On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union – Commission for the financial year 2023

PA_NonLegBudDec

OPINION

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its proposal for a decision:

1. Is satisfied with the Commission's overall implementation of the budget in the areas of environment, climate action, public health and food safety in 2023;

2. Is satisfied with the work carried out by the five decentralised agencies which are under its remit, which carry out technical, scientific or managerial tasks that help the Union institutions elaborate and implement policies in the area of environment, climate action, public health and food safety, as well as with the way in which those agencies' budgets are implemented; stresses that, given the scale and importance of their current tasks and the increase of responsibilities some of them are facing, adequate funding and staffing must be guaranteed for the agencies and the Commission Directorates-General working in the areas of environment, climate action, public health and food safety;

Environment and Climate Action

3. Recognises that in 2023 about EUR 160 billion, approximately 38% of the Union budget, based on commitment appropriations, was dedicated to climate mainstreaming objectives, in line with the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making plans for at least 30 % of 2021-27 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to be used for this purpose; notes that the largest contributions to those spendings come from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and from cohesion policy programmes; notes that the Innovation Fund provided an additional EUR 6,5 billion in grants for projects advancing innovative low-carbon technologies;

4. Notes that the largest contribution to the climate-relevant spending in 2023 came from the RRF; in this context, is concerned about the Court of Auditors’(the ‘Court’) annual report for 2023 which, similar to previous years findings, states weaknesses in the design of measures and cases of vaguely defined milestones and targets, weaknesses in the Member States’ reporting and control systems and problems with the reliability of information that Member States included in their management declaration; also notes with concern the Court’s Special Report No 14/2024 that finds multiple shortcomings of the RRF framework and the national recovery and resilience plans as well as inconsistencies in the implementation of measures which call into question the achievement of its climate and environmental objectives, and that concludes that the contribution of the RRF to the green transition is not clear;

5. Regrets the findings of the Court’s Special Report No 26/2023 regarding the performance monitoring of the RRF, which finds that milestones and targets vary in ambition and largely focus on outputs rather than results, that the common indicators used to monitor and report progress towards the RRF’s objectives do not cover all aspects of the RRF’s performance, and that reported data is limited and may not be reliable;

6. Underlines the importance of proper scrutiny of climate expenditure in the Union budget, and holds the Commission accountable for the implementation of a robust and reliable methodology, in line with the commitments undertaken in the MFF agreement and paragraph 16d of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources; calls on the Commission to follow the Court’s recommendations in the relevant reports to better estimate climate spending under future funding instruments, to ensure adequate design of future funding instruments that are to support the climate and environmental objectives and targets, to enhance the performance of green transition measures and to ensure comprehensive, consistent, reliable and transparent reporting on climate spending under the RRF;

7. Reiterates its concern that the significant risks related to the security and protection of the registry/operating mechanism of the Union system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading against cyberattacks still has not been addressed, and a reservation on this issue, reported in annual activity reports (AARs) since 2010, is again repeated in Directorate-General for Climate Action’s 2023 AAR;

8. Notes that about EUR 20 billion, approximately 5% of the Union budget, was dedicated to the biodiversity mainstreaming objective, under various programmes e.g. the CAP, the RRF, cohesion policy programmes and the LIFE programme; urges the Commission to maintain its efforts to meet the targets for biodiversity mainstreaming of 7.5% for 2024 and 10% for 2027; welcomes the update of the biodiversity tracking methodology including expenditures under the CAP;

Public health

9. Notes that in 2023, the budget of the EU4Health programme, the main financial instrument to support Union health initiatives, was EUR 735 million, mainly managed by Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety and the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority(HERA) and implemented through the European Health and Digital Executive Agency; acknowledges the progress of initiatives funded under this programme, notably in the areas of health emergency preparedness, the Beating Cancer Plan, the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe and in the implementation of Union health legislation;

10. Notes that HERA, established in 2021, has continued in 2023 to grow the number of its staff and to expand its operations; welcomes the progress of HERA’s efforts in ensuring the Union’s preparedness and crisis response readiness for health emergencies as well as its involvement in collaborations with international partners to increase global preparedness, prevention and detection of health emergencies;

11. Recalls the Commission’s commitment to carry out a thorough review of the implementation of HERA’s operations by 2025 and to consider changing its structure and governance, including in order to transform it into a genuine agency with an autonomous budget;

12. Is of the opinion, on the basis of the data and reports available, that discharge can be granted to the Commission in respect of expenditure in the areas of environment, climate action, public health and food safety for the financial year 2023.

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

The Chair in his capacity as rapporteur for opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he 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.