Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-22-Speech-2-050"
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"en.20080422.4.2-050"2
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"Mr President, we have come a long way in terms of openness and the battle against fraud within the EU. When I was first elected in 1979, the group chairmen led the way in taking from the till. First a chauffer-driven limousine paid for by Parliament, and then a dip into the Members’ funds to get business-class travel for the same journey plus a little extra! Nowadays, the chairmen are leading the way in the clean-up operation. However, there is a long way to go and we have been dealt a severe knock-back with the majority decision to not make the internal audit report public. How can we be the guardians of others when we dare not address our own problems? The large groups carry a heavy burden of responsibility, as the voting percentage for Parliament next time may fall below 40%, seriously weakening the legitimacy of the election.
I had hoped that one day I would be able to vote in favour of a set of annual accounts because there was no longer anything to criticise. However, the large groups are again recommending that we rubber-stamp the Commission’s accounts even though we still do not have complete access to them in order to check them. What would an auditor say to a set of accounts if he did not have access to all the annexes? For 14 years in a row, the Court of Auditors have declared that they cannot verify the correctness of the underlying transactions, and therefore unfortunately for the 29
year in a row I must again vote against approval.
However, I would like to thank my fellow Members in the Committee on Budgetary Control and others in the House for their joint initiative over many years aimed at cleaning up the EU. When I first began, during the budget I met a person who was known as ‘Skimmed milk’. He received DKK 1.3 billion and was the biggest Danish beneficiary of EU funds. I could not even obtain a statistical breakdown of what the biggest recipients of the money were receiving for example. From next year onwards, all recipients of agricultural support will be disclosed on the Internet. Four years ago the Commission’s working groups were a big secret. Now we will also be able to see on the internet who the consultants are, thanks to our combined pressure. In addition, we have also enjoyed good support within the Commission from Mr Kallas. I would like to express my thanks for this. I will miss those I work with when I leave Parliament on 9 May. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! We have come a long way, but not yet far enough. However, I am certain that you will continue the work."@en1
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