Debate: Discharge
Date: TUESDAY, 27 APRIL 2021
Speaker: Johannes Hahn
Language: EN

The European Union budget is relatively small but powerful as it creates European added value and achieves results which each Member State on its own could not achieve. The 2019 discharge report acknowledges that the financial management of the European Union budget has improved over time. The report also highlights issues where further improvements are needed and I welcome your clear stance on some important aspects of the implementation and performance. Allow me to comment on some of the issues you have highlighted as political priorities in this report. First, as regards the avoidance of conflicts of interest, the Commission has recently adopted and published a guidance note aiming at promoting a uniform interpretation and application of the rules on avoidance of conflicts of interest under the direct, indirect and shared management. This will be a useful tool for Member States as they are setting up their management and control processes for the new programmes. The Commission is also following up on information or complaints of alleged cases of conflicts of interest in the Member States and has kept the Committee on Budgetary Control regularly informed of the progress of such cases. Let me turn to my second point, which relates to information on beneficiaries of European Union funds. As you know, important progress was achieved in the type of information which has to be gathered by Member States on recipients of funds, implemented under shared management and under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, including also beneficial ownerships. For this, the Commission is very grateful to the European Parliament. Unfortunately, the final legal texts didn’t make use of a single data mining and risk assessment tool obligatory although this could be most useful and effective in detecting cases of fraud and irregularities. The Commission will therefore do its best to encourage Member States to use such tools and is reflecting on further actions to enhance the quality and interoperability of data on beneficiaries and final recipients of Union funding. I would also like to underline that the Commission takes any allegation or suspicion concerning the misuse or mismanagement of funds very seriously and all complaints regarding alleged fraudulent spending should be addressed to the European Anti—Fraud Office (OLAF). The Commission can and will take all necessary measures to protect the Union budget, including suspension of payments or other applicable rules and apply financial corrections. The Commission takes the request in the discharge resolution very seriously and will report on the follow—up. To conclude, I would like to reassure you that the European Commission upholds the highest standards of transparency and accountability and is committed to ensure that the Union budget is spent in line with the rules and with the highest standards with regard to performance and results. Ultimately, our success depends on finding the right balance between a low level of error, fast payments, reasonable costs of controls and finally, of course, added value of the European budget.