Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-22-Speech-2-028"
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"en.20080422.4.2-028"2
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"Mr President, Mr Jørgensen, rapporteurs, Honourable Members of Parliament, allow me to thank Parliament, the Budget Control Committee, the rapporteur Mr Jørgensen, and his fellow rapporteurs on the report they have produced and the Committee’s recommendation that the budget for 2006 should be discharged. I would also like to thank Alexander Stubb for his report dealing with the discharge in respect of the use of instruments under the European Development Fund.
My colleagues Danuta Hübner and Vladimír Špidla have already given Parliament an overview of the action plan to improve the management of funds for structural actions.
The Commission and the Member States plan to apply tailored measures to reduce multiple errors in the implementation of structural actions.
As regards the Structural Funds, the Commission has been firm with the Member States responsible for checks on costs, and has where necessary stopped payments and carried out financial corrections. The Commission is committed to strengthening those actions and achieving tangible, measurable results.
In the area of shared management, the Member States have presented summaries for declarations and audits. Member States who have failed to present summaries will be subject to legal action as provided for in Article 226 of the founding Treaty.
The consistent requirement for Member States to present those summaries at the beginning of each year has begun to bear fruit.
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has explained to Parliament the principles of European Union funding by way of aid to Iraq, and has tabled proposals on how better checks should be made on specific funding and on how to ensure greater traceability and transparency in funding. The director in charge of this process will report to Parliament during the summer.
Some results have already been forthcoming.
At the beginning of April a meeting was held between the Commission and the UN in Geneva; prior to the meeting there were discussions between Members of Parliament and a Commission representative, and agreement was reached on joint guidelines to be followed in all external offices with the objective of increasing the visibility of joint work. Both the UN and the Commission undertook to apply specific guidelines and to monitor their application closely.
The Commission places a high value on the decisions approved by Parliament. Those decisions send citizens the message about communication and the practical use of financial instruments. We must continue on this path and convince the public that their money, which is funding the European Union budget, is in good hands.
Despite the fact that the European Court of Auditors was unable to give a statement of full assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for the year 2006, the results of its audit are the best since the practice of giving a statement of assurance began. The Court of Auditors acknowledged the progress we have made. I am pleased to say that Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee also acknowledged this.
This year’s debate focuses on the Structural Funds, Member States’ obligations, recoveries and adjustments, and the sensitive area of external aid. Efforts must be made in all those areas. We agree that follow-up action must be taken regularly, not only because of the discharge procedure, but also because of the conditions laid down in the founding Treaty and their importance.
I propose that members or representatives of the Commission should participate regularly in parliamentary meetings to discuss one of the three areas at the heart of the discharge procedure this year and to report on it. Those areas are: increasing the responsibilities of Member States in areas where responsibility is shared by the European Union and the Member States, the implementation of structural funds and monitoring funding of external actions (primarily control of funding channelled through international organisations).
For May the plan is to open the usual discussion on political strategy for the year ahead in the sectors falling within my competence.
In June the Commissioners responsible for the Structural Funds or their representatives and the Budgetary Control Committee should consider the preliminary results under the Structural Funds action plan. The first quarterly report on the Structural Funds action plan will be sent to Parliament in May.
In July or September, the Commissioner for External Relations or her representative should give honourable members some fresher information about the Trust Funds set aside for improving external action, the transparency of European Union funding channelled through international organisations, and the controls carried out on it.
As regards the Commission’s 2007 synthesis report and the results of the internal auditors’ report for 2007, I will be able to provide information in July or September, and we should continue our debate on discharging the budget, recoveries and costs of checks in conjunction with this. The Commission will issue a report on these areas in October. The latter will provide a basis on which to develop interinstitutional debate on the subject of permissible risk of error.
The Commission’s official replies to the recommendations of Parliament and the Council will be given to Parliament and the Council in autumn as is customary."@en1
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