Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-13-Speech-1-041"
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"en.19990913.5.1-041"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, naturally the Wise Men’s report is an excellent report, and naturally their recommendations must be studied in great detail. I would say that, as with their first report, which had a far-reaching effect on the College of Commissioners, I also think that this second report, if possible, should have an effect that is just as far-reaching and severe, where it is deemed necessary, on the structure of the Commission.
However, since everyone is talking about the Commission, I would like to talk instead about the European Parliament. Every now and again some self-criticism does not hurt, and the same goes for the other institutions. Firstly, I would like to say to my colleagues who, in January and February, protested against the motion which established the Committee of Wise Men, thinking that it was a kind of manoeuvring to stifle everything through the creation of a committee, that I think they realise they were very wrong in their viewpoint and reasoning, and they should at least withdraw all the criticisms they made at that time of the European Parliament’s initiative, which I believe was a positive move, on the part of those Members who voted to establish the Group of the Wise Men. And I would also like our Parliament itself to take its cue from the Wise Men’s report. What does the Wise Men’s report say? It says that the institutions and the budgetary authorities were likewise not very quick to detect a series of irregularities and that they themselves did not operate in the best and wisest way to prevent the consequences either. I am thinking, for example, of the great policy which led us to drop the famous mini-budgets. Our Parliament, ready for battle, created a policy which brought about – and we are proud of it – the abolition of mini-budgets. It seemed to be the overall solution. The abolition of the mini-budgets and a freeze on human resources: this was the recipe that the Commission should have followed to implement infinite additional policies. Naturally, four years on, the result is that those who protested against the mini-budgets are now saying: ah, you have given the jobs to the TAOs, to the Technical Assistance Offices! A little self-criticism then! From those same pulpits now comes the argument, for example, on helicopters: much is said about Agusta but we never hear about Westland, for example. Well, I would like to hear about the Westland case from those pulpits that have so much to say on the Agusta case, given that the Commission had an interest in these helicopter stories too.
I have strayed from the point a little, but to get back to the subject, I would say then that our Parliament should…"@en1
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