Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-13-Speech-1-100"
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"en.19991213.4.1-100"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Court of Auditors, ladies and gentlemen, to use taxpayers' money in accordance with clear political priorities and in accordance with principles of economy and efficiency are objectives which all those who deal with a public budget should be determined to achieve, and these are the objectives which the new Commission is determined to achieve. The Court of Auditors has the task of checking to see whether these objectives are met; it has the task of ascertaining whether public funds are being managed in accordance with the provisions of the Financial Regulation, and it tells the Commission what changes need to be made to ensure proper financial management.
In its report on the 1998 financial year, the Court of Auditors has explained in how many areas urgent changes need to be made. And Mr Bösch, I am not aware of any statement by the new Commission saying that we had found it reassuring that once again the statement of assurance could not be made. On the contrary, we said that it is disturbing – as has also been stressed here – that for the fifth time the regularity of the payments effected could not be confirmed. That is why the Commission will, of course, also be setting about implementing these changes with vigour.
In some areas, changes have already been put in train by the old Commission; this is the case with the Structural Funds, for example. For the new aid period there will be new rules governing the financial steps which the Commission can take if the provisions under which grants are awarded and implemented are infringed.
President Karlsson emphasised in his speech that wide-ranging reforms are necessary in order to achieve better financial management. I am, therefore, very pleased that the Commission is resolutely planning a process of reform and is committed to pursuing it. I should like to mention three components of the reform, which are of great significance for financial management.
The first is activity-based budgeting. In the future, beginning with the 2001 budget, it is intended that when the EU budget is drawn up, it should more closely reflect political priorities than has been the case in the past, and that the decisions on priorities should not only affect operating appropriations but also the required staff appropriations, so that more staff are deployed in the areas of political priority.
The second key aspect of the reform is strengthening the financial responsibility of all the departments which administer EU funds. The Commission will adopt the approach which has long since been advocated by Parliament, which Mr Karlsson has also outlined once again just now and which I also announced in my written answers to parliamentary questions in August. This consists of devolving responsibility for financial control to the departments in charge of the spending programmes, thus decentralising and at the same time increasing the level of financial responsibility in the administrative departments which effect the expenditure.
The third important component is amending the Financial Regulation. A new, extensively amended version is required and work on this is underway. It will take account of very many of the Court of Auditors' criticisms, including, for example, the issue of recording advance payments and final payments separately in the accounts. It will be an important step towards greater transparency across the accounting system.
I should also like briefly to comment on the premature publication of the Court of Auditors' report and the anger felt about this in Parliament. I think that we should reflect together on the timetable for publication and the debate in Parliament. In my opinion, it is right for there to be an interval of time between publication and the debate here in this House, so that all Members are able to familiarise themselves with the full report beforehand. I think it is a matter of urgency to initiate a consultation procedure here so that a better solution can be found.
Mr President, Mr President of the Court of Auditors, ladies and gentlemen, it is my intention to go through the Court of Auditors' report sector by sector with the departments, and, above all, with the Member States, and to find out why the mistakes were made in the first place. Who ought to have acted differently? What instruments are available to avoid mistakes of this kind being made in the future, and how quickly can improvements be achieved? A systematic follow-up of this kind is essential. I will do my utmost to implement this kind of systematic follow-up and I am very pleased that the Commission has decided – as part of its reform package on financial management – to formalise the structure of this systematic follow-up, so that in the future the observations of the Court of Auditors really can be used to improve financial management, and I would ask the European Parliament to support this comprehensive project of reform."@en1
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