pozdravlja dejstvo, da je bil finančni učinek nepravilnosti po oceni Komisije za 27 % manjši kot leta 2007; glede zakonitosti in pravilnosti poslovnih dogodkov ugotavlja, da ostaja razpon napak, ki je bil za področje kohezijske politike naveden v izjavi Računskega sodišča o zanesljivosti za leto 2008 (DAS), še vedno višji od 5 %; je zaskrbljen, ker so Italija, Poljska, Združeno kraljestvo in Španija sporočile največje število nepravilnosti; hkrati pozdravlja dobro sodelovanje, ki so ga začele nekatere izmed teh držav članic s Komisijo za rešitev teh težav, in upa, da bodo druge države članice sodelovale na podoben način; opozarja, kot je poudarilo tudi Računsko sodišče, da so strukturni ukrepi področje porabe z najstrožjimi pravili in najbolj zapletenimi postopki upravljanja v proračunu EU in da, kot je ugotovila Komisija, ugotovitev velikega števila finančnih nepravilnosti v eni državi članici ne pomeni nujno višjega števila napak in večjega pojava goljufij kot v drugih državah članicah, ampak je lahko rezultat temeljitejšega in strožjega nadzora; prav tako poudarja, da poročilo Računskega sodišča o izvrševanju proračuna za leto 2008 ne upošteva obdobja načrtovanja 2007–2013, med katerim so bili vpeljani novi sistemi upravljanja in nadzora odhodkov; ugotavlja povečano pojavljanje nepravilnosti, povezanih z neupravičenimi odhodki in kršitvami pravil o javnem naročanju, ter meni, da bi morala Komisija uvesti preventivne smernice za države članice in lokalne organe, da se pojasni uporaba pravil in prepreči, da organi upravljanja zavrnjene odhodke Komisije, ki naj bi bili neupravičeni, zamenjajo z novimi neupravičenimi odhodki;
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;