Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-12-Speech-2-011"
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"en.20050412.6.2-011"2
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".
Mr President, I consider this report, which we will vote on later today, to be one of the most important reports that this Parliament will vote on during this session. I say that not because it is in my name, but because of its content and the great deal of hard work that has gone into it. I thank those from the Court, the Commission, those Member States with which I have had dealings and also the secretariat of the Committee on Budgetary Control. Without them this report would not be the document that it is, and I give them heartfelt thanks.
If its recommendations are implemented by the institutions, then the Holy Grail of a positive Statement of Assurance – DAS – will be in sight. However, to get to that point we will need some real commitment and cooperation from the Commission, the Court of Auditors and the Member States.
From paragraph 25 onwards, the report outlines the lack of perfection within the DAS methodology. It makes the point that the money within our accounts can be totally legal and regular but that, at the same time, it can be absolutely wasted. That is one of the main failings of the DAS and why the report’s recommendations encourage the Court to improve upon the changes it has already made.
From the Commission’s point of view, whatever the DAS methodology improvements may be, the Commission and the Member States still need to make changes. The Commissioner must do several things. As with every report this Parliament votes on, we always ask the Commission to do extra things. And apart from such items as implementing a Community internal control framework, we are asking that. Here, however, a contentious matter in certain areas, certainly within the Commission itself, is an issue raised in paragraph 8 and Amendment 4. I would wholeheartedly call on Members to support this amendment, which calls on the Accounting Officer to sign off the Commission accounts. It must be said that until that is agreed, the Commission will always be attacked, and Amendment 4 spells that out quite clearly. I have a lot of respect and regard for Commissioner Kallas and I am encouraged by his positive attitude. I call on him not to let the battle of hierarchies within the directorates-general prevent this from being implemented. It is a key part of these recommendations.
However, whatever we ask the Court and the Commission to do, the positive DAS will not be attainable unless the Member States accept their responsibilities, which include their political responsibilities in the control and management of European Union funds. Paragraph 16 outlines the problems quite clearly. The Disclosure Statement, as described in paragraph 19, shows how the problems can be solved.
This report is trying to anchor the Member States’ responsibilities not only at administrative level but also at a political level. This is, after all, a shared management process. It is about time that the other half of this shared management began taking its responsibilities more seriously. In that context, the report states – near the end of my section – that progress is not possible without Member States’ active participation. That is why the committee and the report, if it is adopted, proposes to invite you, Mr President, in your speech to the next European Council, to address the need to improve Member States’ financial management of funds from the European Union. I hope you can do that.
For me, this report has been a fascinating exercise. It is the culmination of ten years of trying to see a positive Statement of Assurance. Ten years ago I said that there would never be a positive DAS with the systems that were in place, and these included the DAS methodology. Today I can say that if this report is adopted, then I am confident that a positive DAS, that Holy Grail I mentioned before, is certainly within reach."@en1
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