs must be maintained and not 
be blocked; calls on the Comm ission to give it a descrip tion and detailed explanation 
of the operation of the new system.   
Commission's response:  
It is the intention of the Commission to ensure that the current level of 
management of the EDFs will at least continue. 
The Commission has laid down a proposed governance system for the EEAS. This 
can be found in the proposed Regulation of the European Parliament and of the 
Council amending Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the 
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European 
Communities, as regards the European External Action Service (SEC(2010) 257 
COM(2010)85 final of 24/03/2010). 
The description of the management and control system of the EEAS will be 
submitted to Parliament in due course. 
210. (European Parliament, EDF § 2 & 41) - Recalls and supports  the Commission’s 
undertaking that it will fully incorporate the EDF into th e budget during discussions 
on the next financial framework; repeats it s request to the Commission to keep its 
Committee on Budgetary Control fully informed  concerning the pr eparation of this 
initiative; takes the view that incorporati on of the EDF into the general budget of the 
European Union would make it possible to enhance the coherence, transparency and 
effectiveness of the EDF and to strengthen its oversight system;   
Commission's response:  
The Commission expects to resubmit the proposal for post 10th EDF budgetisation 
in the framework of the preparation of  the new legislative proposals within 
external actions field for the ne xt multi-annual financial framework. 
The Commission will keep the European Parliament informed as regards the 
preparation of this initiative. 
211. (European Parliament, EDF § 3) - Asks to be kept informed concerning the mid-
term review due to be held for the Te nth EDF in 2010 and urges that the joint 
programming should be adequa tely strengthened to obtai n a greater concentration 
and better coordination and divi sion of work; takes the view that the implementation 
strategy for the Tenth EDF should focu s on a limited number of areas, without 
excluding non-governmental organisations ( NGOs) that are effective at local level 
and are of crucial importance for sustaina ble development, in order to avoid the 
 
EN 131   EN harmful effects arising from a proliferation of objectives; in this  connection, calls on 
the Commission to verify whether manage ment by the respectiv e NGOs in the field 
is in fact more efficient and cost-effe ctive than management by the Commission.   
Commission's response:  
The MTR of the 10th EDF national programmin g is being finalised internally to 
the Commission. The results in terms of  performance of the ACP countries 
concerned will be communicated to the relevant stakeholders, including the 
competent commission within the EP an d the JPA, before the end of 2010. The 
MTR is resulted in a limited adjustment of country strategies, showing that 
strategies decided in 2007 are still relevant. 
As regards the progress towards a better con centration of aid (in line with the Code 
of Conduct on Division of Labour  (DoL) adopted in May 2007), the MTR 
assessment results show that DoL amon gst EU donors is progressing slowly 
(meaning for instance withdrawal from a certain sector or arrangements for 
delegated cooperation with another donor).  Looking at ACP countries which are 
part of the EU Fast Track Initiative on Do L (18 in total), progress has been made 
in half of them (Burkina Faso, Ethi opia, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra 
Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia). Slow progress was a cause of concern for 
the European Commission and the Member States. As a result the Council adopted 
in November 2009 an EU Operational Fram ework on Aid Effectiveness where a 
number of concrete actions are listed to accelerate the Fast Track Initiative on 
DoL. For instance, in-country situation is now regularly assessed by the group of 
Member States Directors-Ge neral for Development in order to support and guide 
the process at local level. 
In this context, the Commissi on believes that, indeed, jo int programming should be 
reviewed and strengthened to obtain a grea ter concentration and division of work. 
The Commission agrees with th e key role that the NGOs can play at local level in 
sustainable development, but at this st age it can not verify the good practices in 
their management. 
212. (European Parliament, EDF §4) - Repeats its invitation to  the Commission, when 
fine-tuning its control strategy, to identify the point at which lack of results and the costs of control call for a policy change ; in this connecti on looks forward to 
receiving the Commission report on the results of the tolerable risk/cost effectiveness studies on external action a nd the review of the Europe Aid control strategy, in good 
time for the 2009 discharge procedure.   
Commission's response:
 
EuropeAid will continue to improve its su pervisory and control systems with regard 
to the requests and recommendations issued  by the Parliament and the Court. The 
Commission is presently studying the implementation of a Tolerable risk of error 
for external aid and will present a proposal in the beginning of 2011. 
213. (European Parliament, EDF § 5) - Notes that the Court of Auditors, with the 
exception of the Commission’s method of estim ating the provision for costs incurred, 
 
EN 132   EN takes the view that the accounts reliably reflect the revenue a nd expenditure relating 
to the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth EDFs; encourages the Commission to refine 
its method in the next few months for the di scharge in respect of the financial year 
2009.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has refined its method of es timating the provision for invoices to 
be received. The Court’s audit 2009 conf irmed the correct application of this 
method and found the amount of the accr ued charges disclosed in the financial 
statements to be free from material error. 
214. (European Parliament, EDF §§ 7-8) - Deplores and finds unacceptable the fact that 
the Court of Auditors was not able to obtain all the information and documentation 
concerning 10 sampled payments to internati onal organisations and that consequently 
it is not able to express an opinion on th e regularity of expe nditure amounting to 
EUR 190 000 000, i.e. 6,7 % of the annual expenditure;  
 Calls on the Commission to take a suffi ciently firm line with international 
organisations and draw up an ad hoc calen dar ensuring that requests for information 
will be dealt with on time, so as to support the requests of the Court of Auditors for 
information/documentation and to ensure that the financial and administrative 
framework agreement (FAFA) is respected.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has firmly reminded the international organisations concerned 
about the necessity to respond on time to the requests emanating from the 
European Court of Auditors. A good exam ple of timely coope ration between the 
Court and international organisations is the joint mission or ganised between the 
Court and the UN panel of external aud itors to IAEA. The mission was organised 
at the request of the Court. 
215. (European Parliament, EDF § 10) - Welcomes the speedy implementation of the 
Tenth EDF and the Commission’s gene rally good performance, as regards 
commitments and payments and the mana gement of outstanding commitments; 
encourages the Commission to continue its efforts with regard to old and dormant 
outstanding commitments.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission has put in place a monitori ng system in order to follow old and 
dormant commitments and close these projects as soon as it is possible. A special 
action concerning 8th EDF proj ects has also been launched. 
216. (European Parliament, EDF § 15) - Welcomes the record levels of commitments 
which were reached in 2008 and the time ly implementation of the Tenth EDF; 
stresses that speeding up implementation should not come at the expense of the 
quality of funded operations.   
 
EN 133   EN Commission's response:  
Together with a quick implementation, th e quality of funded operations is a key 
priority for the Commission and is ensure d at all phases of the lifecycle of a 
project. Quality checks are performed duri ng the design phase of each project 
through a peer review mechanism (Quality Support Group) as well as both during 
and after the implementation phase with the help of the Result-Oriented-
Monitoring (ROM), internal monitoring, and evaluation. 
217. (European Parliament, EDF §§ 16-17) - Notes with satisfaction that the Court of 
Auditors found that the advance payments we re free from material error; deplores 
nevertheless the fact that the Court of Auditors found a material level of error 
affecting the amount of payments audited; 
 Can accept the argument that some of the e rrors (lack of invoices or other supporting 
documents), i.e. those relating to the occu rrence of expenditure in Angola, can be 
explained by the particularly difficult conditi ons in which the audit was carried out in 
that country; stresses, however, that 47 % of the quantifiable errors relate to the eligibility of expenditure and therefore calls on the Commission to improve its control system so as to reduce errors ; draws the Commission’s attention in this 
connection to the recommendation of the Co urt of Auditors that ex ante checks 
should be improved by focusing on key risks.   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action is being taken. The Commission will also finalise soon a 
'Financial Management Toolkit' for or ganisations implementing EU funded 
projects under EuropeAid's portfolio. 
218. (European Parliament, EDF § 18) - Calls on the Commission, when the Financial 
Regulation is revised, to id entify any procedural problems that it has encountered 
during crises and to present to Parliament an  effective control pro cedure, particularly 
as regards the financing of emergency ai d measures by Member States, that is 
flexible enough not to harm the flow of f unds and that ensures the transparency of 
the projects undertaken.   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken in th e context of the proposal on trust funds 
for a revised Financial Regulation for the General Budget. 
219. (European Parliament, EDF § 20) - Criticises the fact that, as in previous years, 
there are still significant weaknesses in th e financial procedures and controls of 
implementing organisations, supervisors a nd National Authorising Officers (NAOs); 
welcomes nevertheless the efforts of Europe Aid and the delegations  in particular to 
address those weaknesses; calls for those efforts to be stepped up in future and 
expects that future improvements expected  in CRIS Audit will make a better result 
possible.   
 
EN 134   EN Commission's response:  
The requested action is being taken. Th e Commission will finalise a 'Financial 
Management Toolkit' for or ganisations implementing EU funded projects under 
EuropeAid's portfolio. EuropeAid has al so implemented further significant 
improvements to the audit methodology and IT tools and welcomes the recognition 
of the Court of Auditors on the substantia l progress made in par ticular in relation 
to audit planning for 2010. 
220. (European Parliament, EDF § 21) - Stresses that democracy and the right for people 
to live under conditions where their human right s are not violated must be integrated 
goals of the implementing organisations in countries where EDF support is distributed.   
Commission's response:
 
EU approach to democracy and human ri ghts is about supporting efforts of 
countries in progressing towards effective implementation of their human rights 
and democracy commitments. Democracy an d human rights are part of the core 
values of the European Union. They are reflected in the European Consensus for 
Development which recommends systematic mainstreaming of these issues in all 
development instruments as well as in the Cotonou Agreement which foresees 
support to the efforts of ACP countries in these fields. 
221. (European Parliament, EDF §§ 33-35) - Is very concerned at the risk of loss of 
institutional memory as a result of signifi cant staff constraints (excessive turnover, 
and excessively high and increasing vacancy  rates) disclosed in EuropeAid’s annual 
activity report and expresses concern th at the number of EuropeAid staff has 
continued to decline in comparison to funds committed; 
 Reiterates its concern that there is a risk that a shortage or inadequate allocation of 
staff or the unavailability of specific skill s and knowledge will have an impact on the 
effectiveness of action taken and the qu ality of the controls, verification and 
monitoring; 
 Supports the intention expressed by the Commission to recruit additional external 
staff to increase numbers at headquarters a nd in the delegations for the management 
and control of the EDF; considers such an increase in staff to be all the more necessary because of the s ubstantial increase in commitments under the Tenth EDF.   
Commission's response:
 
The constant loss of knowledgeable and e xperienced staff due to the three years 
rule for contract agents combined with a shrinking external staff population is a 
major challenge for EuropeAid. Unfortunate ly, the maximum length of contracts 
results from the staff regulations wh ich cannot be changed on EuropeAid's 
initiative, EuropeAid tries to minimise va cancies for contract agent positions as 
much as possible; timely, up-front training; intensified knowledge management 
(including the monitoring of handover situations). Besides, the commission 
requested in the 2011 draft budget the tr ansformation of a limited number of 
appropriations for contract agents into  posts, part of which should benefit 
 
