2018 The Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget

It explains how the EU budget supports the The Commission carefully monitors the EU political priorities and describes both the results implementation of the EU budget on the ground. [...] The funds directly support the delivery of key EU priorities and the implementation of country-specific recommendations in the context of the European Semester, as well as ensure the necessary investment conditions through the follow- up of ex ante conditions set for the 2014-2020 programmes. [...] The new 2018 financial regulation has strengthened the treatment of conflicts of interest, and the Commission has made important proposals to protect the EU budget from generalised deficiencies in the rule of law in the Member States, including conditioning the continuation of EU payments to the respect of the rule of law principles. [...] 17 2018 ANNUAL MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE REPORT 2018 Annual Management and Performance Report Introduction The 2018 Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget is the Commission’s main input to the annual discharge (22) procedure by which the European Parliament and the Council scrutinise the implementation of the EU budget. [...] (22) The annual discharge procedure is the procedure through which the European Parliament and the Council give their final approval of the budget implementation for a specific year and hold the Commission politically accountable for the implementation of the EU budget.