During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (08-11 March 2021), MEPs debate on the respect of the partnership principle, in the preparation and implementation of National Recovery and Resilience Plans, and ensuring good governance of the spending: Opening statement by Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

DOMBROVSKIS, Valdis (LV, EC)

KOPACZ, Ewa (EPP, PL)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

economic situation in Europe (T)

Recovery plan for Europe (T)

recovery and resilience facility (T)

Respecting the partnership principle, in the preparation and implementation of National Recovery and Resilience Plans, and ensuring good governance of the spending: Opening statement by Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/5030199/I202929Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ewa Bożena KOPACZ (EPP, PL), EP Vice-President, Thank you very much. This debate is now closed. The vote will take place at the next part session. The next item on our agenda is the Commission statement respecting the partnership principle in the preparation and implementation of national recovery and resilience plans and ensuring good governance of the spending.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ewa Bożena KOPACZ (EPP, PL), EP Vice-President, Could I just remind you that for all the debates this part session, there will be no catch the eye procedure. They won't either be any blue cards accepted, as with previous sessions. And as during the last part sessions, there is a possibility to take the floor from the European Parliament's liaison offices in the Member States.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ewa Bożena KOPACZ (EPP, PL), EP Vice-President, So I'd now like to call on behalf of the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission, Dombrovskis, to take the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, Madam Chair, honourable Members, it's a pleasure to address you on the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which, as you know, is a powerful and ambitious tool for bringing about sustainable and inclusive recovery in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, The Commission is currently engaged in very intense, all of its member states to help them improve and finalise as quickly as possible the recovery and resilience plans.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, In this context, I would like to thank you for highlighting the important issues of the partnership, principle and governance. The implementation of plans will be only successful with a strong Member States' ownership, as well as a support from social partners and civil society at every stage of the process.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, The Commission therefore attach the great importance to stakeholder involvement, we already made clear in our annual sustainable growth strategy back in September. Thanks to the efforts of colleges later, our regulations contains strong provisions in this regard.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, Member States' plans will need to include summary of consultations with relevant stakeholders, for example, with local and regional authorities, social partners, civil society organisations or use organisations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, And it's not just a matter of carrying out the consultations, Member States will also need to explain how their plans reflect stakeholders contributions. Given the scope and goals of the facility, this is only logical.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, For instance, Member s_States will need to explain how their plans contribute to enhancing cohesion, taking into account local, regional and national disparities. Strong of ownership will be crucial for facility to be a success. A strong governance structure will be important as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, It is Member States which are responsible for preparing and implementing recovery and resilience plans and payments will be made to them. However, it will be vital to involve local and regional authorities, social partners and civil society in putting plants into practise in the years ahead.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, This will play a key role in helping to translate ambitious objectives into concrete policy initiatives that will benefit people and businesses on the ground.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, Honourable members, the European Parliament will also have an important role to play in the governance of that facility. The Commission is looking forward to starting the recovery and resilience dialogues.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, We stand by our commitment to take into account the views expressed through these dialogues. We have also started work on delegated acts for the scoreboard, the common indicators and the methodology to report on social expenditure under that facility.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, I would also like to say a few words on sound management of the funds committed on the facility, as this house knows well as RRF is a performance based instrument. This means that Member States will receive funds once they reach the agreed milestones and targets as put forward in their plans and the Council implementing decisions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, The performance based nature of the facility is a primary and robust guarantee of sound financial management. In addition, the commission will assess Member States' monitoring and control systems, which they will need to explain in their plans.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, And Member States will need to provide with each payment request a management declaration and a summary of audits carried out at the national level, attesting to the fact that all checks and precautions taken place.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, These steps will be carried out openly and transparently, providing an opportunity to flag possible cases of serious irregularities.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, Firstly to the RRF of coordinators in each Member State who will be obliged to examine if any irregularities took place.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, And secondly, to the Commission or the European Public Prosecutor which has the powers to investigate and assess all relevant national records and data.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, As a last resort, the Commission will be able to reduce and recover any amounts affected by serious irregularities that have not been corrected by member state concerned.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, In summary, we are confident that all these mechanisms, when applied together, will ensure a sound and correct use of funds committed under arrest.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, Honourable members, let me conclude here and thank you for your attention. I look forward for your discussion today. Thank you.