EN 135   EN EuropeAid to mitigate the loss of instituti onal memory. Finally, the revised staff 
regulations in the framewor k of the creation of the EEAS, should allow for the 
rotation of contract agents having first been employed in a delegation towards the 
Head Office. Through this new system, th ey will be able to serve in HQ and 
Delegations. This should facilitate a bette r preservation of expertise both in HQ 
and in Delegations. 
222. (European Parliament, EDF §§ 36-38) - Notes with satisfaction that the Court of 
Auditors has recognised Europe Aid’s efforts to make signi ficant improvements in its 
supervisory and control systems; supports the Commission in its determination to 
continue to improve the cont rol systems’ architecture; 
 Fully agrees with the recommendations of the Court of Auditors expressed in points 
55(a) to (f) and 56(a) and (b) of  the annual report on the EDFs;  
 Draws attention in particular, pending solu tions to the lack of human resources, to 
the recommendation of the Court of Aud itors on the need for the Commission to 
carry out a more structured risk analysis, to provide a more realistic assessment of 
the resources available when preparing the a nnual audit plans, and to closely monitor 
the implementation of the audit plans throughout the year.   
Commission's response:  
EuropeAid has implemented further sign ificant improvements to the audit 
methodology and IT tools and welcomes the recognition of the Court of Auditors 
on the substantial progress m ade in particular in relation to audit planning for 
2010. 
223. (European Parliament, EDF § 39) - Points out that, in its Special Report No 
18/2009, the Court of Auditors assesse s EDF support for regional economic 
integration in East Africa and West Africa,  to which a considerable proportion – over 
50 % – of EDF funding is allocated, as on ly partially effective; calls on the 
Commission to take steps to implement the measures propos ed by the Court of 
Auditors, particularly as regards coordi nating with and ensuri ng coherence with 
regional organisations, providing suffici ent staffing, coordinating regional and 
national strategies and providi ng a precise clarification of  tasks, responsibilities and 
objectives.   
Commission's response:  
The Commission is taking the necessary action with regard to the 
recommendations of the ECA report 18/2009 notably through the development of a 
guide on the management of regional programmes. 
224. (European Parliament, EDF § 47) - Calls on the Commission to provide more 
comprehensive information than when fo llowing up the resolution of 23 April 2009 
on the specific procedures it has established with the EIB with a view to coordinating 
the two institutions’ efforts to achieve EU objectives relating to development, and on 
the efficiency of those procedures.   
 
EN 136   EN Commission's response:  
In the context of the mid-term review of the external mandate of the EIB, the need 
to strengthen the development aspect of the EIB's activities has been emphasised. 
The Commission's proposal to Council and Parliament for a new mandate decision 
contains concrete provisions to this effect. The Commission and the EIB will also 
continue to strengthen consistency of EIB external actions with EU external policy 
objectives through regular and systemat ic dialogue and early exchange of 
information on strategic documents such as country and regional strategy papers 
which define the areas of EIB interventio n as well as those of the Commission. 
 
EN 137   EN Requests to the Commission concerning the agencies 
225. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0139 - § 3) - The European Parliament notes 
that many agencies record permanently high cash holdings; calls on the Commission 
and the agencies to work on ways of bringing the cash holdings down to an acceptable level; asks the Commission agai nst this background also to examine 
alternative common plans for efficient mana gement of cash holdings and to draw up 
proposals with a view to changing the stru ctural framework conditions in order to 
achieve more efficient management of cash holdings; but notes also that the agencies 
receive payments after the au thorised work has been concluded and paid for (work 
undertaken by rapporteurs, for example) and therefore some cash holdings are essential in each case. [This recomme ndation appears in the individual EP 
resolutions concerning the followi ng agencies: CDT, ECDC, ECA, EFSA, 
EMCDDA, EMEA, EMSA, ENISA, EUROJU ST, FRONTEX, ITER and SESAR].   
Commission's response:
 
