Nils Ušakovs
Member of the European Parliament · S&D · LV
“Mr President, last week, in Latvia, for the first time, a NATO fighter jet shot down a drone crossing in from Russia. This is exactly what we need: our Union's borders are being defended militarily. Just as much, we must protect the people who live on those borders socially and economically.”
“Mr President, colleagues, first let me sincerely thank our rapporteurs, Andrzej Halicki and Matjaž Nemec, as well as our fellow shadow rapporteurs and their teams for the hard work that led to this agreement on the 2026 budget, which wasn't finalised until 2 a.m.”
“We reinforced funding for workers' organisations, civil society and key institutions that provide cybersecurity or protect the rule of law. For a student looking for a scholarship, for a worker who needs training to keep a job, for a small town waiting for a safer road or a modern school building, these are not abstract lines – these are…”
“Madam President, dear colleagues, when the COVID crisis struck Europe, the response was often shaky, leading to decisions that proved controversial or simply wrong. But out of that chaos emerged something truly new that seemed to be even revolutionary: that was the Recovery and Resilience Facility.”
“Priekšsēdētāja kungs! Cienījamie kolēģi! Šajās dienās cilvēki visā Eiropā svin uzvaru pār nacismu, piemin antihitleriskās koalīcijas karavīrus, pretošanās dalībniekus, partizānus, katru, kas cīnījās un krita, karojot pret šo absolūto ļaunumu.”
“And that's why I would like to thank the European Parliament for support in the negotiations on the recast. We also have the Conditionality Regulation in place, and it is being applied, and it will continue to be applied also in the future MFF.”
The complete record
Every one of 121 lines we hold for Nils Ušakovs, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 3.
“Mr President, last week, in Latvia, for the first time, a NATO fighter jet shot down a drone crossing in from Russia. This is exactly what we need: our Union's borders are being defended militarily. Just as much, we must protect the people who live on those borders socially and economically. For example, in Latgale, on the EU's eastern border, tourism businesses now report mass cancellations. Hundreds of hotels, guesthouses, campsites, restaurants are now at risk of bankruptcy. My message to the Commission is clear: border regions in the Baltics, Finland, Poland, Romania bearing the direct consequences of the war need support, and they need it now. EU budget reserves must be mobilised this year. We did it for workers affected by the closure of the Audi plant in Brussels. We did it for regions devastated by floods.”
“We reinforced funding for workers' organisations, civil society and key institutions that provide cybersecurity or protect the rule of law. For a student looking for a scholarship, for a worker who needs training to keep a job, for a small town waiting for a safer road or a modern school building, these are not abstract lines – these are real opportunities and real protection. This budget is never perfect; no budget is ever perfect. But this budget is more social, more future-oriented and more honest about the needs of our citizens in Europe. This deal is good, and I invite you to support it. 2-0291-0000”
“Mr President, colleagues, first let me sincerely thank our rapporteurs, Andrzej Halicki and Matjaž Nemec, as well as our fellow shadow rapporteurs and their teams for the hard work that led to this agreement on the 2026 budget, which wasn't finalised until 2 a.m. I would also like to thank Commissioner Piotr Serafin and the Danish Presidency for the result. After tough negotiations, we secured a budget of almost EUR 193 billion for 2026, and we reversed the cuts proposed by the Council to programmes that citizens know and rely on. That means more support for research and innovation, more money for our youth in Erasmus+, a stronger EU4Health, European Social Fund Plus and Creative Europe. It also means more investment in basic infrastructure in our regions.”
“The failure of the RRF would mean for us the failure of our new approach – that means support instead of austerity measures – and that cannot be accepted. EU needs RRF type of instruments beyond the MMF to deal with future crises. 2-0246-0000”
“Madam President, dear colleagues, when the COVID crisis struck Europe, the response was often shaky, leading to decisions that proved controversial or simply wrong. But out of that chaos emerged something truly new that seemed to be even revolutionary: that was the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Europe abandoned its playbook on austerity; it chose to borrow money together to help its Members to recover. It was a huge shift in approach. But red tape, lack of administrative capacities, peculiarities of domestic management or politics in various Member States and other reasons have resulted in implementation below 50 % or around 50 % in many Member States like Latvia. We have lots of questions about the effectiveness of this 50 % being spent. We have the overall feeling that the experiment flagship response programme is gradually failing.”
