The PRG has recommended operational conclusions on the following points : * in future greater account should be taken of Member States' responses to the Court of Auditors reports and the Commission will reflect actions taken by the Member States in its follow up report to the budget discharge; * the Commission will propose amendments to Council Regulation 1552/89 to reinforce the provisions on the recovery of own resources; * agreement on an action plan to improve the cooperation between the Commission and the Member States on budget forecasting and execution; * agreement on actions to improve performance on the evaluation of EU policies in partnership be ...[+++]tween the Commission and the member States; * adoption by the Commission of clear rules on the eligibility of expenditure for finance from the Structural Funds which seems to be one of the main causes of the errors detected by the Court of Auditors; * clarification of the circumstances in which the Commission should make net financial corrections in the Structural Funds when systematic irregularities have been detected; * reaching bilateral agreements between the Commission's Financial Controller and the relevant bodies in the Member States to improve coordination of controls between the responsible bodies at EU or national level; * the need to ensure that the issue of fraud proofing is given high priority in considering legislative proposals.

Key elements of Stage 3 report The PRG, which met six times this year, was set a wide ranging agenda following a fact finding tour of discussions with the relevant Ministries in Member State capitals.

The third stage has involved the creation of a new group of personal representatives of Finance and Budget Ministers (PRG) under the chairmanship of Commissioners Anita Gradin and Erkki Liikanen.

For this reason the Commissioners have promised to reconvene the PRG to check on progress in implementing these recommendations.