The Commission has taken the recommended action. 
The Commission attaches great importan ce to limiting agency cash balances to 
duly justified requirements, in accordan ce with the principle of sound financial 
management. This is why the Commission amended the Framework Financial 
Regulation No. 2343/2002 by inserting Article  15(5), in force since 13 July 2008, 
which reads: 
'5. The Community body shall implement rigorous cash management, taking due 
account of assigned revenue, in order to ensure that its cash balances are limited 
to duly justified requirements. With its payment requests it shall submit detailed 
and updated forecasts on its real cash requirements thro ughout the year, including 
information on assigned revenue.' 
All agencies have introduced this provision in their specific financial regulations 
(2009/2010). The payment of the Community contribution to the agencies from the 
budget follows this rule. By consequence,  payments made by parent DGs are based 
on requests supported by a detailed  and updated cash-flow forecast. 
According to Article 50 of Framework Fina ncial Regulation, requests for payment 
of the community contribution to agencie s are presented to the parent DGs under 
terms and at intervals agreed with them . To implement this Article, parent DGs 
have adopted or are in the process of adop ting the terms and the intervals for the 
submission of requests for payments to the Commission. 
The partially self-financed Agencies, na mely the European Medicines Agency 
(EMEA), the European Chemicals Legisl ation and Chemicals Agency (ECHA) 
and the European Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA), have to deal with a higher level 
of uncertainty than agencies fully financed  by a contribution from the EU budget. 
Indeed, these agencies encounter some di fficulty in applying  the principle of 
rigorous cash management, due to the difficulty in foreca sting precisely when this 
other revenue (for instance deriving from fees from industry) will actually be 
 
EN 138   EN received. Their financial situation in terms of cash management is therefore more 
complex. 
226. (European Parliament, P 7_TA(2010)0139 - § 6) - The European Parliament ... 
requests the interinstitutiona l working group on agencies to tackle the issue [host 
agreements] and possibly to define common standards for host agreements.   
Commission's response:  
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
227. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0139 - § 10) - The European Parliament notes 
that some of the agencies have very similar remits; calls accordingly for the 
interinstitutional working group on agencies to consider whether some agencies 
should work closely togeth er or even be merged.   
Commission's response:  
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
228. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0139 - § 11) - The European parliament notes, 
furthermore, that the small agencies (with fewer than 75 staff members, such as the 
European Police College, the European Network and Information Security Agency, 
the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and the European  GNSS Supervisory Authority) are faced 
with serious efficiency problems; calls accordingly on the interinstitutional working 
group on agencies to look into the feasibi lity of determining the critical mass of 
agencies and setting up common services providing, for example, assistance with 
procurement procedures, human resources  procedures and th e budgetary process.   
Commission's response:
 
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
229. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0139 - § 15) - The European Parliament calls 
on the interinstitutional working group on agencies to consider whether the 
Commission should have a bl ocking minority when votes are taken by management 
boards, with a view to ensuring that the right technical decisi ons are taken for the 
agencies.   
Commission's response:  
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
230. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0139 - § 16) - The European Parliament calls 
on the interinstitutional working group on agen cies to look into the qualities and 
skills which a director require s in order to run an agen cy effectively and secure 
 
EN 139   EN access to expert advice on the EU's budget regulations from the moment the agency 
is set up.   
Commission's response:  
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
231. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0139 - § 17) - The European Parliament calls 
on the Commission to step up its efforts to provide all nece ssary administrative 
assistance to the relatively small agencies, in particular those that were set up 
recently.   
Commission's response:  
Special additional assistance to small agencies is being discussed by the 
interinstitutional group on agencies. It is  expected that the group will provide its 
conclusions by the end of 2011. 
232. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0140 - § 5) - As regards CEPOL, the European 
Parliament wonders whether considerati on should not be given to attaching the 
College to Europol.   
Commission's response:  
The requested action has been taken. W ithin the framework of the Stockholm 
programme the Commission proposed that Europol could take over the training 
role of Cepol. The proposal was rejected by the Member States. 
The Commission would like to add also that corrective measures have been already 
taken to address the situation in CEPOL: two new managers were appointed in 
August 2009, a Head of Administration who sh ould coordinate relations with DG 
HOME and budgetary issues in particul ar and a Head of Programme who is 
responsible for the policy implementation. In February 2010 the Governing Board 
adopted the new financial rules, performa nce indicators are being developed to 
allow the follow up and measuring of CEP OL's core business both on qualitative 
and quantitative plans in the perspecti ve of accountability and a policy of 
excellence towards the Commission, an Internal Audit Panel will be set up. 
On the basis of these progresses achieved the Commission is not considering 
anymore the option of a possible fusi on of the College with Europol. 
233. (European Parliament, P 7_TA(2010)0140 - § 19) - As regards CEPOL, the European 
Parliament calls on the College and the Commission to communicate the findings of 
the OLAF investigation to the di scharge authority without delay   
Commission's response:  
OLAF completed its investigation into CEPOL in December 2009 and transmitted 
its findings to the appropriate authorities in the UK. OLAF officials gave an oral 
briefing to the budgetary control committe e during the 2008 discharge procedure. 
 
