Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-16-Speech-2-048"
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"en.20000516.4.2-048"2
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"Mr President, I too would like to start by congratulating Mr Bösch on his relentless efforts to turn OLAF into a success. There are many points in the present resolution which the Liberal Group can endorse.
Firstly – and this cannot be repeated enough – we think that at the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference, a decision should be made in favour of setting up a European Public Prosecutor, which in its capacity as an independent body, will work to safeguard the financial interests of the European Union. We would call on the Commission to submit proposals to this effect as soon as possible. Also, the date mentioned in the report is important, in our opinion.
We also endorse the proposal for an external chamber to enforce budget discipline, which will mainly be concerned with examining the financial liability of officials. In our opinion, it is important that this task is taken from the Commission, so as to take away any semblance of nepotism and such like.
OLAF starts its first full working year this year. We will all have to wait and see what the outcome of that will be. Expectations are naturally very high. One aspect, however, could be improved on, namely the Supervisory Committee, as Mr Bösch calls it in his report. Everyone has a right to a defence, including those who need to be investigated by OLAF. We must see to it that these investigations are carried out as independently and fairly as possible. I would call on the Commission to submit proposals to this effect too.
There has been a lot of publicity lately surrounding the issue as to whether or not OLAF should be able to investigate the European Investment Bank regarding the use of European funding, as well as the European Central Bank. The Liberal Group is of the opinion that this should clearly be the case as these are European institutions too. They cannot remain outside OLAF’s general scope of investigation. We support the Commission so as to make this possible.
Finally, over the past few years, the European Court of Auditors has become increasingly aware that fraud and irregularities in structural funds are on the increase, whilst those in agricultural funds are still excessive but are dropping. This is diametrically opposed to the opinion held by the Commission, which believes that fraud and irregularities occur far less in structural funds than they do in agricultural funds. This anomaly must be resolved without delay. The structural funds are gaining in importance all the time and form a large area of investigation for OLAF and the Commission."@en1
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