Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-23-Speech-2-255"
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"en.20011023.12.2-255"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mrs Rühle's report on the discharge for the European Development Funds presents an honest picture of the contradictions in our development policy. On the one hand, there are complaints that we are not willing enough to make generous development aid available, and, on the other hand, it is undeniable that the money actually made available is often only disbursed very slowly.
There must be something wrong with a system under which at the end of 1999 resources of almost EUR 10 billion had been promised and made available without any specific deadlines, but had not been taken up. The Commission will, of course, say that since then there have been signs of improvement here and there. Nevertheless, it is a fact that we need to fundamentally review our approach.
The aid we offer through the Development Funds is reaching its limits, because it is geared towards supporting states that in some cases only exist on paper. There is often a lack of an even semi-functioning public administration, there is a lack of democratic control of those in power, and many countries are in a state of open civil war or on the verge of it.
In a civil war situation, we first need to concentrate aid on conflict resolution and on humanitarian aid. In other cases, we should concentrate our efforts to a greater extent than before on establishing properly functioning public administrations, which are a prerequisite for meaningfully applying aid from the EU or other donors in the international community. Such administrations are also a prerequisite for ensuring that countries use their own tax revenue responsibly and in the interests of their citizens.
Our aid must therefore always be linked to reform programmes for public administration. If these reforms make progress, aid is given, but if they do not progress or if there are setbacks we should not be afraid to turn off the tap. I know that is a difficult thing to do, but it is precisely in such circumstances that the Commission needs to stand firm and adhere to its principles.
Finally, I would like to say one more thing about this discharge procedure. The discharge had to be postponed because the Commission did not initially provide the necessary information. Furthermore, there was again the problem that certain confidential information was only forwarded to the committee chair and to the rapporteur. As I have often said before, and I shall say it again now, this leads to two classes of Member of the European Parliament – those with and those without access to information.
The committee made it patently clear in its report that this situation should not be allowed to recur, and that the provisions of our Rules of Procedure in respect of the discharge procedure should be fully implemented in future. In other words, all Members of this House should have access to all confidential information."@en1
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