EN 140   EN 234. (European Parliament, P 7_TA(2010)0140 - § 22) - As regards CEPOL, the European 
Parliament expects, as a first step, the Governing Board swiftly to adopt an action 
plan to meet the objectives set out in the a nnex to this resolution; asks the College's 
Director, in cooperation with the IAS and th e parent directorate- general (DG), then 
to draft specific measures and a timetable  for implementation of that plan and to 
submit them to the Governing Board for adoption; calls accordingly on the IAS and the parent DG to provide all the assistance required in order to identify indicators 
that will enable the progress made in  implementing the measures taken by the 
College to be measured at regular interv als; expects the College to communicate the 
specific measures and indicators adopted to  the discharge authority by 30 June 2010   
Commission's response:
 
The requested action has been taken.  Administrative Multi-Annual Plan "A 
strategic approach to the improvement and maturing of the Administration of 
CEPOL 2010 – 2014) has been developed to describe the strategy that will be 
implemented within CEPOL to improve an d mature the administration of the 
Agency. It has been developed out of recognition of the need to improve the 
administration of the Agency and in re sponse to the request if the CONT 
Committee following the decision to post pone the discharge decision on the 2008 
CEPOL accounts. The document contains specific measures and a timetable for 
implementation of correcti ve actions. The Governing Bo ard adopted this action 
plan at its 20th meeting on 25 May 2010. The document has been  submitted to the 
Committee on Budgetary Control on 3 June 2010. 
235. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0101 - § 3-4) - As regards the European 
Agency for Reconstruction, the European Pa rliament stresses that  the relevance of 
the five cross-border cooperation projects a udited by the Court of Auditors (worth a 
total of EUR 528 000 – 0,12% of the availa ble operational budget) was challenged 
on the grounds that the Evaluation Co mmittee, comprising the Agency and a 
Commission delegation, had not taken account of the issues raised by local assessors; 
[...] calls, now that the Agency's work ha s finished, for an evaluation of the funding 
allocated in Kosovo to determine whether th e allocation of funding there resulted in 
the establishment of functi onal, sustainable justice a nd administration structures.   
Commission's response:  
Concerning the cross-border cooperation pr ojects, the Commission wishes to recall 
that under the rules in force, The Ag ency's Evaluation Committee was not bound 
by the opinion of the assessors. The curre nt structures for financial assistance 
ensure sound financial management. More generally, the Commission stresses that 
The European Agency for Reconstruction has b een an efficient tool for the area it 
was designed for, thanks to its speed in delivery which was essential in the 
reconstruction phase. 
The Commission commissioned several external evaluations of CARDS projects in 
the Western Balkans and in Kosovo, includin g projects in the ar ea of justice and 
home affairs. The most recent eval uation report was issued in July 2009. 
As regards the justice sector in the We stern Balkans, the evaluators found that 
several reforms have taken place, but effective implementation is still not adequate. 
 
