What changed

OPINION

The Committee on Transport and TourismDevelopment calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Takes notice of the opinion of the European Court of Auditors (‘the Court’) that the consolidated accounts of the Union for 2023 present fairly, in all material respects, the Union’s financial position, the results of its operations, its cash flows and the changes in its net assets; regrets that the level of error for the 2023 budget expenditure increased from 4,2 % to 5,6 %, noting that, in line with the Court’s assessment, the errors are both material and pervasive;

1. Is very concerned by the increasing number of crises worldwide, the rise in extreme poverty and hunger, and the increasingly frequent and severe consequences of climate change, all of which have halted or even reverted progress regarding the sustainable development goals (SDGs), with the SDG financing gap increasing to currently more than 4 trillion USD;

2. Welcomes a very high execution of commitment and payment appropriations by DG MOVE in 2023 (respectively, 100 % and 99 %); remarks that its total payments amounted to EUR 453,58 million, the vast majority of them being operational, and the administrative part accounting only for less than 0,1 %;

2. Against this background and worldwide tightening budgets for development, stresses that it is of utmost importance to use EU funds for development as transparently, effectively and efficiently as possible, strictly following established rules and procedures; expresses concern about the continuously high error rate found by the ECA for MFF heading 6 ‘Neighbourhood and the world‘ and the for the 9th, 10th and 11th EDF for the audit year 2023; urges the Commission to take further steps to reduce this error rate;

3. Commends the effective work of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) in implementation of the Connecting Europe Facility for Transport (CEF-T) programme; notes with satisfaction that the CEF-T call published by CINEA in 2023 made EUR 7 billion available for projects targeting new and improved European transport infrastructure;

3. Welcomes that a number of earlier recommendations of ECA were implemented, but notes that an earlier recommendation to ensure that international organisations provide the ECA with complete, unlimited and timely access to documents for carrying out its audit work, is only partly implemented; whilst recognising the Commission’s efforts in this regard, asks the Commission to intensify its dialogue with the organisations concerned to achieve tangible results;

4. Recalls that 2023 was the third year in the implementation of Horizon Europe programme and acknowledges the successful completion of two major transport calls under the Cluster 5 Work Programme, which led to new transport research and innovation projects;

4. Given the ongoing battle for narratives in most regions of the world, insists that implementing partners comply with visibility rules;

5. Welcomes the work carried out in 2023, which, in line with European Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, focused on sustainability and reducing the transport emissions; points out that 2023 saw the conclusion of the inter-institutional negotiations on several key “Fit for 55” initiatives, including FuelEU Maritime, ReFuelEU Aviation, and revision of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive;

5. Welcomes the positive examples provided by the ECA on effective controls implemented by the Commission; regrets, however, in that context, that the ECA found that EU Delegations do not always have enough budget to conduct sufficient field visits for monitoring the implementation of project activities and the achievement of intended results; calls for sufficient budgetary means to conduct such field visits;

6. Appreciates that supporting Ukraine remained a key priority for the Commission in 2023; takes notice of the close involvement of DG MOVE in development of the new transport-related sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian regimes; acknowledges its contribution to the preparatory work that resulted in the European Council decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova;

6. Welcomes ECA’s special report 18/2024 on EU financial support for health systems in selected partner countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe) and underlines in particular the findings on the sustainability of health systems and maintenance of equipment delivered, to ensure that EU involvement has a lasting effect; points out that the lessons learnt must be extrapolated to other global challenges as far as possible; encourages the ECA to continue to provide special reports relevant to international partnerships, on a regular basis.

7. Highlights that, in the framework of the ongoing implementation of the Action Plan on Military Mobility 2.0, the Commission, along with the European External Action Service (including EU Military Staff), launched the study on the main military mobility corridors for large-scale short-notice movements.