What changed

OPINION

The Committee on EmploymentCivil Liberties, Justice and SocialHome Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

– having regard to the Court of Auditors’ annual report on the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2023, together with the institutions’ replies, and to the Court of Auditors’ special reports;

1. Welcomes the progress in the implementation of Member States' national programmes in 2023; notes with concern that, despite the requirement to spend all funds for the programming period 2014-2020 by June 2024, 18% of AMIF funds and 25% of ISF funds allocated to Member States for that period remain undeclared;

1. Expresses its satisfaction that the Court of Auditors has declared that the consolidated accounts of the Union for the year 2023 present fairly, in all material respects, the Union’s financial position at this date;

2. Notes the Commission’s proposal to increase the ceilings of Headings 4 and 6 as part of the Multiannual Financial Framework mid-term revision with a view to ensuring sufficient funding for the implementation of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum; stresses the need to ensure adequate and timely Union funding for Member States and Union agencies to facilitate the effective management of the EU’s external borders, including measures to prevent irregular migration, while supporting the smooth implementation of Union law in the areas of asylum and migration, while ensuring compliance with fundamental rights; calls on the Commission to monitor, assist in and scrutinise the timely progress of the administrative, operational and legal steps required by Member States and Union agencies for the full implementation of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum by Summer 2026 in line with the deadlines set out by the Common Implementation Plan published by the European Commission on 12 June 2024;

2. Recalls the importance to monitor the use of EU funds to ensure the protection of the EU’s financial interests; calls on the Commission to make full use of the tools available to address the clear risk of a serious breach of the EU’s values and the rule of law;

3. Notes with concern that, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 8,565 people lost their lives on migration routes worldwide in 2023, marking it as the deadliest year on record for migrants; further regrets that, despite this alarming toll, the number of migrants arriving irregularly in the Union continued to rise in 2023 compared to previous years; notes with concern the significant gap between the number of return decisions issued and the number of returns that are effectively implemented, stressing the need for a more effective return policy; further notes that the Commission must provide stronger efforts to assist Member States in addressing irregular border crossing and in successfully implementing returns of third-country nationals; calls on the Commission to assist Member States in addressing irregular arrivals, legal migration, and the integration of third-country nationals while enhancing the transparency and accountability of Union home affairs funds in third countries; recalls that the Commission should continue to take action on migration and asylum within the framework of external action, including the ‘Team Europe’ approach while safeguarding the role of Parliament; calls on the Commission to increase the transparency and accountability of the programming and implementation of the Union home affairs funds in third countries; renews its call on the Commission to support the Union agencies and the Member States in putting an end to the business of human smuggling and trafficking in the Mediterranean, so that migrants do not embark upon life-threatening sea journeys; calls on the Commission to reflect on new policies to address irregular migration in compliance of the principle of non-refoulement;

3. Recalls that spending under the subheading 2a “Economic, social and territorial cohesion” focuses on reducing disparities between Member States and regions of the EU; stresses the importance of EU cohesion policy in supporting the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its Action Plan and the related headline targets, providing an important contribution to the EU’s employment, social, education and skills policies, including structural reforms in these areas;

4. Takes note of the call made by Member States in the European Council Conclusions of 9 February 2023 for the mobilisation of EU funds and resources to assist Member States in strengthening border surveillance capabilities and infrastructure, as well as surveillance, to prevent unauthorised border crossing and to counter cross-border criminality, in compliance with the existing legal framework;

4. Stresses especially the importance of ESF+ which aims to achieve high employment, fair social protection, a skilled and resilient workforce, and inclusive/cohesive societies as key in eradicating poverty; expresses the need to provide it with the continued financial and political support of the EU, national and regional institutions in the delivery of its objectives and targets in the years to come; underlines the importance of closely involving regional actors, in particular civil society organisations and social partners working on the ground in the implementation of ESF+ funded activities;

5. Acknowledges the Commission’s continuous monitoring of rule of law benchmarks through the rule of law toolbox, including the annual rule of law report, while remaining concerned that, by adopting an overly diplomatic approach, failing to distinguish between individual and systemic issues, the annual rule of law report risks trivialising some of the most serious and/or persistent breaches of the rule of law; underlines the importance of basing assessments on specific and measurable indicators, including independent evidence of practical implementation, to ensure a more precise and qualitative evaluation of rule of law benchmark; supports linking financial instruments, including recovery funds, with compliance with super milestones and respect for rule of law principles, while calling on the Commission to adopt a more systematic, predictable, and transparent approach in freezing or unfreezing funds based on objective criteria; reiterates its regret and serious concern with respect to the lawfulness of the Commission’s decision concluding that, in Hungary, the horizontal enabling condition of the Charter had been fulfilled in relation to judicial independence which decision enabled the Hungarian authorities to start claiming reimbursements of up to approximately EUR 10,2 billion from Union funds; urges the Commission to include, monitor and safeguard the DRF conditions in all budgetary instruments and processes, as well as to apply the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation further and without delay where needed; calls on the Commission to take steps towards the full implementation – taking into account developments that have taken place in the meantime - of Parliament’s recommendations on the establishment of an EU mechanism for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, contained in its resolution of 25 October 2016, and to ensure that assessments of rule of law benchmarks are timebound and that findings in the report are connected to binding measure that are more precise and qualitative than is presently the case, relying not only on legislative changes, but also on real and independent evidence of their implementation in practice;

5. Welcomes the launch of the European Year of Skills on 9 May 2023 with the aim to boost the competitiveness of Union undertakings, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to contribute to the creation of quality jobs, with a view to realising the full potential of the green and digital transitions in a socially fair, inclusive and just manner;

6. Reiterates its great concern over the delays in the Commission’s procedures for granting access to documents; urges the Commission to take immediate and concrete steps in order to address these deficiencies promptly, in line with Parliament’s recommendations, ensuring that access to documents is provided in a manner that is timely, efficient and transparent;

6. Is concerned that the total outstanding commitments reached a record high of EUR 543 billion by the end of 2023, mainly due to an increased commitment of shared management funds, as well as NextGenerationEU (NGEU), but notices that the total outstanding commitments are expected to decrease in the 2024-2026 period;

7. Continues to strongly regret the Commission’s lack of enforcement measures and legislative follow-up to Parliament’s recommendations regarding the use of Pegasus and equivalent spyware and the establishment of an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the form of an inter-institutional agreement; calls urgently on the Commission to respect the principle of sincere cooperation between Union institutions and to follow-up on Parliament’s recommendations accordingly; further calls on the Commission to present, without undue delay, an action plan to prevent the abuse of spyware in the Union, making full use of all available legislative and non-legislative means provided by the Treaties.

7. Notes with concern that the Court of Auditors estimates that the level of error for MFF heading 2 ‘Cohesion, resilience and values’ in 2023 reached 9,3 %, compared with 6,4 % in 2022; underlines that this is significantly above the already high rates of previous years, resulting in the Court issuing an adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of budget expenditure; recognises that the majority of spending in this area is deemed high-risk expenditure as mainly reimbursement-based and often subject to complex rules;

8. Calls for urgent action to decrease the error rate in the future especially for the 2021-2027 funding period, and notes the Court’s observation that the complexity of the way funds are disbursed has an impact on the risk of error; notes however that the Court recognises several factors which put additional pressure on Member State administrations and increased the risk regarding their capacity to ensure spending was regular and in line with the principles of sound financial management; recalls these factors include the significant additional REACT-EU resources being made available, and the end date of 31 December 2023 for the 2014-2020 cohesion eligibility period, which for the last few years overlaps with the eligibility period of the RRF;

9. Expresses concerns that the Commission forecast decommitments for cohesion policy funds, including the European Social Fund Plus, at EUR 2,2 billion for the 2024-2027 period, five times higher its 2022 forecast, mainly due to persistent low absorption; stresses that the Commission should identify ways to help Member States to improve absorption of EU funds, while respecting sound financial management;

10. Notes that high inflation (6,4 %) continued to affect the Union budget; warns that, based on the Commission’s inflation forecast, the Union budget could lose about 13 % of its purchasing power by end of 2025;

11. Acknowledges the progress of the Commission with regard to the internalisation of crèche staff; calls for the continuation of the efforts to provide good working conditions and contractual stability;

12. Asks the Commission to implement as soon as possible all outstanding Court of Auditors' recommendations.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The rapporteur for the opinion declares under herhis exclusive responsibility that shehe did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION BY COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted

28.1.2025

6.2.2025

Result of final vote

0:

42

40

9

14

6

Members present for the final vote

Li Andersson, Marc Angel, Pascal Arimont, Konstantinos Arvanitis, Nikola Bartůšek, Gabriele Bischoff, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Rachel Blom, Andrzej Buła, David Casa, Estelle Ceulemans, Henrik Dahl, Johan Danielsson, Marie Dauchy, Mélanie Disdier, Elena Donazzan, Gheorghe Falcă, Chiara Gemma, Niels Geuking, Juan Carlos Girauta Vidal, Isilda Gomes, Alicia Homs Ginel, Sérgio Humberto, Irena Joveva, Martine Kemp, Katrin Langensiepen, Miriam Lexmann, Marit Maij, Marlena Maląg, Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak, Eleonora Meleti, Idoia Mendia, Maria Ohisalo, João Oliveira, Branislav Ondruš, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Dennis Radtke, Nela Riehl, Liesbet Sommen, Villy Søvndal, Pál Szekeres, Romana Tomc, Jana Toom, Francesco Torselli, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Marianne Vind, Mariateresa Vivaldini, Petar Volgin, Jan-Peter Warnke, Séverine Werbrouck

Magdalena Adamowicz, Giuseppe Antoci, Jaume Asens Llodrà, Nikola Bartůšek, Krzysztof Brejza, Saskia Bricmont, Jaroslav Bžoch, Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová, Lena Düpont, Marieke Ehlers, Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, Branko Grims, Evin Incir, Irena Joveva, Erik Kaliňák, Marina Kaljurand, Fabienne Keller, András László, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Erik Marquardt, Michael McNamara, Birgit Sippel, Krzysztof Śmiszek, Petra Steger, Cecilia Strada, Georgiana Teodorescu, Milan Uhrík, Tom Vandendriessche, Charlie Weimers, Sophie Wilmès, Alessandro Zan, Javier Zarzalejos, Tomáš Zdechovský

Substitutes present for the final vote

Vivien Costanzo, Raúl de la Hoz Quintano, Özlem Demirel, Valérie Devaux, Rudi Kennes, Hristo Petrov, Andrea Wechsler

Fredis Beleris, David Casa, Sigrid Friis, Markéta Gregorová, Hannah Neumann, Gaetano Pedulla’, Sandro Ruotolo, Oliver Schenk, Alexander Sell, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Malika Sorel, António Tânger Corrêa, Marco Tarquinio, Pekka Toveri, Loránt Vincze, Petar Volgin, Axel Voss, Michał Wawrykiewicz, Lucia Yar

FINAL VOTEMembers BYunder ROLLRule CALL216(7) INpresent COMMITTEEfor ASKEDthe FORfinal OPINIONvote

Bart Groothuis, Rima Hassan, Anja Hazekamp, Pär Holmgren, Sérgio Humberto, Evelyn Regner, Carla Tavares, Ingeborg Ter Laak

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL BY THE COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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