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DRAFT OPINION (2025/2145(DEC))

On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024: Section III – Commission

REGI-PA-779625

Committee on Regional Development · Rapporteur: Gabriella Gerzsenyi

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The Committee on Regional Development's draft opinion on the 2024 budget discharge for the Commission notes a 5.7% error rate in cohesion spending, calls for simplification, and rejects proposed changes to cohesion policy for 2028-2034.

Committee position. The Committee on Regional Development proposes that the Committee on Budgetary Control incorporate these suggestions into its motion for a resolution, including noting error rates, calling for simplification, and rejecting proposed budget changes.

Key points

  1. Notes the estimated error level in cohesion spending is 5.7%, down from 9.3% in 2023, and that the Commission estimates risk at payment at 2.9%, but acknowledges methodologies differ and are not directly comparable.
  2. Reiterates calls for further simplification of cohesion rules to reduce errors and ease access to funding, with partnership, shared management, and decentralisation at the heart.
  3. Highlights the importance of STEP and RESTORE amendments but warns that constant amendments create legal uncertainty and undermine long-term cohesion objectives.
  4. Highlights the role of OLAF and EPPO in protecting EU financial interests and calls for sufficient resources for these bodies.
  5. Rejects the proposed 2028-2034 budget model with 27 separate plans and cash for reforms, and rejects merging cohesion, agricultural, and fisheries funds.
  6. Firmly rejects any nationalisation of cohesion policy planning and stresses that local and regional authorities must be mandatorily involved in design and implementation.

Who is affected

  • Local and regional authorities: their involvement in cohesion policy design and implementation should be mandatory.
  • Beneficiaries of cohesion funding: simplification would ease their access to funding.
  • OLAF and EPPO: need sufficient resources to protect EU financial interests.

Figures and deadlines

  • 5.7% estimated error level in cohesion spending for 2024, down from 9.3% in 2023.
  • 2.9% Commission estimate of risk at payment for the same spending area.