WRITTEN QUESTION E-3254/01 by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission. Recovery of own resources in connection with combating fraud.
Date: 2001-11-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Member States' contribution, financial control, fraud against the EU, own resources, sanction (EU), tax authorities, tax collection

C 309 E/4

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

In addition the communication strategy foresees an increasing role for representations in the Member
States, who have begun during the year 2001 to carry out research into the state of public opinion in
order to orient their Communication strategy to hold seminars and discussions with the public and
interested groups. Some have already begun producing brochures and leaflets explaining enlargement. The
activities in member states will increase over the next few years as enlargement approaches and do not aim
to influence opinion, but to inform the public in the present and future member states on all aspects of the
enlargement process.

(2002/C 309 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3254/01

by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission

(23 November 2001)

Subject: Recovery of own resources in connection with combating fraud

i.e.

The Commission’s annual report 2000 on the protection of the Community’s financial interests and the
fight against fraud discusses the financial follow-up measures in the fight against fraud and says that: the
recovery rates,
the repayment of sums that have gone missing is still unsatisfactory. Recovery
procedures in the Member States are frequently too slow. The Commission has therefore introduced a
comprehensive monitoring strategy and, where own resources and indirect expenditure cannot be
recovered because of negligence on the part of the Member State concerned, the Commission can hold the
Member State liable for the relevant amounts.

In connection with this report, can the Commission answer the following questions:

1. To what extent does the Commission exercise its right to claim the amounts concerned from the

Member State?

2.

In how many cases during the past two years has the Commission successfully claimed these amounts
from Member States?

3. How many such cases occurred in which Member States?

4. How high is the sum repaid to the Commission as a result of all recoveries over the past two years

and what proportion of total financial irregularities does it represent?

Answer given by Ms Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(4 April 2002)

On the matter of the recovery of traditional own resources, the Honourable Member’s question makes a
distinction between two aspects: the national recovery procedures, which produce the recovery rate, and
the procedure for writing off amounts exceeding EUR 10 000 which Member States consider to be
definitively lost and which they must report to the Commission each year so that the Commission can
decide what action to take.

The Member States must apply the same rigour to the recovery of own resources as they do to the
recovery of national resources. The low rate of recovery recorded (cid:1) and the differences between
Member States in amounts recovered (cid:1) can be accounted for primarily by each Member State’s specific
recovery procedures, especially where administrative and/or judicial appeal procedures, often lengthy and
complex, are initiated by an operator. The Commission has no say in the national provisions governing
recovery. The recovery rate is only of limited significance; it is not an accurate guide to the performance of
the national authorities responsible for recovery.

The writing-off procedure, on the other hand, enables the Commission to assess in each case the diligence
shown by the national authorities in the recovery process.
If, on completion of the procedure, the
Commission believes that the Member State in question has not shown the necessary diligence, it claims
from it the lost revenue by virtue of Article 17(1) and (2) of Regulation No 1150/2000 (1).

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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The Commission can provide the following replies to the questions relating to traditional own resources:

1. The Commission examines each case in which duties in excess of EUR 10 000 are written off from the
angle of the diligence shown by the Member State concerned. It then informs that Member State of its
position. Whenever the Commission, by reasoned decision, refuses to allow the amount to be written
off, it holds the Member State liable for the amount not recovered.

2.

In 2000 and 2001, the Commission dealt with 339 cases of writing-off reported by six Member States
(3 by the Netherlands, 10 by the United Kingdom, 3 by France, 3 by Sweden, 3 by Portugal and
317 by Germany);
these 339 cases represent a total of EUR 44 116 013,71 in traditional own
resources. In 129 of these 339 cases (i.e. 38 % of the total number), the Commission refused to allow
the amounts to be written off. The amounts involved were EUR 8 178 716,89 (i.e. 18,5 % of the total).
For any delay in paying over these amounts, penalty interest is imposed.

3. Between 1992 and 2000, 405 cases of writing-off were submitted to the Commission by ten
Member States, but in very different proportions. Germany submitted 82,20 % of the cases, the United
Kingdom 7,65 % and the Netherlands 4,7 %.

4. The comparison between amounts written off which the Commission refuses and the total amount of
fraud and irregularities is of very little significance. The figure for fraud and irregularities relates to the
last two years, whereas the cases of writing-off examined by the Commission go back mostly to earlier
years.

The Commission would make the following points on the questions relating to indirect expenditure: the
question about indirect expenditure lost because of the negligence of the Member State must be linked to
the subject of the question, namely the fight against fraud. Corrections under the clearance of accounts
procedure have, for the past seven years, not involved any amounts relating to the recovery of amounts in
cases of fraud. The ‘comprehensive monitoring strategy’ to which the Honourable Member refers does not
concern the clearance of accounts by Directorate General Agriculture. To sum up, the question does not
concern the clearance of accounts.

(1) Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000, OJ L 130, 31.5.2000.

(2002/C 309 E/006)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3600/01

by Markus Ferber (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: EU funding for the dredging of the Ráckeve-Soroksár arm of the Danube in Hungary

The Ráckeve-Soroksár arm of the Danube in Hungary is to be dredged. A layer of mud is to be removed in
preparation for gravel extraction.

Has EU funding, e.g. under the PHARE or ISPA programmes, been applied for and authorised, and if so,
how much?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(12 February 2002)

The Commission can confirm that no Community funding, neither under the PHARE programme nor
under the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA), was granted for the dredging of the
Ráckeve-Soroksár arm of the Danube. The Commission has not recently received any request for funding
from the Hungarian authorities for this purpose.

In view of the importance of this section of the Danube, PHARE has financed, under the 1994 PHARE
National Plan, a study on the Water Management Development Project of the Ráckeve-Soroksár Danube
Branch. The scope of this project, which was completed in 1998, was to define the main problems related
to the water quality and pollution and to contribute to a comprehensive water management and
development strategy for the Ráckeve- Soroksár Danube Branch.