Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-02-Speech-1-159"
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"en.20030602.11.1-159"2
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".
Mr President, I should first like to thank Mr Piétrasanta for the important work he has done in drafting this report, which mainly concerns the year 2000, a year of transition for the MEDA programme, as he has just pointed out himself. Generally speaking, we agree with the remarks that he has just made on the substance of the report. I will first make two comments on the political issues he has just mentioned before moving on to more operational considerations.
On the political points, and in particular the link between this type of programme and improving the situation in terms of political reform, we agree that we need to continue our efforts along the lines that he has just indicated, and that is why the Commission has just adopted a communication that seeks to give fresh impetus to the work being done in the field of human rights and democratisation in cooperation with our Mediterranean partners. Moreover, this communication also constitutes a partial response to the comments made in the Arab Human Development Report – a document that UNDP was brave enough to table last year – and proposes strengthening the political dialogue on this subject and drafting action plans on human rights and democratisation with our Mediterranean partners, the initiative as a whole being supported by the MEDA programme.
We also agree with a second political point that was mentioned by Mr Piétrasanta: the objective of greater participation by civil society in MEDA. We have, for instance, extended the Tempus programme to our Mediterranean partners, encouraging exchanges in the field of higher education, and we wish to support the efforts being made by non-governmental organisations to formalise the contribution of what we call civil forums to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership as a whole.
So much for the political issues. As far as implementation is concerned, the Commission is pleased with the progress that Mr Piétrasanta has just emphasised. The MEDA programme at issue, MEDA II, has indeed greatly benefited from the reform begun by the Commission in 2000 in the external aid sector with the aim of improving the quality of our projects, their financing and the speed with which they are implemented. Testimony to this – as Mr Piétrasanta has just said – are the efforts that have been made to devolve power and dismantle the Technical Assistance Offices, in which we are aware that this Parliament has for many years taken a keen interest. In fact the devolution process in the Mediterranean area is now almost complete, with the exception of the West Bank and Gaza, for reasons which are, alas, obvious. In any case, in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, work to devolve power will be complete at the end of this year.
Another notable effect is the progress that has been made on implementing the budget, be it the utilisation rate for commitment and payment appropriations – in 2002, 100% of the available funds were used – or the payment-to-commitment ratio, which increased to 75% in 2002 compared with 25% over the period from 1995 to 1999. Finally, concerning past commitments and amounts still to be paid, they had been reduced to EUR 200 million by the end of 2001. At the end of 2002, the amount still to be paid had been reduced by a further 50%.
Clearly then the efforts that have been made have paid off and Parliament's support, which contributed to the Commission gaining increased administrative and human resources in this sector, has not been in vain. You have been able to see, and Mr Piétrasanta quoted similar figures to mine, that the investment you have made, that the Community taxpayer has made through you, has paid off. That is a good thing. It is a great encouragement to the Commission to continue to pursue this policy, as it is to the departments that have worked to implement it, and we do not doubt that the European Parliament will be able to see further progress when it scrutinises the results for 2001 and 2002."@en1
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