Make use of EU funds more transparent

The EPP Group wants the European Commission to take a closer look at how EU Member States spend the €723.8 billion Resilience and Recovery Facility (RRF), with a more transparent and evidence-based approach.

In a Resolution accompanying the approval of the use of the EU Budget in 2021, the European Parliament today pointed out systemic errors, which need to be rectified.

The EPP Group welcomes that, following its repeated demands, the Commission published its methodology on how it evaluates if targets are met and what the financial consequences are for not meeting these targets. Another important achievement of the EPP Group is that citizens will be able to see online information about concrete projects in the Member States, via an interactive map.

Parliament’s Resolution also criticises how the Commission evaluates the only payment made in 2021 to Spain, stressing that not all milestones were adequately met before funds were disbursed. This casts doubt on the process by which the Recovery Fund is spent.

“The recommendations of the Parliament will reduce bureaucracy and make the work of local authorities more efficient, while improving the control of how taxpayers’ money is being spent. However, several problems remain. We still lack clear information about how much money has reached the real economy and how many projects have concretely been realised. We know what amount the Commission has paid to the Member States. But the Member States do not share complete information on how much they have paid out to final recipients”, said Monika Hohlmeier MEP, Chair of Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee and who was co-negotiator on the budgetary discharge of the European Commission.

On the overall assessment of the Commission’s own spending in 2021, there is also a need for serious improvement.

“The error rate of expenditure is rising again compared to the previous years and I am concerned about the low implementation rate of commitments of only 68 percent, which only further increases the risks”, said Jeroen Lenaers MEP, co-negotiator on the discharge of the Commission’s budget.

The Resolution also strongly criticises the Commission for overstating amounts spent for climate action by a staggering €72 billion, and calls on the Commission to put forward a proposal for an EU Regulation in order to increase transparency of NGOs.