“Paldies antihitleriskās koalīcijas karavīriem, pretošanās dalībniekiem, partizāniem. Jūs esat un būsiet vienmēr mūsu varoņi. 4-0084-0000”
“Priekšsēdētāja kungs! Cienījamie kolēģi! Šajās dienās cilvēki visā Eiropā svin uzvaru pār nacismu, piemin antihitleriskās koalīcijas karavīrus, pretošanās dalībniekus, partizānus, katru, kas cīnījās un krita, karojot pret šo absolūto ļaunumu. Eiropas Savienība tika izveidota tieši šīs uzvaras rezultātā, un viss, kas ir labs Eiropā, ir, pateicoties karavīriem, kas uzvarēja Hitleru. Viss, kas mums ir slikts, tas ir jau mūsu pašu neveiksmju un kļūdu rezultāts. Katru reizi, kad mums kaut kas neizdodas, cīnoties ar pavisam cita mēroga izaicinājumiem, ar ko saskaras patreiz Eiropas Savienība, mēs pieminam tos, kas pirms 80 gadiem upurēja absolūti visu, lai mēs un mūsu bērni varētu dzīvot mierā un drošībā. Veidojot labāku Eiropu, dzīvosim un strādāsim tā, lai mums nav kauns šo karavīru priekšā, ka mēs neizdarījām, nebijām spējīgi.”
“As a result, Latvians in 5 to 10 years will travel between their own towns on foot, because the government failed with EU money. But EU money will be spent on an international project that probably will not be completed in the next decades. As a result, EU money is spent and Latvians are worse off. The situation is not acceptable. 2-0318-0000”
“Madam President, access to European Union funding for large-scale transport projects usually boosts mobility and economic development, but not in the case of my home country, Latvia. I will give you some illustration. Currently, electric trains form the backbone of domestic passenger rail transport. However, the state of the electrified rail infrastructure is so poor that probably in the next 5 to 10 years, electric train operations might stop fully. Latvia had access to nearly EUR 500 million to save the situation, but failed. Then the Latvian Government redirected funds to its flagship project: Rail Baltica. But before this, authorities managed to increase Rail Baltica's estimated costs from EUR 2 billion to EUR 10 billion without any plans to fund the gap and without any credible completion deadline.”
“Ce qui signifie qu'avec les mêmes ressources, certains arrivent à construire les meilleurs avions du monde tout en dégageant des bénéfices, pendant que d'autres emploient cette somme faramineuse à rémunérer 32 000 fonctionnaires à Bruxelles dans l'objectif de nous offrir des normes comme s'il en pleuvait: des normes sur le remplissage des boîtes de tomates en conserve, des normes sur le nombre de clignotements par minute des clignotants de voiture, des normes sur les bouchons en plastique qui doivent rester strictement attachés à la bouteille, etc. Cette fuite en avant n'est pas une fatalité. Les déficits ne sont pas une fatalité. La spoliation de l'argent de nos concitoyens ne doit plus être une fatalité. 2-0293-0000”
“Je dois vous apprendre que nous avons parfaitement réussi à nous passer jusqu'ici de l'Office communautaire des variétés végétales, de l'Agence européenne de prévention des maladies, de l'Institut européen pour l'égalité entre les hommes et les femmes, et j'en passe. Vous pourriez aussi couper dans les dépenses administratives de la Commission – encore 7,2 milliards d'euros. C'est plus que le chiffre d'affaires de Dassault Aviation!”
“– Monsieur le Président, chers collègues, saviez-vous que la dette de l'Union européenne venait d'augmenter de 32 % en une seule année, soit près de 110 milliards d'euros de dette supplémentaire? On connaît déjà votre solution favorite, la création de nouveaux impôts: quotas carbone sur les carburants, taxes sur les emballages, taxes sur tout ce qui bouge. Puisque vous avez dépensé sans compter, vous vous apprêtez à nous taxer, nous. Il suffirait pourtant d'un remède de bon sens. Je vais vous y aider. Vous pourriez commencer par supprimer quelques agences européennes dont le budget cumulé atteint désormais plus de 18 milliards d'euros. En 1974, il n'y avait qu'une seule agence européenne, Euratom. Aujourd'hui, il y en a 43. Vous créez plus d'une agence par an depuis 35 ans. Est-ce que l'Europe va mieux pour autant?”
“När det gäller byråerna så röstar vi för ansvarsfrihet för de flesta, men i nuvarande fall finns det för mycket inflytande för lobbyister och för lite oberoende. I andra fall handlar det om bristande ekonomisk hantering. När det gäller asylbyrån så skjuts beslutet upp, och det är nödvändigt efter de missförhållanden som har avslöjats. Vi lägger ett gemensamt ändringsförslag med bland annat EPP och De gröna för att gå till botten med det här. Det är nödvändigt. Sist men inte minst: Vi känner alla igen en politisk kampanj när vi ser den. Nu ser vi en politisk kampanj mot miljörörelsens organisationer. Jag önskar att de som visar sådan omsorg om NGOs som sysslar med miljö visade samma omsorg om otillbörlig påverkan när det gäller storföretag, som även de ofta får pengar från Europeiska unionen. 2-0292-0000 Sarah Knafo, au nom du groupe ESN.”
“Här har vi ett enormt finansiellt instrument där vi saknar spårbarhet för hur pengarna används. Kritiken har varit skarp från revisionsrätten. Fallen som ligger inför den europeiska åklagaren räknas i hundratal, men vi saknar fortfarande att EU-kommissionen tar detta på fullt allvar. När det gäller Europaparlamentet kommer vi att rösta för ansvarsfrihet. Det har genom åren skett betydande förbättringar i hanteringen av det gamla pensionssystemet. Men vi har inget betänkande att ta ställning till. Det röstades ner i utskottet för att högergrupperna inte ville ha ett starkt etikorgan. Jag tycker att det är ett nederlag för budgetkontrollutskottet att vi inte kan enas om ett starkare etikorgan efter de skandaler som vi har sett.”
“So don't be blackmailed, don't be weak with him, don't be too slow, and really protect the EU's financial interest in Hungary. 2-0291-0000 Jonas Sjöstedt, för The Left gruppen. – Herr talman! Den här dagen motsvarar ju julafton för budgetkontrollutskottet. Men allt är inte familjeglädje och sammanhållning i den europeiska familjen. Vi kan bara beklaga att ministerrådet fortfarande vägrar samarbeta med Europaparlamentet så att vi kan ge dem ansvarsfrihet. Det är fortfarande inte möjligt. När det gäller EU-kommissionen så har vi växande problem med felaktiga utbetalningar, inte minst vad gäller sammanhållningspolitiken. Utvecklingen går åt fel håll. Men det allra allvarligaste när det gäller EU-kommissionen är hanteringen av återhämtningsfonden (RRF).”
“That seems unusual to me, and I think that the Parliament is rightfully taking the Commission to court over this. It was wrong then, but I think it's even more clear today how wrong that decision was, because we now see that the independence of the National Judicial Council has not been increased. There have now been reforms actually reducing it under the strong protest of the Hungarian judges' association. Mr Serafin, I really think this money should be frozen again before the court forces you to. And indeed the remaining billions that are still going to Orban should be frozen as well, because he keeps ignoring the ECJ. He continues the attacks on anyone that criticises him. He tramples fundamental rights such as the freedom of assembly.”
“– Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner Serafin, from my point of view, the biggest issue with the Commission budget discharge for 2023 is that your predecessors gave EUR 10 billion to Viktor Orbán to get rid of one of his vetoes, EUR 10 billion that was previously frozen because of his rampant corruption and his attacks on the independent judiciary in Hungary. It's pretty clear that the Commission was blackmailed. The Commission argued that the judicial reforms were made in Hungary. The key reform was increased independence for the National Judicial Council. The release of the funding could actually not wait for the election of this council that was ongoing at the time. Indeed, the Commission officials had to come back just after Christmas during the holidays to make the first transfers to Hungary on 27 December.”
“Oui, nous devons le rendre plus souple, plus flexible, moins administrativement contraignant, mais cela ne peut se faire au détriment de contrôles robustes sur la traçabilité des fonds versés, leur performance et leur impact sur notre croissance économique. Nous avons besoin d'un cadre clair et systématique permettant une détection rapide des fraudes et des erreurs via la généralisation des outils d'extraction de données. Plus que jamais, chaque euro dépensé doit l'être avec intelligence, efficacité et pragmatisme. 2-0290-0000 Daniel Freund, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group.”
“– Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Président de la Cour des comptes, Monsieur le Commissaire, très chers collègues, lors de l'exercice 2023 de la décharge de la Commission, nous avons beaucoup parlé des ONG et d'autres sujets périphériques, mais, pour ma part, j'aimerais recentrer le débat sur les chiffres inquiétants fournis par la Cour des comptes européenne, dont je salue à nouveau la qualité des travaux: un taux d'erreur globalement plus important encore qu'avant, à 5,6 %; un taux d'erreur stratosphérique pour les fonds de cohésion à 9,3 %, et le montant du reste à liquider, qui continue sa course folle, à 543 milliards. Tout cela, finalement, sans grande réaction de la Commission pour y remédier. Par ailleurs, durant ce mandat, je resterai attentif à la modernisation annoncée du budget européen.”
“Non possiamo parlare di crescita e coesione se non garantiamo flessibilità, responsabilità e un uso virtuoso di ogni euro di risorsa pubblica. La sfida del futuro è questa: meno vincoli e più crescita. 2-0289-0000 Olivier Chastel, au nom du groupe Renew.”
“– Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, la Corte dei conti europea è stata chiara: nel bilancio 2023 della Commissione emergono sprechi e inefficienze gravi. Parliamo di errori nella spesa pari al 5,6 %: 543 miliardi di euro di impegni ancora da liquidare, il livello più alto mai registrato e un debito legato ai prestiti che ha raggiunto 458 miliardi di euro, pari al 2,7 % del PIL dell'Unione europea. È paradossale: si impongono vincoli rigidissimi agli Stati membri con il patto di stabilità ma l'Unione non applica a se stessa lo stesso rigore. Serve una scelta politica chiara e coraggiosa: razionalizzare la spesa europea e, al tempo stesso, allentare le rigidità che soffocano gli investimenti strategici nazionali.”
“Grâce à ses apports approfondis, elle révèle des dysfonctionnements majeurs, souvent dissimulés par la Commission européenne et par l'opacité qui règne ici. Il est inadmissible que la Commission, tout comme d'autres institutions, attende les observations de la Cour des comptes pour agir. La bonne gestion des fonds publics doit être proactive et non réactive. Le manque de contrôle est structurel, profond et préoccupant. Je mentionnerai particulièrement les taux d'erreur dans les dépenses, pour lesquels il serait nécessaire d'imposer enfin une méthodologie de calcul harmonisée. Notre groupe s'honore de présenter lors de cette séance près de 43 % des amendements à tous les textes de décharge. Je remercie mes collègues Virginie Joron et Tamás Deutsch pour leur travail sérieux à mes côtés. 2-0288-0000 Marco Squarta, a nome del gruppo ECR.”
“Lorsque des scandales éclateront, et il y en aura, ceux qui auront voté en faveur de ces gestions devront en répondre politiquement. Ce ne sera pas notre cas. Désormais, les décharges des agences et des entreprises communes font l'objet d'une résolution commune. Nous le déplorons, car cela rend impossible un examen individualisé sérieux. Cela nuit gravement à la transparence et à la crédibilité du contrôle parlementaire. De plus, le contenu des résolutions se limite trop souvent à un copié-collé des constats de la Cour des comptes européenne, sans réel travail parlementaire ajouté. Ce n'est pas sérieux. Nous demandons de revenir au système en vigueur jusqu'à l'année dernière. Nous saluons enfin la Cour des comptes, dont nous voterons la décharge, car elle reste l'un des rares organe véritablement rigoureux et lucides ici.”
“– Monsieur le Président, en tant qu'élu du groupe Patriotes pour l'Europe, je refuserai demain de voter en faveur des différentes décharges censées donner quitus sur la gestion, notamment des nombreuses agences européennes et entreprises communes. Ce choix n'est pas un rejet de ces entités en tant que telles. Nous soutenons l'action de certaines agences – même si d'autres devraient à notre sens être supprimées –, mais c'est une position de responsabilité. Accorder la décharge, c'est donner quitus à une gestion. Or, à défaut de réelle transparence, nous n'avons pas accès à l'ensemble des éléments sur la gestion et nous n'y sommes pas associés. Il est donc de notre devoir d'anticiper les scandales budgétaires et non de les couvrir par un vote soit complaisant, soit inconscient, soit naïf.”
“Exactly two weeks later he refuted it, admitting that the Commission did not instruct NGOs to lobby members of Parliament. So the only thing I'm seeing now is an EPP that didn't know what they got themselves into, including the damage to the credibility of the European institutions. However, I must also take a moment to recognise the brave voices still within the EPP. In a world where more and more people in power are seeking to dismantle our democratic checks and balances, I commend those who continue to uphold our democratic values and refuse to bow to internal pressure, especially when they get money from other organisations. Today, we social democrats say enough is enough. 2-0287-0000 Julien Sanchez, au nom du groupe PfE.”
