glæder sig over, at den af Kommissionen skønnede finansielle virkning af uregelmæssighederne er faldet med 27 % i forhold til 2007; konstaterer, at fejlforekomsten i forbindelse med lovlighed og formel rigtighed anslået af Revisionsretten i dennes revisionserklæring (kapitel om samhørighed) stadig ligger over 5 %; er bekymret over, at der i Italien, Polen, Det Forenede Kongerige og Spanien forefindes den højeste grad af uregelmæssighed; glæder sig samtidig over det gode samarbejde, nogle af disse medlemsstater har indledt med Kommissionen for at løse problemerne, og stoler på, at de andre stater vil samarbejde på lignende vis; minder om, at strukturforanstaltninger – som Revisionsretten har understreget – er det udgiftskapitel, der er underlagt de strengeste bestemmelser og mest komplekse administrative procedurer i Unionens budget, og at et højt antal økonomiske uregelmæssigheder, som Kommissionen har bemærket, ikke nødvendigvis indebærer, at der er tale om et højere antal fejl og tilfælde af svig end i andre lande, men at dette kan være resultatet af mere fintmaskede og strenge kontroller; minder desuden om, at Revisionsrettens beretning om gennemførelsen af budgettet for 2008 ikke tager højde for programmeringsperioden 2007-2013, i løbet af hvilken der er blevet indført nye forvaltnings- og kontrolsystemer for udgifterne; påpeger den forhøjede virkning af fejl i forbindelse med uberettigede udgifter og brud på reglerne for offentlige indkøb og mener derfor, at det vil være hensigtsmæssigt, hvis Kommissionen fastsætter præventive retningslinjer for medlemsstater og lokale myndigheder for at præcisere anvendelsen af reglerne og undgå, at forvaltningsmyndighederne erstatter udgifter, der er blevet afvist af Kommissionen som uberettigede, med nye uberettigede udgifter;
Welcomes the fact that the financial impact of irregularities, as estimated by the Commission, was 27% lower than in 2007; notes, with regard to the legality and regularity of underlying transactions, that the error rate quoted for the cohesion policy area in the Court of Auditors' 2008 Statement of Assurance (DAS) remains above 5%; is concerned that Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Spain reported the largest amount of irregularities; welcomes, at the same time, the good collaboration initiated by some of these Member States with the Commission to resolve these problems and trusts that the other Member States will do likewise; points out that, as highlighted by the Court of Auditors, structural actions are the spending area with the most stringent rules and most complex management procedures in the EU budget and that, as noted by the Commission, finding a high number of financial irregularities in one Member State does not necessarily imply a higher number of errors and instances of fraud than in other Member States but may be the result of more thorough and stringent controls; points out, also, that the Court of Auditors' report on implementation of the 2008 Budget does not take into account the 2007-2013 programming period, for which new administration and control systems for spending have been introduced; notes the high incidence of errors linked to ineligible spending and breaches of the rules on public procurement and considers it advisable, therefore, for the Commission to introduce precautionary guidelines for the Member States and local authorities to clarify how these rules are to be applied and to avoid the managing authority replacing expenditure refused by the Commission as ineligible with new expenditure that is also ineligible;