Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-28-Speech-3-136"
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"en.20040128.11.3-136"2
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".
Mr President, today we are examining a report which stems from the decision taken on 8 April 2003 to postpone granting discharge for the Committee of the Regions’ accounts. This happened because we received information at the eleventh hour about certain irregularities in the accounts. When the report had virtually been completed, we were informed that the accounts could contain irregularities; the informant was concerned that there could be irregularities in the reimbursements of travel expenses and daily allowances and potentially some instances of fraud.
I hope you will study this report carefully. It is the fruit of the labour and cooperation of most of the Committee on Budgetary Control. At all times we sought to improve accounting in the Committee of the Regions – both in our own interest as Members of Parliament and in the interest of the committee itself, given its importance as one of the European institutions.
In view of this suspicion, we in the Committee on Budgetary Control asked for the discharge of the accounts to be postponed in order to carry out a detailed audit and to be able to establish a full picture regarding the suspected irregularities. The audit was eventually carried out by the Court of Auditors, who looked at the general budget of the Committee of the Regions and at the financial and administrative management of that budget.
The results of the audit did not identify any serious irregularities. At the same time, OLAF produced a report regarding the possibility of fraud in the Committee of the Regions and did not find any evidence of fraud for personal gain or any intentional fraud on the part of Committee of the Regions staff. A few internal administrative deficiencies were identified, but were of little real significance, particularly given that between 2001, the period in question, and our meeting, the Committee of the Regions had amended its own internal rules and introduced a number of changes specifically designed to prevent the kind of irregularities that could have occurred in the past, and also promised to change the internal administration and provide training for staff to prevent any irregularities occurring.
We have to acknowledge – and I personally have to state – that the Committee of the Regions has made an effort to clarify its internal organisation so as to improve accounting and it has produced regulations to prevent problems or duplications when reimbursing travel expenses and daily allowances for members of the committee.
The fraud that was actually identified was of very little significance: a small amount, most of which has been cleared up, and the problem of the tiny sum still requiring clarification is currently being resolved in collaboration with a former Committee member.
We therefore saw a rapid response on the part of the Committee of the Regions at all times, and a willingness to work with us, with Parliament, to improve compliance with the rules, and to achieve greater transparency and to allow us to feel that this problem was being addressed.
In view of this, I recommend that Parliament approves the report I am presenting today on behalf of the Committee on Budgetary Control and approves the discharge for the Committee of the Regions accounts together with the recommendations we have included in the report.
Following advice from Parliament’s Legal Service, we have deleted from the report all specific references to the OLAF report. It seemed inappropriate to refer to a report which, by its very nature, is confidential. These quotes were therefore taken out immediately and we will not even be voting on whether they should be omitted – instead they will not be considered admissible, which does not alter the report significantly.
As regards the amendments that have been submitted, I can tell you that I support Amendments Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6, but oppose all the others."@en1
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