Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-18-Speech-2-304"
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"en.20000118.10.2-304"2
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"Mr President, I also wish to congratulate Mr van Hulten on this first piece of work which he is presenting to the House. I am sure that it will serve, amongst other things, to make his second report more flexible and for him to step up efforts to find a consensus amongst the groups.
At this stage, there can be no delay in the process of reforming the Commission, demanded by our citizens. This Parliament has often heard the desire to reform the Commission expressed, even by its Presidents. It now appears that this desire is more serious. After the resignation of a Commission and after a Committee of Experts has listed an almost endless number of deficiencies, it makes sense that Mr Prodi should have promised, on 14 September, to present this Parliament with a complete plan for reform by February. This Parliament anxiously awaits this complete reform programme.
The report that we are debating today intends to give political force to many of the recommendations of the Committee of Experts commissioned by this Parliament. Mr Prodi said he would act anyway, that he preferred to get things right, but that fear of not getting things right would not prevent him from acting.
We therefore ask that his programme be a bold one and, if it is, I can assure him that he will have the support of this House in the reform process. We want a strong Commission, which can act in an independent and neutral manner, but with political sense. Commissioners should not be considered senior officials but rather politicians in office. Therefore, the report allows them to be members of political parties and to be members of political bodies affiliated to their parties. Perhaps the reference to the posts is imprecise. I do not know your exact view in this respect, Mr Kinnock, but it is clear that we want Commissioners who are politically strong and politically committed. We want a structure which allows every Euro to be spent effectively, and our accounts demonstrate that this is not happening at present.
Therefore, Commissioner, we ask Mr Prodi to present us with a bold programme, and he will find that he has problems with those bodies who feel that their status quo is under threat, but not with this Parliament, which expects profound and daring changes."@en1
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