Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-195"
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"en.20060426.15.3-195"2
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"Mr President, 2006 must be the Commissioner’s lucky year! Eleven years running with no positive statement of assurance, no signing off of the accounts by the Court of Auditors and barely a mention of this in this debate, which is much too short and exactly at the wrong time of the day for any interest from other Members of the European Parliament.
But, alas, I have to talk about the hot topic of the day, which is, of course, the City of Strasbourg. It is bad enough that we have to migrate with this travelling circus 12 times a year to the City of Strasbourg – delightful though the place may be. But to be swindled for the pleasure of doing it is really adding insult to injury. Then again, who can blame the City of Strasbourg for trying it on with the European Parliament?
We have hardly shown more than a passing interest in the way that we or other EU institutions spend EU taxpayers’ money. Just look at the blasé attitude we take on how money is spent in the Committee of the Regions, where we have had two internal auditors report problems to us and our action was, and is, to do nothing. We have a track record of ignoring whistleblowers and financial problems alike and we are now faced with this.
For the last 27 years it seems we have failed to check whether we have been spending European taxpayers’ money properly. Supposedly we, the democratic check of the European Union, the pillar of the budgetary authority, have had the wool pulled over our eyes in what is essentially a simple rent scam.
For the past few years I have tabled amendments for various reasons to postpone or not sign off the Commission’s and Parliament’s accounts. I did this because my party at home simply did not believe that taxpayers’ money was being spent properly or accounted for properly. Alas, we have been proven to be correct.
So what now? I agree so far with the measures taken and I fully agree to the postponement of the report. However, each of us, especially those who have served for more than one term here, should think about our actions or inaction in the past to properly check where money has been spent. This inaction has contributed to this current problem where we have not questioned whether the rent we pay is too high – a simple question really – and one that many of our constituents ask each and every week."@en1
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