Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-21-Speech-3-365"
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"en.20040421.16.3-365"2
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"Mr President, I should like to start with a question for Mrs Grossetête, Mr Kuhne and Mrs Reding: who is politically responsible for the Eurostat scandal?
Over 100 Members of the European Parliament signed a motion of censure against the Commission, but one in three was pressurised into withdrawing his or her signature. The die-hards now include some Members who may lose their places on important committees or in delegations. Members of this Parliament will be punished by their groups for supporting the simple principle of the responsibility of ministers and Commissioners for their conduct in office.
Parliament’s highly politicised administration is no longer there solely to serve its Members. Not content with checking the authenticity of the signatures and counting them, it has cooperated with the groups in getting Members to withdraw their signatures. It has even refused to accept confirmation sent by fax and quite obviously genuine signatures in order to stifle or stave off the debate on censure. Do we also have to verify the signatures on the attendance lists by means of handwritten original letters?
Imagine if all the group chairmen were as keen to penalise the people in the Commission who have had their hands in the till, or those covering up for the thieves. Nothing is, however, so bad that there is not some good in it somewhere. The compromise text on Eurostat contains the fiercest criticism to date of the Commission’s financial management. It still does not apportion direct responsibility, however, and we are thus weakening those in the Commission who are working to bring about honest accounting and transparency. We are backing up those who say that approving the accounts is just parliamentary chit-chat, that it does not mean anything and that we can carry on swindling people. EUR 8 billion disappears from our budget every year. It is taxpayers’ money, and we have been elected to this Parliament in order to represent taxpayers. Consequently, we must call upon the Commission to apportion the blame itself by 12 noon on Tuesday 4 May. Otherwise, we shall vote on the motion of censure.
I should like to thank the more than 100 members who are signatories. There may be more of us watchdogs after the elections. I should like to thank you, Mr President, and to the person who said that this was electioneering I would point out that we in the Committee on Budgetary Control have attempted to apportion political responsibility for this from the very first day the scandal came to light."@en1
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