Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-05-Speech-2-146"
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"en.19991005.9.2-146"2
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"Madam President, less than three weeks ago, you expressed your confidence in this Commission. At that time, I took on a series of commitments and I am happy to stand before you as proof that a new era of cooperation between our institutions has begun. I can see that it does not draw large crowds, but major objectives are never straightforward.
These were the subjects we discussed today, as well as numerous procedural aspects that are always discussed in Commission meetings that it is not appropriate to go into in Parliament.
The new Commission has just ended its third meeting and I would like to summarise its results. The first important topic concerns advertising A1 posts. Last week, we started to make a series of substantial changes at the highest administrative levels in the Commission, on the basis of a complete cultural change in appointment methods. I would especially like to stress that we have stipulated that, at regular intervals, low-level managers and their responsibilities will be coordinated and that the nationality of the outgoing member of staff will not be a factor in the appointment of their successor.
After transferring a certain number of directors-general last week, we decided today to advertise the following vacant positions: directors-general of the Directorates-General for Enterprise Policy, Agriculture and Education and Culture; vice-directors-general of the following Directorates-General: Education and Culture, Competition and Foreign Relations. These positions will be taken up in accordance with the new procedures. I insisted that these procedures must be transparent and that after the initial selection, appointments are made on merit. This fact is extremely important. This will also enable those outside the Commission to express their views.
My second point is that the Commission has discussed the situation as regards the implementation of the 1999 budget and noted that there are sectors where we need a transfer before the end of the year. The specific proposals only concern the redistribution of commitment appropriations. The main aim is to take the burden off amending and supplementary budget 4/99, adopted on 16 September, by proposing the financing of more appropriations in line with the Commission’s proposal made at that time. These are: EUR 98 million for PHARE, EUR 68 million for TACIS, EUR 15 million for humanitarian aid to Turkey, EUR 21 million for Kosovo, EUR 20 million for cooperation with South Africa and EUR 10 million for the environment and tropical rainforests. These increases will be financed through the reallocation within Category 4 of EUR 155 million and the transfer from Category 3 of EUR 10 million.
The third point concerns the Commission’s programme up to the end of January. We have stressed the importance of a good work programme. In line with this commitment, the Commission has reviewed the areas where a decision of the College must take effect before the end of January 2000. In this way, we will be able to communicate our programme commitments to you and to the European Council, so that you can keep it in mind when planning your work programme for the coming months. I will present Parliament with the five-year perspectives in January 2000, as we agreed here, after which our annual programming will return to its normal rhythm. I would like to add that I will be strict with my colleagues in the way they deal with the Commission services. The Commission demands quality, well-prepared proposals and understandable texts, above all – I repeat – understandable texts. The Commission is not a secretariat which must follow specific interests. We want to renew our role as the driving force of Europe and so we want to act as a College. Our programme is the one we proposed to you and we will present it in an analytical and comprehensive way.
My fourth point is about the report on the competitiveness of European industry. The Commission has adopted the annual report on the competitiveness of European industry which deals with structural changes. We have also examined some reports devoted to the steel and forestry industries. I must add that both myself and Commissioner Liikanen intend to work in such a way that, in future, the Commission can concentrate on the more horizontal issues in business policy, because we now leave discussions on individual industries to other decision-making bodies.
The fifth point concerns the new strategy for the internal market. With the help of a comprehensive report by Commissioner Bolkenstein, we have examined the priorities facing the internal market over the next five years. The action plan ended this year. The aim of the communication is to establish the potential objectives and the possible actions geared to the internal market over the next five years. We are counting on incorporating the most valuable element of the previous action plan, the so-called scoreboard framework of the internal market, and we intend to guarantee that there are sound procedures to assess, monitor and adjust the objectives.
The Commission will be glad to welcome comments and reactions before making a definitive decision at the end of November, since today’s presentation is included in a communication procedure. Therefore, there will be a debate with Parliament and various times for consultation, and only in November will we arrive at a, let us say, operative proposal. This is another chapter where cooperation with Parliament is of the utmost importance. Just in the last few minutes, Commissioner Verheugen explained how we are starting to prepare the decisions which we will make next week on enlargement. This too is just a procedural explanation but it concerns the most important issue we have to deal with.
Next week, we must approve all the reports on the progress of relations with the applicant countries. Commissioner Verheugen has already been in contact so that the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs can be immediately informed about the situation. During next week, we will touch on one of the most important subjects for the whole of the Commission’s five-year term of office: we are starting the actual enlargement process."@en1
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