On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, Section III - Commission and executive agencies

PA_NonLegDec

OPINION

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

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

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. 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.