Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-13-Speech-1-089"
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"en.19991213.4.1-089"2
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"Mr President, I welcome the fact that at last, we are discussing this report. I would condemn the other groups for not allowing us to discuss this in November: That was a wrong decision. It was outrageous that we did not allow the Court to have a press conference. We lost the opportunity of an important public platform. I was also extremely disappointed that the President of the Court of Auditors did not remain in Brussels earlier this month.
The report proves beyond all doubt that the reform process is long overdue. We need radical reforms if we are to see improvement of a very serious situation. This is the fifth time the Commission has not given a statement of assurance and it is clear that the Commission needs to understand that it is engaged in reform and it will be judged not by its words and its reports, but by its actions. It is clear that in efforts to reform itself, the Commission needs to concentrate not on where the money is spent but the extent to which policy goals are met, and that with a minimum cost. As Mr Karlsson said, we need to tackle the spending culture. That means we need clear, precise and measurable goals from the Commission. In my own country of Wales we receive significant money from the structural funds, but the line between creating a job and safeguarding a job is unclear and therefore it is difficult for us to assess how effective those structural funds have been.
The Commission needs to make fundamental improvements to its own internal control mechanisms. One of the main problems, highlighted again, is that of passing the buck. Nobody is taking responsibility and the responsibility for spending money well is shared between too many people. That clearly needs to be reformed. We expect to see rigorous new management and control systems in the forthcoming reform. In particular, we need to see a reform of the Financial Regulation.
But let us not forget that over 85% of the money that comes from the EU budget is spent within the Member States and they need to put their own house in order. Human resources is also an issue which clearly needs to be addressed.
This report has vindicated the forced resignation of a sloppy, slapdash Commission and revealed a catalogue of irresponsibility by Member States who are prepared to criticise but not act on fraud and irregularities. The new Commission is heading in the right direction and we hope that we will see an end to these kinds of reports. We can put them behind us once we see an improvement in terms of the reform process.
I should like to finish by putting a clear question to Mr Karlsson: does he personally think there is anything specific in the 1998 report which should stop Parliament from granting discharge?"@en1
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