Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-10-Speech-4-017-000"
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"en.20120510.9.4-017-000"2
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"Madam President, I am the rapporteur for the European Union’s decentralised agencies for 2010 and for public-private partnership enterprises. Discharge procedures are applied to 24 centralised agencies and seven public-private partnership enterprises. In the case of three agencies, I am proposing to postpone discharge, mainly for reasons relating to conflicts of interest and public procurement.
I would like to say a few words about the significance of the conflicts of interest. Conflicts between the public duties and private interests of those in public positions have grown as a result of the barriers coming down between the public and private sectors, of public-private partnerships, and of staff switching between both sectors. This has produced grey areas and potential conflicts of interests for those in public positions. The conflict of interest arises when a person in a public position has to make decisions which may affect private interests.
If conflicts of interest are not identified and dealt with properly, they can distort the allocation of public funds and HR policy, and can result in public money being wasted and in ordinary citizens losing confidence in European public institutions. This is why conflicts of interest must be investigated and punished during the discharge procedure. It is our job to look at conflicts of interest when we are carrying out audits and making decisions on discharging all the European institutions.
I recommend postponing discharge for the European Food Safety Authority. This agency is involved in authorising the safety of the food and drink we consume every day. Our health also depends on the decisions of this authority. This is why the conflicts of interest in this agency, mainly in the management board, are a matter of concern. There are numerous examples which have also been publicised. I will just mention a very recent one. Diána Bánáti joined an organisation funded by the food industry on 8 May, just two days ago, and resigned, at the authority’s request, from her post as a member and chair of the management board. There are other cases of this in the management board of the European Food Safety Authority, for instance, those involving the groups of experts. In addition, the meetings held by the board members in 2010 cost more than EUR 6 000 per person at the meeting, the highest cost among all the agencies.
The European Medicines Agency is the second body which I am suggesting should have its discharge postponed. This agency is also facing problems of conflict of interest. It has an extremely important role in the procedure for implementing, approving and authorising the medicines we use, which enter the market. The agency has drafted a plan for avoiding and preventing conflicts of interest. However, I am proposing to Parliament that we see how this plan is applied because application and implementation are the key issue. If it is applied properly, we certainly may come to a different decision in the autumn.
The third body is the European Environment Agency, where we have noticed problems relating to public procurement and the spending of public money. For example, a green façade which lasted all of five months cost around EUR 300 000, and was produced without going through the tender process and without being included in the agency’s work plan and investments. There are also other issues relating to public procurement and conflicts of interest even involving the agency’s actual executive director.
Postponing discharge is not an action directed against the agencies, quite the opposite. It is intended to help them and us resolve these problems together. It sends a strong message to Member States and the Commission, and in support of the proposals which they are tabling in the boards of these agencies."@en1
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