“– Mr President, over the past few months, we've witnessed what some journalists have called the 'Trumpisation' of the EPP. EPP members have been actively tearing down structures of our civil society, and, let me be clear, this has been a deliberate strategy from day one and we've witnessed it also today. EPP members are claiming that they have seen secret contracts, and that these contracts show that the Commission gives money to environmental NGOs on the condition that they lobby the Parliament. When we ask them about these contracts, they don't share them with us. They become very vague and confusing. Even the EPP's own Commissioner has fuelled the confusion. At the beginning of April, the Commissioner stated that the LIFE programme finances so-called undue lobbying.”
“We already mentioned, of course, the anti-fraud architecture this morning, but there are other areas that merit a critical review as well. Lastly, of course, the discharge we will not grant for the agency on Malta due to a very serious OLAF report. I'm happy that we could table an amendment together with the Greens, The Left, the ECR and Renew. Unfortunately, the colleagues of the S&D are not on the amendment, which I regret, because I think that when very serious allegations are on the table – and which they are regarding this agency – it doesn't matter which party is in government in the Member State, it is a matter of controlling and of holding them to account. 2-0286-0000 Mohammed Chahim, on behalf of the S&D Group.”
“For me, there are two points that I would like to raise, and I am happy that we could also pick them up in the report going forward. One is dependency on external consultancies: the feedback from the agencies is actually quite shocking that many of them could not perform their core functions and responsibilities without the help of external parties. In a world of cyber dependencies and threats, I think we should look into that with a bit more of a systematic approach to see how we can protect these agencies and make them a bit more autonomous. Secondly, there is the issue of the possibility of looking at overlaps of mandates and of functions. We have many agencies, we have many different structures that often work on the same kind of topics. I think we can do better and I think we can be more focused.”
“That is why we expressly approved of the high success rate of the European Institute for Gender Equality in developing actions and communication campaigns to gender equality and the continuous high level of budget execution, despite the persisting understaffing of the agency. So that's why we strongly support the assessment to grant the director of the EIGE the discharge and the explicit recommendation in our resolution to allocate more staff to the institute. 2-0285-0000 Dirk Gotink, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Mr President, first of all let me thank especially my colleagues working on the agencies discharge in the Budgetary Control Committee. It was I think a very collegial process and I think we worked a lot on content, and we were very patient to hear all the agencies and to look into their issues.”
“A gender equality perspective should be integrated into and ensured across all policy areas. Gender budgeting should be implemented at all stages of the budgetary process, in order that we could continue the Union's commitment to gender mainstreaming, to continue the efforts made and the need to further focus on combating violence against women and girls in the European Union, because it is indispensable. For instance, the funding of the Daphne programme – it is crucial. But combating violence against women will not be successful if we do not eradicate structural gender‑based inequality.”
“Frontex, Europol, OLAF, EPPO, to nejsou prázdné zkratky, to jsou pilíře naší bezpečnosti a boje proti korupci. A my dnes jsme jasně dali najevo, že je chceme posílit: více důstojníků pro Frontex, více prostředků pro Europol, více akceschopný OLAF a posílení Úřadu veřejného žalobce. Jsem pyšný, že máme většinu, která se nedívá zpátky, ale dopředu, které záleží na tom, aby Evropa byla silná a funkční, ale hlavně bezpečná. Bez toho, dámy a pánové, tady žádná prosperita nikdy nebude. 2-0284-0000 Lina Gálvez, rapporteur for the opinion of the FEMM Committee. – Mr President, as rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, I would like to thank the rapporteurs for including the concerns of the FEMM Committee in the resolution.”
“Wie viele dieser Mittel hätten so viel sinnvoller in Verteidigung oder europäische Infrastruktur investiert werden können? 2-0283-0000 Tomáš Zdechovský, zpravodaj výboru LIBE. – Pane předsedající, dnes je to takové déjà vu, vidět vás tady znovu, ale dovolím si podívat se na opinion výboru LIBE. Vedle toho, že jsem koordinátorem PPE ve Výboru pro rozpočtovou kontrolu, tak jsem i členem výboru LIBE, kde jsem jménem Evropské lidové strany pracoval na rozpočtových absolutoriích. A řeknu vám jednu věc. Doba, kdy se socialisté a komunisté potají domlouvali a propagovali svojí agendu, už je dávno pryč. Děkuji kolegům z RENEW a ECR za naprosto věcné a konstruktivní vyjednávání. Společně jsme dokázali prosadit jasné stanovisko. Evropa musí být bezpečná.”
