Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-015"
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"en.20051115.6.2-015"2
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".
Mr President, this is the eleventh time that we have been given a non-positive Statement of Assurance.
Finally, Mr President of the Court of Auditors, it is of no use to us for you to say that the average across a class of 25 Member States is a fail. Tell us – and this well help you – which are the three best Member States and which are the three worst.
I no longer know whether I should say that this is scandalous; it has become customary. Efforts have clearly been made all over the place, but, at the end of the day, this is an unachievable goal following the 11 examinations of the accounts by our Court of Auditors.
Things are improving, but not to a sufficient extent. What is the political consequence of this non-positive Statement of Assurance? Well, for our House, for our officials who have to take decisions, it is highly demoralising. It seems a pointless effort to try to comply with the rules, because we never achieve a positive Statement of Assurance. There is a lack of will to take responsibilities and all of the officials are tempted not to spend, in case there is any doubt and they have any problems. It is therefore demoralising on the inside.
And on the outside? A great loss of credibility. What are the European citizens going to think if our Court of Auditors, for the eleventh time, says that the accounts are not managed here properly! A scandal. More of the same. Very bad.
Even when there is a change of Parliament, a change of Commission, a change of make-up of the Council, things carry on in the same way. Perhaps we should cast our minds back to the Santer Commission, which had to resign as a result of this kind of problem: it does not matter, things remain just as bad.
And the Member States? Where is the British Presidency? The Council spends 80%. Where is the British Presidency? It is not here: this really is scandalous, because the Council spends 4 out of every 5 euros but is not even attending this presentation of the accounts. This really is scandalous.
The Member States are happy. While their national courts approve their accounts, it is not their problem whether the Union, the money of all the Europeans, is managed properly or not. There may even be some Member States that actually feel quite happy and say to themselves, ‘my money is getting to the farmers, although I am not conforming precisely to the requirements that the Court of Auditors is demanding of me’. They are pleased with themselves. They are not even here.
Mr President of the Court of Auditors, as you know, at the last discharge, this European Parliament called for national statements of conformity on the part of Finance Ministries. The objective was to help the Court to publish a positive Statement of Assurance. The ECOFIN of 8 November, as Commissioner Kallas has said, has rejected such national statements.
I would like to ask you, Mr President of the Court of Auditors, about what you think of the usefulness of these statements to your work, in terms of your relations with the national authorities, and about the future without such statements."@en1
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