EN 141   EN The main challenge in this area is to in crease the capacity of  these countries to 
implement legislation. The output of CARD S projects in the area concerned has 
suffered delays and contractors have not always managed to engage the 
beneficiary countries. The fact that proj ect design was sometimes too ambitious 
and that laws were passed only partially did not prevent some projects from 
delivering. The evaluators also  found that the process was generally going in the 
right direction. The use of twinning in the area of ju stice and home affairs was 
found to be a key to successful project implementation. 
As concerns Kosovo, the evaluation conclude d that is was too ea rly to measure the 
projects' overall impact in te rms of a better functioning  justice system, but that 
institutional impact could be detected for so me projects in the sector. It also found 
that initial institutional im pact in terms of developed capacity and structures had 
the potential to contribute to a better functioning of the justice institutions. 
Institutional strength and development should secure sustainability of project 
results. Staff fluctuations are an issue fo r most of the institutions in the Justice 
sector impacting sustainability of the proj ect results. The evaluators found that too 
many components and outputs reduce the over all sustainability of the projects due 
to limited budgets and capacity. The overal l rating for impact and sustainability in 
the justice sector is Moderately Satisfactory. 
The evaluation reports referred to a bove are available upon request. 
236. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0101 - § 6) - As regards the European Agency 
for Reconstruction, the European Parliament Deplores the fact that the efficiently 
functioning Agency has been wound up and th e management of the funding has been 
transferred to the delegations; demands that the Commission submit a report detailing how many staff the delegations have taken on to  cope with the Agency's 
tasks; calls on the Commission to supply comprehensive and complete information 
on whether budget support has been provide d from the funds transferred from the 
Agency to the delegations.   
Commission's response:
 
In order to ensure adequate transfer of  know-how from the European Agency for 
Reconstruction to the delegations, the following Delegations/ECLO increased their 
workforce as follows: 
Serbia : from 27 in the be ginning of 2007 to 100 at th e end of 2008. Former staff 
of the Agency represents 21% (21 staff members) of the total staff of the 
Delegation. 
The Liaison Office in Kosovo: from 10 in the beginning of 2007 to 78 at the end of 
2008. Former staff of the Agency represents  23% (18 staff memb ers) of the total 
staff of the Delegation. 
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedon ia: from 25 in the beginning of 2007 to 
79 at the end of 2008. Former staff of  the Agency represents 35% (28 staff 
members) of the total staff of the Delegation. 
 
EN 142   EN The Delegation in Monteneg ro started its activities in November 2007. It had a 
total workforce of 37 staff members on 1 January 2009. Former staff of the 
Agency represents 35% (13 staff members) of the total staff of the Delegation. 
This represents a total of 80 staff me mbers transferred from the EAR to the 
Delegations/ECLO. 
237. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0102 - § 12) - As regards the European 
Aviation Safety Agency, the European Parl iament expresses concern about the lack 
of coordination between the needs, staff a nd financial regulation of the Agency and, 
in particular, that the staff selection procedures make it difficult to recruit appropriately qualified personnel; considers that the interinstitutional working group 
on decentralised agencies could address this issue.   
Commission's response:
 
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
238. (European Parliament, P7_TA(2010)0103 - § 7-8) - As regards the European Center 
for Disease Prevention and Control, the Europe an Parliament is concerned that as of 
31 December 2008 there was still no seat agreement between the Centre and the 
Swedish Government as there were still many outstanding issues that needed further 
negotiation; points out that in its discharg e for the financial year 2007, the discharge 
authority was already expressing concern at  the Court of Auditors" observation that 
the Centre had disbursed EUR 500 000 on re novation works on the buildings rented 
for its premises, and that, as in 2006, th ese works had been decided upon by direct 
agreement between the Centre and the owne r without specifying the nature of the 
works and the deadlines and payment condition s; nevertheless welcomes the fact that 
an agreement was concluded in March 2009 on personal identity numbers and 
supports the Centre's efforts to find definitive solutions with the Swedish 
government; reminds the interinstitutional working group on decentralised agencies to address this issue in general terms in its discussions.   
Commission's response:
 
This matter is being addressed by the interinstitutional group on agencies, whose 
work will be finalised by the end of 2011. 
Moreover, in the concrete case of ECDC,  a seat arrangement agreement with the 
Swedish authorities was signed on 29 June 2010.