A3-0320/93

Resolution on relations between bodies responsible for control of the Community budget

The European Parliament,

-having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A3-0320/93),

Relations between the Court of Auditors and Parliament

1.Welcomes the willingness expressed by the Court of Auditors to contribute to an improved working relationship with Parliament, based on the two institutions' respective roles of servant and representative of the Community taxpayer; welcomes in particular the procedures agreed for mutual concertation in drawing up work programmes, for ensuring that Parliament receives the Court's reports before the media, and for assisting Parliament in the exercise of its powers of enquiry under the Treaty on European Union;

2.Looks to the Court, in the same spirit:

.to find ways of responding more rapidly to ad hoc requests for assistance from Parliament, pursuant to the fourth subparagraph of Article 188c(4) of the EC Treaty;

.to act on its own initiative upon such information as it might receive concerning possible irregular use of the taxpayer's money;

.to resume the practice of forwarding to the Committee on Budgetary Control its draft reports and reports prepared for other institutions, to be handled in accordance with Parliament's established procedure for consideration of confidential documents;

3.Calls again upon the Court to include in its annual reports, in accordance with Article 88(3) of the Financial Regulation, a section on the Court of Auditors;

Relations between Financial Controllers and Parliament

4.Stresses the key role of the Financial Controllers of Community institutions in protecting the taxpayer's money;

5.Calls upon each Community institution to fulfil the requirements of Article 24 of the Financial Regulation aimed at guaranteeing the independence of Financial Controllers in the performance of their duties, bearing in mind notably that short-term contracts are not conducive to independence;

6.Calls upon the Financial Controller of the Commission to keep Parliament informed of progress in his efforts (i) to institutionalise cooperation with his counterparts in the Member States, as those having primary responsibility for control of Community expenditure; (ii) to contribute to the development of sound local systems for monitoring EC expenditure in third countries, and (iii) to clarify the situation with respect to financial control of EC contributions to international organisations;

7.Urges the superior authority of each institution, in any decision to overrule a withholding of approval by its Financial Controller, to include provisions aimed at resolving the management shortcomings on the basis of which approval was withheld and examining the issue of the responsibility of the authorizing officer, failing which overrule decisions may serve simply to encourage sloppy management;

8.Insists once again that the superior authority of Parliament, as the institution representing the Community taxpayer, and which has sole responsibility for such decisions to overrule, set an example of due caution in this area and consult the Committee on Budgetary Control prior to any overrule decision;

9.Instructs its Committee on Budgetary Control to examine ways of giving effect to Article 73 of the Financial Regulation concerning the disciplinary and financial liability of authorising officers;

Fight against fraud

10.Stresses the primary responsibility of Member States for preventing, detecting and prosecuting fraud against the Community budget, and for recovering sums unduly paid out, and reminds Member States of their obligation to implement Community control regulations fully;

11.Calls upon the Member States to adopt risk targeting as the organising principle for their fight against fraud on the Community budget;

12.Calls upon Council:

(a)to act without delay upon the amended proposal for a Council regulation on checks and penalties under the common agricultural and fisheries policies;

(b)to set up with Parliament a permanent joint task force on fraud;

13.Calls upon the Commission :

(a)to submit without delay proposals to amend existing control regulations so as to make the risk targeting of national controls binding;

(b)in the meantime, to provide Member States with all necessary assistance in targeting their controls on the basis of risk analysis;

(c)to make full use of its powers in relation to establishment of national control programmes and to insist on receiving the data it needs to monitor implementation of those programmes both quantitatively and qualitatively;

(d)to report quarterly to the Committee on Budgetary Control on the use of appropriations under the Community budget for the fight against fraud and for national controls on CAP expenditure, including sums carried over;

(e)to present proposals aimed at making payment of Community monies to Member States conditional upon satisfactory implementation of the relevant Community control regulations, including satisfactory take-up of Community funds for strengthening of national controls;

(f)to present to Parliament a comparative cost/benefit analysis of physical checks as against paper audits;

(g)to make proposals aimed at imposing penalties on Member States for failure to notify cases of fraud and irregularity;

(h)to have a study carried out of the extent to which each Member State enables and encourages individuals, as citizens, employees and officials, to report known or suspected fraud against the Community budget;

(i)to run a trial 'fraud freephone' at the earliest opportunity and to report to Parliament on the results;

(j)to keep Parliament informed of measures taken or planned to step up the Commission's fight against fraud, with particular reference to the growing importance of the Structural Funds and of cross-border crime;

(k)to present a report on the problems relating to recovery of sums unduly paid out or evaded, covering in particular the procedures for:

(i)establishing whether fraud has occurred, including Commission participation in those procedures;

(ii)determining the respective financial liabilities of Member States and of the Commission in cases where fraud is established;

(iii)recovering sums unduly evaded or paid out;

(iv)allocating the financial cost in cases of non-recovery;

14.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Court of Auditors.