“Ein Sonderbericht des Europäischen Rechnungshofs bestätigt: Zwischen 2021 und 2023 flossen mehrere Milliarden Euro an NGOs ohne klaren Überblick über ihre Verwendung. NGOs sind Teil unserer Demokratie, aber sie werden dann zum Problem in einer liberalen Demokratie, wenn sie mit erheblichen staatlichen oder europäischen Mitteln finanziert werden, um den freien Wettbewerb der Ideen und Meinungen zu verzerren und ihre politische Agenda durchzudrücken. Es braucht deshalb Konsequenzen. NGOs müssen denselben Transparenzpflichten wie Unternehmen unterliegen und ihre Finanzierungsquellen offenlegen. Außerdem stellt sich die Frage – die wahrscheinlich wichtigere Frage –, wie viel Förderung überhaupt gerechtfertigt ist, wenn NGOs – non‑governmental organisations – zu nearly‑governmental organisations werden.”
“In 2023, EAC frontloaded EUR 100 million to support Ukraine through Erasmus+, an important but exceptional response. Going forward, we must integrate candidate countries more and increase the budget. We also observed frontloading in Creative Europe for two years and now are seeing a return to a steady growth and welcome the additional reinforcement. This programme is the livelihood of the cultural sector in Europe and saved many artists and freelancers over the pandemic. 2-0282-0000 Sven Simon, Verfasser der Stellungnahme des AFCO-Ausschusses. – Herr Präsident, Kolleginnen und Kollegen, meine Damen und Herren! Die Untersuchungen des Haushaltskontrollausschusses sprechen eine deutliche Sprache: Über Jahre hat die Europäische Kommission NGOs finanziert, um Lobbyarbeit gegenüber Abgeordneten und Kommissaren zu betreiben.”
“Io penso che proprio su questo l'EFCA può e deve contrastare efficacemente ogni forma di slealtà nella concorrenza e di illegalità. 2-0281-0000 Nela Riehl, rapporteur for the opinion of the CULT Committee. – Mr President, together with my CULT shadow rapporteurs, I reviewed the DG EAC, the EAC Executive Agency and the Translation Centre. The Translation Centre is essential for multilingual work across all our institutions. We welcome improvements in public procurement, gender parity and exploration of AI and machine translation. Regarding the Commission, we appreciate DG EAC's work on Erasmus+, the Solidarity Corps and Creative Europe. The discharge exercise showed again for Erasmus+, the best-known EU programme, that demand far outweighs the provision in every sector.”
“Come evidenziato nei paragrafi del testo sui quali abbiamo lavorato, l'Agenzia svolge un ruolo essenziale nel contrasto alla pesca illegale, nell'attuazione della politica comune della pesca. I conti sono in ordine: l'attività operativa, con quasi 45 000 ispezioni nel 2023, conferma un impegno concreto e strutturato: un impegno importante. Vorrei cogliere l'occasione per richiamare l'attenzione sulla difficile situazione nel Canale di Sicilia, nel Mediterraneo occidentale, in particolare per quanto riguarda il settore della pesca, che attraversa una crisi profonda. I pescatori sono davvero in grande difficoltà per la riduzione degli stock, per l'aumento dei costi e anche – e questo è il punto – per la pressione derivante da pratiche sleali, a volte illegali, da parte di flotte extraeuropee.”
“Într-un context geopolitic instabil, capacitatea de apărare a Europei nu poate fi întârziată fără o bază logistică solidă și integrată. De aceea, cerem Comisiei să continue să îmbunătățească mecanismul de control și audit, astfel încât fondurile alocate să fie utilizate eficient, fără erori sistematice. Avem o responsabilitate istorică. Transparența și eficiența nu sunt opționale, sunt fundamentul credibilității noastre. 2-0280-0000 Giuseppe Lupo, relatore per parere della commissione PECH. – Signor Presidente, signor Commissario, onorevoli colleghi, intervengo in particolare per esprimere il mio sostegno alla concessione del discarico per l'Agenzia europea di controllo della pesca (l'EFCA), essendo stato relatore.”
