Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-08-Speech-2-023"
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"en.20030408.1.2-023"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, at last, we have reached the end of this discharge procedure which, once again, has given rise to much debate and caused rivers of ink to flow. It is a shame that, at the end of this exercise, there are so few of us in the Chamber to discuss it.
It has caused rivers of ink to flow and, as happens every year – this year, I regret to say, with more marked ill will – it has brought discredit and even disgrace on a directorate-general and one man in particular, Jean-Paul Mingasson, whom everyone here knows and holds in high esteem. I am keen to pay public tribute to him for the injustice he has suffered, since all the accusations made against him and the Budget Directorate-General, with which we have cooperated loyally for years, have proved to be unfounded. Of course, there were a certain number of problems and difficulties, which we addressed in the context of this discharge, as we have done in all the others, but that should not have led to the newspapers printing often groundless accusations made by certain Members who do not appear to be present at the moment.
I am particularly keen to pay tribute to Paulo Casaca, María Antonia Avilés Perea, Bart Staes and the other rapporteurs for the significant work that they have carried out, which has, today, given us a balanced, comprehensive discharge, where we call, of course, on the Commission to settle a certain number of issues, in particular the delays. These delays are clearly in the nature of things – reform cannot happen overnight – but it was perhaps a little unwise to say, at the start of this term of office, that it would all happen extremely swiftly. It takes time. We can clearly see this with the reform of the Staff Regulations, and the reform of the accounting system, in particular. We saw it with the Financial Regulation, which gave rise to difficult negotiations although, I am glad to say, a successful conclusion was reached. I hope, Commissioner, that this reform will be completed before the current Commission gives way to the next, and I am asking you this in the very interest of the Prodi Commission.
The reform of the accounting system, which has been criticised many times – sometimes rightly so, of course – is significant because this system is, in particular, the source of a very serious problem, that of the RALs, the outstanding commitments, which cause us major difficulties as an institution but also as a Union in relations with the outside world. This is why we called for a timetable or, at the very least, close monitoring which we will, I am sure, be capable of carrying out and the results of which you will be able to present to us regularly. I believe that this reform will enable you to speed things up. We have overcome a difficult hurdle.
We trust you also with this exercise. Carry it out effectively, since the work you have done over the past five years is at stake, as is the trust which we will place in you later, apart from a few minor negative criticisms, judging by the interventions made so far. In any event, the Italian Radicals will be voting in favour of granting discharge."@en1
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