Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-14-Speech-2-018"
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"en.20061114.5.2-018"2
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".
Madam President, Mr Weber, Commissioner Kallas, I am, above all, grateful to the Court of Auditors for the report, which I regard as a sound one. I also think that the standard of its editing is continuing to improve. The report has been written in clear language and, above all, has recourse to ‘naming and shaming’, something I appreciate enormously. We are facing a special discharge, because this is the first budget year for the whole of which, the enlarged Union has had 25 Member States, and that falls entirely within the current Commission’s remit.
In that sense, I have to say that I am a little surprised, even shocked, about the rather defensive speech Commissioner Kallas gave here today – shocked, because when he came into office, he was the very man who stated on this platform that, during his tenure, we would at last see a positive Statement of Assurance being issued. What do we see now, though? The Court of Auditors’ criticism of key components of the budget remains unchallenged, and Mr Kallas goes into the defence with a report, which I read last night, and which is actually worth reading, from the House of Lords. This is not, of course, the right way of going about things.
Having read the Court of Auditors’ report, I can tell Commissioner Kallas that it contains very specific elements. For example, the integrated management and control system for agriculture works perfectly for those Member States that apply it. Greece does not. This was already mentioned in last year’s report by the Court of Auditors and was an important component in Mr Mulder’s discharge last year. What have you done about this since then? What have you done to call Greece to account? According to the same report by the Court of Auditors, there are serious problems involving export refunds. In Denmark and the Netherlands, exporters can simply seal their lorries without customs officers having to be present. What have you done to counter this? These are, after all, specific questions, and there is no need to adopt a defensive stance.
I have two specific questions for Mr Weber. The first question is: On 7 November, when you addressed the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, did you finally make it clear to the Ministers that it is vital for them to sign off their accounts? Secondly, will you entertain the request made by the House of Lords that a black list should finally be drawn up of Member States that do not manage European funds very well? I should like to have an answer to both those questions, Mr Weber."@en1
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