Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-20-Speech-4-014"
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"en.20081120.3.4-014"2
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".
Mr President, I should like to thank the Court of Auditors for the report, and I too have noticed an improvement every year, in that the report is more legible and set out in a more readily understood format, amongst other things. Indeed, there is an improvement every year, albeit only a slight one. We can now to some extent take the wind out of the sails of the euro sceptics by saying that the accounts have been approved for the first time. If we look more closely at the improvements in the accounts, though, they are only minor. We have managed to get through by the narrowest of margins. If we read what was written in 2006 and 2007, then there is not that much difference, really, although there is an improvement.
The Commission underlines that, over the years, budget implementation has improved considerably. It claims that, in 2002 and 2003, only 4% of expenditure was approved, compared to over 45% at the moment. This is, indeed, a considerable improvement, mainly due, I fear, to the drastic changes in agricultural policy. Had agricultural policy continued as before, I doubt very much that we would have achieved an approval margin of over 40%. This is a matter of great concern, because the Commission’s core techniques do not yet meet international standards and still require major improvements. Progress over the past four years has been too slow to my mind.
It is regrettable that we cannot yet measure the results of the action plan. Initially, the Commission put a great deal of effort into it. It was an excellent method, as we have all acknowledged, but sadly we have not seen enough results.
I share Mr Bösch’s disappointment at what the Commission has done with the national declarations. This is all the more surprising because, last year, the Commission stated quite clearly that it was not going to implement the agreement. Luckily, the Commission retraced its footsteps. We cannot forget, though, that this is an agreement that has been signed by the Council, the Commission and Parliament. After all, it is unacceptable for one of the parties to state its disinclination to implement the agreement. I cannot wait to hear the guidelines the Commission has issued to implement the agreement. What are the results so far of the discussions with the Member States to carry out Article 44? We will need to put much of our time and energy into this in the coming months. That is also when we will need to decide whether we want to grant discharge to the Commission in April, or whether we will postpone it by six months."@en1
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