“2-0279-0000 Gheorghe Falcă, raportor pentru aviz al Comisiei TRAN. – Domnule președinte, dragi colegi, procesul de descărcare de gestiune nu este o simplă formalitate. Este modul în care reafirmăm principiul fundamental al Uniunii noastre: responsabilitate față de cetățeni și față de banul public. Avem datoria să asigurăm că fiecare euro din bugetul european este construit transparent, legal și cu impact real. În mod deosebit, trebuie să ne concentrăm asupra investițiilor în infrastructura de transport și mobilitate militară, pilon strategic pentru funcționarea pieței unice și pentru securitatea Uniunii. Extinderea rețelei TEN-T nu este doar un proiect economic, este o investiție în reziliența noastră colectivă.”
“La Corte dei conti europea ha già riscontrato problemi nel raggiungimento degli obiettivi da parte degli Stati membri. Chiedo quindi alla Commissione di non abbassare la guardia: se siamo convinti che il futuro dell'Europa sia un futuro verde, pulito e sostenibile, dobbiamo dimostrarlo nei numeri e con i fatti, a cominciare dalla conferma degli investimenti per raggiungere i target climatici che abbiamo fissato. Le stesse raccomandazioni è mio dovere farle rispetto al tema delle agenzie. Investire nelle agenzie che fanno ricerca e ci forniscono dati e informazioni scientifiche, certificate e indipendenti significa salvare l'ambiente, tutelare i cittadini, salvare vite umane, combattere la disinformazione, che purtroppo rappresenta ancora una grande barriera tra i cittadini e l'Europa.”
“Dosledno načrtovanje je ključnega pomena tudi za Evropsko komisijo. Opozarjam še, da je Evropska komisija v preteklosti naročala študije pri drugih izvajalcih in spregledala agencije, ki so njena prva podpora. Evropske institucije morajo svoje delo opravljati strokovno in pregledno. Za porabo denarja za svoje poslovanje so odgovorne vsem Evropejkam in Evropejcem. 2-0278-0000 Antonio Decaro, relatore per parere della commissione ENVI. – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, io sono stato sindaco della mia città e so che cosa significa preparare un bilancio e definire le priorità su cui investire. Significa decidere quale sviluppo vogliamo per le nostre comunità. Per questo oggi non posso che essere preoccupato quando vedo i numeri relativi ai budget sugli obiettivi ambientali.”
“Mir wurde gesagt, dass diese Höhe, obwohl die Kosten so gestiegen sind, seit vielen Jahren fix ist. Da fordere ich die Kommission auf, doch mal nachzulegen, damit der EAD da auch vor Ort besser agieren kann. 2-0276-0000 PREDSEDÁ: MARTIN HOJSÍK Podpredseda 2-0277-0000 Romana Tomc, pripravljavka mnenja za odbor EMPL. – Gospod predsednik. V okviru svojega dela sem se predvsem osredotočila na razrešnice agencij, ki skrbijo za nemoteno delovanje odbora za zaposlovanje in socialo. Zadovoljna sem, da so bile njihove transakcije na splošno zakonite in pravilne. Veseli me tudi dejstvo, da agencije čedalje tesneje sodelujejo in vlagajo veliko napora v to, da zmanjšujejo svoje stroške in da ne prikrivajo določenih nalog. Skrbi pa me predvsem prenos sredstev v drugo proračunsko leto – ne samo pri agencijah.”
“Wir stellen fest, dass sich der Plan im Fall seiner Annahme negativ auf die Wirksamkeit des Instruments für Nachbarschaft, Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und internationale Zusammenarbeit auswirken wird. Die Europäische Union ist international stark vernetzt. Wir sind ein gesuchter Partner für viele andere Länder. Wir brauchen heute mehr als weniger internationale Vertretung unserer Interessen und Austausch mit unseren Partnern. Allein die Zerschlagung von USAID mit den Ländern, die dort von den USA im Stich gelassen werden, hat dazu geführt, dass die Anfrage an uns deutlich größer geworden ist. Deshalb muss der EAD besser und angemessen ausgestattet werden. Im Übrigen gab es eine Vereinbarung zwischen EAD und Kommission, dass die Kommission etwas dafür bezahlt, dass ja auch Kommissionsbeamte an den Außenstellen sind.”
