Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-13-Speech-1-046"
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"en.19990913.5.1-046"2
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"Madam President, as I round off this Dutch trio, I would not wish to deprive you of hearing about the feelings I experienced over the weekend. I must say it was difficult to suppress a certain amount of despondency. Thirty degrees outside and I was indoors ploughing my way through an enormous, well-documented, but also depressing analysis of the functioning of the European Commission. Fortunately these analyses were followed by many well-documented and well thought through recommendations and solutions. There is no point in going into detail right now, but I would like to mention two. One is the proposal to set up an independent internal auditing service, which is directly accountable to the President of the Commission. I am pleased that Mr Kinnock promised when he delivered his answers during the first round, that this idea would be taken up by the Commission in any case. The same goes for the proposal to establish a Public Prosecutor. A Public Prosecutor in Brussels and also in the Member States having special responsibility for fraud involving European money. To be quite honest, I am a little more circumspect about the third step in the Committee of Wise Men’s proposal. The third proposal relates to a European bureau, a European Prosecution Office, an EPO. It is not just to do with the abbreviation EPO, which is just a little too reminiscent of doping scandals for my liking; it is our view that that third institution, that third step in the process is taking things just a touch too far at this stage, and that we are being a little premature in concluding that it all has to be done at a European level.
Returning to the broad outlines of the Commission’s proposal, the report clearly shows that the personal errors of judgement of a number of Commissioners which were laid bare so painstakingly in the first report, were committed within an organisation which falls short on a number of crucial points. I think that it is crystal clear to anyone who has read through 300 pages, or even 100 pages, that the European Commission needs to be reformed if not just the Commission, but also the European Union, wish to retain their credibility. But various things must first be done. I would like to ask Mr Kinnock the following question: in Recommendation No. 36, based on what is, to my mind, a very correct analysis in Chapter IV, emphasis is once again placed on the fact that ultimately the individual Commissioners are the ones who are responsible, not just for the political functioning of their Directorate-General but also for financial management and control. I would very much appreciate it if Mr Kinnock were to endorse this analysis and the findings. I think that is one of the most important prerequisites for the effective functioning of a new Commission.
A second point which, to my mind, must not be ignored, is the role and influence of the IGC, the next Intergovernmental Conference. I think that it would be impossible, after this report, to regard the agenda for the IGC and everything that went on in the report, separately from each other, because the role of the Member States, of Parliament and the Commission, for example when it comes to the budget, control and discharge, really is under discussion. And Mr Marín has already said that a number of changes proposed in the report cannot be made without treaty amendments and, to my mind, it would be a very bad thing if Parliament, Commission and Council were shortly to set to work on an IGC without addressing these problems in the process.
A third point which merits attention is as follows: it is right and proper that the Committee on Budgetary Control has been designated as the committee in Parliament which must address the report. I completely agree with Mrs Theato that this can only be done if all the papers held by the Commission are also passed through to the Committee on Budgetary Control. The fundamental and sweeping reform of the Commission will be of crucial importance and, of course, the first wave of reform must apply to the Commission itself. If this takes place without the involvement of Parliament in a transparent and effective manner, then I fear it will not succeed. If you want it to succeed, if you want to involve Parliament in the mammoth task awaiting you, then you can count on the support of my group."@en1
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