Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-18-Speech-1-084"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080218.21.1-084"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, there is no doubt that the public debate in Europe has focused a great deal on the fact that there is a democratic deficit in the EU and that this deficit is due to not least the lack of sufficient transparency. In particular it may be due to the fact that there has been too little transparency concerning how the funds that the EU manages – that is, the funds that the EU pays to individual countries for good, well-intentioned projects – are used; and it is a problem! It is fortunately a problem that is now being resolved. It is fortunately a problem that the Commission has long recognised and is actually doing something to resolve, and the Commission deserves much praise for this. Mr Kallas, you personally deserve much praise for the enormous contribution that you have made in connection with this. There are of course some matters that need to be addressed. This is the reason why Mr Pomés Ruiz has produced a report. I support his report, which highlights many points of criticism that naturally must be tackled. It is clear that the data available should be comparable etc., but this is a minor matter, as we have now taken the key decision that there should of course be transparency.
Another very important decision for which the Commission deserves praise is the decision to establish greater transparency in connection with the ‘expert groups’. It is simply not acceptable that a ‘democratic’ system has people in office whose names are unknown. There are all kinds of democratic arguments for why you cannot operate in such a way, and it is of course unacceptable from a financial perspective too. I can well imagine, Commissioner, that you could confirm a statement that you made in the recently completed hearing in the Committee on Budgetary Control in connection with discharge. In this statement, you assured us that this would naturally also apply to the groups that fall within the comitology procedure. There are of course many different types of expert groups. Some of the most important groups are actually those that fall within the comitology procedure. In addition, you gave this approval on several occasions in the Committee on Budgetary Control. Commissioner, could you not repeat this here in front of the entire assembly?"@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples