Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-18-Speech-1-109"
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"en.20080218.22.1-109"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we have before us a report on the protection of the financial interests of the EU with the somewhat equivocal subheading: ‘Fight against fraud’.
The actual focus of the report is not fraud as such, but rather irregularities. While fraud presupposes malicious intent, an irregularity can result from negligence or incorrect accounting procedures. In delicate areas such as financial relations within the EU such terminology, should be used circumspectly.
As the rapporteur for the Committee on Regional Development, I regret the increase in the number of irregularities detected in projects financed from Structural Funds. This reflects negatively on some Member States and their internal control mechanisms. Difficulties on the part of these countries should not, however, become a reason to re-evaluate the existing system of decentralised controls governing the use of Structural Funds. The responsibility is evident; it is individual and as such it also has to be enforceable.
Attaining an appropriate level in financial control mechanisms in individual Member States is the first necessary step. The following step is to ensure the recovery of sums unduly paid. A possible approach to this could be the suspension of regular payments to those Member States procrastinating over returning amounts paid under irregular circumstances.
The existence of imperfect control mechanisms has the potential to undermine confidence in the Structural Funds system and could cast a negative light on the EU as a whole.
Furthermore, we need controls with greater openness and transparency. I would therefore like to express my support for the European Transparency Initiative, according to which information on beneficiaries of assistance from Structural Funds would be published. As we are talking about managing public funds, certain demands should be placed on the beneficiaries of such assistance.
A prerequisite of a better assessment of control systems is closer collaboration with the Court of Auditors, which has to date been lacking. Whilst it is true that reports from the Court of Auditors make for tedious reading for the European institutions, this should be all the more reason to devote more attention to them, and is certainly preferable to burying one’s head in the sand and avoiding responsibility."@en1
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