Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-20-Speech-4-024"
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"en.20081120.3.4-024"2
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"Mr President, our discussions can be a little abstract at times, so I therefore think that we should start by reminding ourselves what it is we are actually talking about. It is about taxpayers’ money. It is about European citizens’ money. Money that is used for quite sensible – and sometimes not so sensible – purposes. A common requirement for all the money that is used in the EU’s name is that it must be used in a proper and decent manner. Another thing that is common to all the money used is that there are rules that must be followed, and if those rules are not followed, a penalty must be paid.
Unfortunately, we must again this year note that it has not been possible for the Court of Auditors to approve the implementation of the EU budget, that is to say approve the accounts. This is, of course, deeply, deeply unacceptable. The question is, who should the criticism be directed at, where should we point the finger? There is no doubt that the biggest problem lies within the Member States. Unfortunately, there is no doubt that when Member States get a bag of money from the EU they are not so inclined to subject this money to as much control and as many rules as would be the case if it was national money. It is clearly stated in the Treaty that it is the European Commission that bears the responsibility, that is to say it is the European Commission that is responsible for there being little pressure on Member States to introduce the necessary controls. In this connection, it is a pity that the Commission has not met its own objective for us to approve the accounts before the end of this period. We will not achieve this.
However, I would also like to point out that great progress has been made, for example, following pressure from the European Parliament. Last year, an action plan was introduced containing a large number of very specific initiatives, which we will see the effects of – not in this year’s report, of course, but in next year’s. We can be pleased about this. In this year’s procedure, we will, of course, work in a very targeted manner in relation to the areas in which there are still problems. It is, of course, of particular concern that within the agricultural sphere, where there have otherwise been positive trends, we have unfortunately this year seen a somewhat downward evaluation because we do not have a proper hold on things in the rural development funds."@en1
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