“2-0275-0000 Michael Gahler, Verfasser der Stellungnahme des AFET-Ausschusses. – Herr Präsident, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Die beispiellosen Herausforderungen im globalen Umfeld und die instabile Lage in Bezug auf Frieden und Geopolitik erfordern eine sehr gute Koordinierung zwischen der Kommission und dem Auswärtigen Dienst. Wir sind deshalb besorgt über den Mangel an operativen Haushaltsmitteln des Auswärtigen Dienstes und auch über den Vorschlag, vor dem Hintergrund der vorstehend genannten Haushaltszwänge die Präsenz der EU in Drittländern durch eine drastische Verringerung des Personalbestandes der EU‑Delegationen radikal umzustrukturieren.”
“Our opinion on this proposal is also published today and highlights that should funds be used for new EU priorities, the Commission must not be detrimental to cohesion's place-based approach or result in worsening regional disparities. The Commission will present its formal proposal for the next MFF in the coming months, and again we will publish another review that will provide a broader outlook on the next EU budget and will also outline lessons learned. In conclusion, I want to reaffirm that the European Court of Auditors is fully committed to working closely with the European Commission and co-legislators to strengthen the management and oversight of EU funds. Our ongoing mission remains to strengthen trust by improving accountability and transparency across all EU activities.”
“These key lessons are where there are such instruments not linked to costs, we need to be assured that there should be an explicit link to results, with clear transparency on actual costs and final recipients, and we need to support accountability with clearly defined supervision and control roles for the Commission and the Member States. Regardless of the form the next MFF takes, the Commission advocates for a simpler, more focused, flexible EU budget. This flexibility can already be seen in the recent mid-term review proposals for the 21-27 cohesion policy framework. It introduces changes and new priorities such as the defence, housing and energy sectors.”
“The Commission estimates that about 25 to 30 billion per year may be needed over the next MFF, which is almost 20 % of the current annual budget. To date, the funding source to meet these repayments has not yet been agreed upon. Staying on RRF, but again with an eye on post-2027 MFF, I want to highlight that we published a review in this context today. It offers key lessons and insights for the next MFF, summarising findings and weaknesses we have identified in the RRF model across several of our reports published since 2020-21.”
“In our audit of the 56 billion RRF expenditure, we identified that several milestones and targets were affected by findings with a material financial impact. We also found system weaknesses and as a result we issued a qualified opinion. There is no error rate, as was referred to earlier, but this cannot be the case because it's not a homogeneous population. In terms of a representative sample, we actually audited all the 23 payments in 17 Member States, and in terms of milestones, we audited 325 out of 542, and 127 out of 135 targets. So it was a much bigger sample than we do for the traditional MFF. I think it's important to note in 2028, the budget will start to repay the principal used for the non-repayable RRF support, up to almost EUR 360 billion.”
“The cohesion policy area continues to be the main driver of this increase, as it makes up 40 % of our audited expenditure. The error rate, as one honourable Member has referred to, rose to 9.3 % from 6.4 %. But I have to say there were very specific factors and circumstances which have contributed to this increase. In terms of methodologies, I would have to reiterate, as I have done on many occasions, they are there for different reasons, they are not for the same purpose, and while we are engaging, as Commissioner Serafin said, in joint workshops, I'm still not convinced at the end of it that we will have this happy ending, that we will have the same methodology. I don't want to raise false expectations. If we move on to our audit of expenditure under the RRF, as we say, this focuses mainly on the achievement of milestones and targets.”
“So, in terms of the key messages and findings of the annual report, as in previous years, for the EU accounts and for revenue, both were given a clean opinion. On the expenditure, we have now given again two separate opinions reflecting the fundamental differences between budget spending under the multiannual financial framework and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. If we start with traditional EU budget spending under the MFF, honourable Member Herbst has already referred to some of the figures, but just to remind you, basically the error rate for spending under the MFF increased to 5.6 % from 4.2 % in 2022. So it was material, as also referred to by Prime Minister Szłapka, and pervasive, which led to us maintaining an adverse opinion for the fifth consecutive year.”
“2-0274-0000 Tony Murphy, President of the Court of Auditors. – Mr President, honourable rapporteurs and Members, Minister Szłapka, Commissioner Serafin, fellow Europeans in the gallery, it's a pleasure to stand before you here today to present some of the key findings of the 2023 annual report on the EU budget. Once again, I am supported by my esteemed colleague Jan Gregor, who is the ECA member responsible for this annual report. I would say that our annual report on the EU budget is the core product in our efforts to address the challenges faced by the Union. While my focus today will be on our annual report, I will also highlight some of the recent and ongoing work that we believe is critical in the current debate on the future of the EU budget.”