Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-177"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001114.7.2-177"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, what you see before you is one happy man, one happy rapporteur, because the Commission has adopted the lion’s share of the amendments put forward by the Committee on Budgetary Control, on their merits. Of course this is only to be welcomed. Our work has borne fruit.
But I am also happy because I feel that Parliament has succeeded, by keeping the pressure on, in turning round a situation that originally left a great deal to be desired. Rapporteur Lagendijk rightly pointed out that, if truth be known, the Commission’s original proposal drew no lessons from the past, from the comments already made by the Court of Auditors, or from the experiences of the European Agency for Reconstruction. Nor did it take on board the comments in Mrs Pack’s report, which was available to us back in 1999, or the feedback from the ad hoc delegation that we sent to Kosovo, and which submitted some very important recommendations under the leadership of Doris Pack and Terry Wynn.
When I drafted my report in July, I saw at once that that this original proposal was lacking. I then asked the Commission to withdraw the proposal. I am delighted that they did so and went on to submit a new proposal.
There has been a new proposal on the table since 4 October, and we are working on it now. I feel this is to be welcomed, thanks to the pressure exerted by Parliament.
What is it about? We must ensure that the regulations now on the table make provision for EU aid to the Western Balkans to be delivered quickly, flexibly and unbureaucratically, in cooperation with the local population and local bodies. There has been all too little of this in previous years. We need a flexible system to this end, a lightweight structure free of red tape. It is a pity that the President-in-Office of the Council is absent today. It is mainly the Council and the Member States who have, as it were, put a spoke in this large wheel in recent years. They have put paid to things that might have been possible.
Therefore I welcome the proposal now on the table. On behalf of the Committee on Budgetary Control, I am able to tell you that we support all the amendments. Naturally we are also delighted that the amendment regarding OLAF has been adopted. It is indeed the case that the anti-fraud unit must also be free to carry out its full range of tasks in the Western Balkans.
Finally, I would like to say a brief word, speaking in a personal capacity rather than on behalf of the Committee on Budgetary Control. I am currently working on a report on how funds are being spent in Bosnia Herzegovina. It is a follow-up report to a special report by the Court of Auditors. We will need to ensure that sufficient funds are earmarked for Bosnia Herzegovina in the CARDs regulation. Our task will not end there, as we will still have quite some way to go. It is a fragile and unstable state. That, more than anything is what we must keep in mind in the years to come."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples