Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-14-Speech-2-235"
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"en.19991214.10.2-235"2
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"Mr President, under the Treaties, Parliament has the right to be consulted on the appointment of members of the Court of Auditors. The Committee on Budgetary Control held hearings on 22 and 23 November and adopted by secret ballot a favourable opinion on each of the candidates. However I was disappointed, like Mrs Stauner, that we had very few members who were women. Of the eight candidates put forward by the Council only one was a woman. That will mean that as of next year, two of the Court's 15 members will be women, which is an improvement but still not enough. I would therefore appeal to the Member States to put their own house in order.
I would also like to make some broader points about the composition of the Court of Auditors. The system of appointing one member to the Court of Auditors from each Member State will have to be reformed with enlargement. In the same way that the Commission and Parliament cannot be allowed to grow indefinitely, neither can the Court. That will be considered at the IGC. But in terms of the Court it is important to get away altogether from the system of appointments by nationality. The role of the Court is to examine all Community revenue and expenditure to see whether it has been spent in a lawful and regular manner and whether financial management has been sound.
I see no reason why that role needs to be carried out by Member State appointees. That system is simply not sustainable in such an institution. Members of the Court should be appointed on the basis of their ability and specific skills, not on the basis of their nationality. There is a danger that Member States' appointees may still feel some loyalty to their national capitals and may be seen as trying to water down criticisms of their own Member States. What is needed is a court that is, and is seen to be, independent of Member States' interests.
Ultimately that should mean a system where we appoint proper, qualified auditors to the Court. The events of the past year make it all the more important that we have a Court able to make criticisms where necessary, both of the Commission and of Member States, which, after all, are responsible for the management of about 85% of the funds."@en1
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