2011/0210(COD)
Structural Funds: repayable assistance, financial engineering and certain provisions related to the statement of expenditure
| BUDG | CONT | EMPL | REGI | |
| Lead Rapporteur | HÜBNER Danuta Maria (EPP) | |||
| Opinion Rapporteur(s) | GEIER Jens (S&D) |
Legal basis: TFEU TFEU 177-p1
Procedure completed
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | BUDG | ||
| Opinion | CONT | GEIER Jens (S&D) | |
| Opinion | EMPL | ||
| Lead | REGI | HÜBNER Danuta Maria (EPP) |
Legal Basis TFEU TFEU 177-p1
Activites
- 2011/12/20 Final act published in Official Journal
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2011/12/13
Final act signed
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2011/12/13
End of procedure in Parliament
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2011/12/12
Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
- #3134
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2011/12/12
Council Meeting
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2011/12/06
CSL Final Agreement
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2011/12/01
Text adopted by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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T7-0526/2011
summary
The European Parliament adopted by 592 votes to 18 with 13 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 as regards repayable assistance and financial engineering. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of a compromise between Parliament and Council. The main amendments to the Commission proposal are as follows; Credit line: this is defined in the amended text as a financial facility allowing the beneficiary to draw down the financial contribution, which can be totally or partially reimbursable, in relation to expenditure paid by the beneficiary and supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value. Reuse of repayable assistance: repayable assistance, repaid to the body that provided that assistance or to another competent authority of the Member State, shall be reused for the same purpose or in line with the objectives of the relevant operational programme. Member States shall ensure that an adequate record of the repayable assistance repaid is shown in the accounting system of the appropriate body or authority. Clarification of statement of expenditure: in the interests of transparency, an attachment to each statement of expenditure should include information on the amount of total expenditure paid in establishing or contributing to financial engineering instruments and on the advances paid to the beneficiaries in the context of State aid. The format of the attachment is defined in the Annex IVa to Regulation (EC) 1083/2006 for the purpose of legal security and consistency. However, the practical implementation of the collection of data necessary for this purpose shall be conducted at national level and, as far as the applicable legal framework allows it, it should not result in a modification of national computer systems. Reports on implementation of financial engineering instruments: Members add that reports must cover the progress in the financing and implementation of financial engineering instruments, namely: (i) description of the financial engineering instrument and implementation arrangements; (ii) identification of the entities which implement the financial engineering instrument, including those acting through holding funds; (iii) amounts of the assistance from the Structural Funds and national co-financing paid to the financial engineering instrument. Every year, by 1 October, the Commission shall provide a summary of the data on the progress in the financing and implementation of financial instruments, provided by the managing authorities of the Member States. Retroactive effect: the amendments relating to the forms and reuse of the repayable assistance as well as to the exclusion of the application of the provisions on major projects, revenue-generating projects and durability of operations, to operations falling under Article 44 (financial engineering instruments), aim at providing for greater legal certainty and clarity concerning the application of an existing practice in these fields with effect from the beginning of the eligibility period as set out by Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. Those amendments should, therefore, have retroactive effect from the beginning of the current programming period 2007 to 2013.
- Results of vote in Parliament
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T7-0526/2011
summary
- 2011/11/16 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
- 2011/11/14 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
- 2011/10/27 Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report
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2011/10/14
Deadline Amendments
- 2011/10/05 Committee draft report
- 2011/09/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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2011/08/01
EP officialisation
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2011/08/01
Legislative proposal
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COM(2011)0483
summary
PURPOSE: to clarify Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 as regards repayable assistance and financial engineering. PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. BACKGROUND: Member States have had positive experiences with repayable assistance schemes at the level of operations during the programming period 2000-2006 and have therefore continued such schemes or have started to implement repayable assistance schemes in the current programming period 2007-2013. Some Member States have also included descriptions of those schemes in their programming documents, which were approved by the Commission. Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund set out financial engineering instruments with precise areas and scope of intervention. However, the schemes implemented by Member States in the form of reimbursable grants and of credit lines managed by managing authorities via intermediate bodies are neither appropriately covered by the provisions on financial engineering instruments, nor by other provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. It is therefore necessary to set out in a new Section of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 that the Structural Funds may co-finance repayable assistance. That Section should cover reimbursable grants and credit lines managed by the managing authority through intermediate bodies which are public financial institutions. IMPACT ANALYSIS: the present proposal will clarify the use of repayable forms of assistance at project level, a practice which has been well established in the programming period 2000-2006 and will give the use of structural funds a further boost and higher leverage. The proposal aims to provide clarity about the legality of an existing legal practice. The main expected impact is thus the reduction of legal risk. LEGAL BASIS: Article 177 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). CONTENT: the proposal seeks to provide legal security at the level of European Union that support provided by Member States through Structural Funds to schemes based on repayable forms of assistance implemented lawfully in the previous programming period and/or started in the current period but not having the characteristics of financial engineering instruments are permitted and legitimate under the present Structural Fund regulations. The proposed modifications to the current regulatory framework are as follows: provides for a definition of reimbursable grant as a direct financial contributions by way of donation which can be totally or partially reimbursable without interest; establish that the Structural Funds may finance expenditure in respect of an operation comprising contributions to support repayable assistance. This provision covers reimbursable grants and credit lines managed by the managing authority through intermediate bodies which are "in-house" public financial institutions; clarify that the assistance repaid, to the body providing the assistance or to another competent public authority of the Member State shall be kept in a separate account and reused to the same purpose or in line with the objectives of the operational programme; clarify that provisions regarding major projects, revenue generating projects and durability of operations shall not, as a matter of principle, apply to financial engineering instruments under, since these rules are rather conceived for other types of assistance; introduce reporting of financial engineering instruments, having regard to the need to ensure appropriate monitoring, by the Member States as well as by the Commission, of the implementation of financial engineering instruments; introduce a legal obligation in order to ensure that the financial contribution paid by managing authorities for establishing or contributing to financial engineering instruments is spent for eligible expenditure within a timeframe of two years of the payment into the fund. BUDGETARY IMPLICATION: there is no impact on commitment appropriations since no modification is proposed to the maximum amounts of Structural Funds financing provided for in the Operational Programmes for the programming period 2007-2013.
- DG Regional Policy, HAHN Johannes
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COM(2011)0483
summary
Documents
- Legislative proposal published: COM(2011)0483
- Committee draft report: PE473.697
- Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report: CES1587/2011
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A7-0380/2011
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T7-0526/2011
- Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
- : Regulation 2011/1310
- : OJ L 337 20.12.2011, p. 0001
Votes
A7-0380/2011 - Danuta Maria Hübner - Single vote
| Position | Total | ALDE | ECR | EFD | GUE/NGL | NI | PPE | S&D | Verts/ALE | correctional |
| For | 592 | 72 | 47 | 16 | 27 | 11 | 218 | 151 | 50 | 2 |
| Against | 18 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Abstain | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Amendments | Dossier |
| 6 |
2011/0210(COD) Structural Funds: repayable assistance, financial engineering and certain provisions related to the statement of expenditure
2011/10/17
REGI
6 amendments...
Amendment 22 #
Proposal for a regulation - amending act Recital -1 (new) (-1) It is necessary to take account of the territorial dimension, as laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as one of the objectives of cohesion along with economic and social cohesion.
Amendment 23 #
Proposal for a regulation - amending act Recital 3 (3) Having regard to the fact that the financial resources used through repayable assistance are partially of totally reimbursed by the beneficiaries, it is necessary to introduce appropriate provisions for the reuse of assistance reimbursed for the same purpose or in line with the objectives of the respective programme, so as to ensure that the funds repaid are properly invested and Union aid is used as effectively as possible.
Amendment 24 #
Proposal for a regulation - amending act Recital 5 (5) Having regard to the need
Amendment 25 #
Proposal for a regulation - amending act Recital 5 (5) Having regard to the need of ensuring appropriate monitoring, by the Member States as well as by the Commission, of the implementation of financial engineering instruments, inter alia in order to allow the Member States to provide appropriate information to the Commission on the type of instruments put in place and on the relevant actions undertaken by such instruments on the ground, it is necessary to introduce a provision on reporting. This would also allow the Commission to better assess the overall performance of financial engineering instruments and supply a summary of the progress made at Union and Member State level, while also taking account of the need for the financial measures to have an immediate territorial impact and, therefore, to involve the regional authorities in the ex ante and ex post evaluation processes, as well as in the progress report.
Amendment 26 #
Proposal for a regulation - amending act Recital 5 a (new) (5a) In order to enhance transparency regarding use of the Funds, the list of beneficiaries, the names of the operations and the amount of public funding allocated to the operations should be published, electronically or otherwise.
Amendment 27 #
Proposal for a regulation - amending act Recital 7 (7) In order to ensure compliance with Article 61(2) of the Council Regulation (EC) 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities, it is necessary to require that the statement of expenditure to be submitted to the Commission shall provide all information necessary for the Commission to produce transparent accounts which give a true image of the Union's assets and of budgetary implementation.
source: PE-473.995
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