On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, Section III - Commission
REGI-AD-765332
Committee on Regional Development · Rapporteur: Ľubica Karvašová
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The Committee on Regional Development's opinion on the 2023 budget discharge calls for simplifying cohesion policy rules, strengthening administrative capacity, and avoiding decommitments, while stressing that error rates do not imply fraud.¶¶¶ It urges a post-2027 framework with a single set of rules, more territorial approaches, and enhanced cooperation with local authorities, while protecting EU funds and the rule of law.¶¶¶
Committee position. The Committee on Regional Development proposes that the Committee on Budgetary Control incorporate its suggestions into the discharge decision, focusing on simplification, administrative capacity, and avoiding decommitments.¶
Key points
- Underlines that error is not synonymous with fraud and that the error rate does not necessarily indicate misspending, but stresses the need to distinguish unintentional errors from fraud.¶
- Considers the increased error rate symptomatic of complex rules and insufficient administrative capacity, worsened by overlapping eligibility periods and simultaneous implementation of RRF and emergency measures.¶
- Calls on the Commission to provide clear guidance and increase support for administrative capacity building, including staff training, best practice sharing, and technical assistance.¶
- Notes that in 2023 payments for 2021-2027 programmes were low at 3.2%, causing a one-year delay compared to the previous period.¶
- Welcomes the Court's conclusion that the assurance framework reduced errors since 2007 but regrets it did not bring them below the materiality threshold; ineligible expenditure was the most prevalent error.¶
- Notes that without REACT-EU, CRII+ and CARE transactions, the error rate in Heading 2 would have been 4.3%.¶
- Urges the Commission to implement the Court's recommendations on closing the 2014-2020 period and warns of substantial decommitments as of 2027 unless implementation accelerates.¶¶
- Calls for further simplification, including a single set of rules post-2027, expansion of Simplified Cost Options, and digitalisation in fund management.¶¶
- Urges a more territorial and decentralised approach, with funding decisions made by those closest to the ground, and calls for revising the European Code of Conduct on Partnership.¶¶
- Calls for enhanced cooperation between OLAF, EPPO and national authorities to prevent fraud, and encourages using AI for detecting fraud in financial transactions.¶
- Stresses that cohesion policy must not contribute to misuse of funds or deterioration of the rule of law and democracy in member states.¶
- Calls for cohesion policy to be the foremost expenditure priority post-2027 and for new regulations to include aid instruments for border regions at the EU's eastern border.¶¶
Who is affected
- National, local and regional authorities managing cohesion funds, who need more administrative support and clearer rules.¶¶
- Beneficiaries of cohesion policy, who would face simpler rules and reduced administrative burden.¶¶
- Local and regional authorities, who should be more involved in design and implementation and may gain direct access to funds.¶¶
- Border regions at the eastern border of the EU, which would receive aid instruments under new cohesion regulations.¶