Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-05-Speech-3-632"
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"en.20100505.81.3-632"2
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"−
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, at a time when the Treaty of Lisbon is giving Europe a more incisive role in the lives of millions of Europeans, the challenge of transparency and legality is crucial. Hence the report that we are presenting is the result of a highly coordinated effort. The work was confined, first and foremost, to the scenario outlined by the Court of Auditors, whereby the financial impact of irregularities fell from more than EUR 1 billion in 2007 to EUR 783 million in 2008.
The fall concerns all spending areas except direct expenditure and pre-accession funds. Areas of major concern still exist in relation to the Structural Funds too. However, absolute amounts and values alone do not tell us where the urgent problems are hidden and where the situation is under control. Our analyses and meetings over recent months have led us to prioritise two requirements. Firstly, the urgent need to make the Member States more responsible for identifying fraud and irregularities, and for sharing the information needed to combat fraud, waste and distortions in expenditure and in the collection of taxes.
Secondly, the importance of presenting proposals and working hypotheses in order to make it easier to implement measures in the Member States, with administrative procedures and management strategies that give priority to the quality of the projects and to their impact on the living and working conditions of European citizens.
In order to achieve these objectives, we propose that Parliament insist on certain priorities: firstly, we propose that OLAF draw up 27 profiles, analysing with due care and attention the strategies followed by each individual Member State in combating fraud and irregularities in the use of European resources, with a precise map of the authorities responsible for performing checks in each individual country and data on the quantity and quality of the checks performed and on their effects.
Secondly, reducing the number of irregularities and significantly improving the regulations. We are embarking on a legislative and regulatory simplification programme, intended in particular for the Structural Funds. Moreover, the fight against corruption, financial crime and breaches of public procurement rules must be stepped up. In this year’s report we have made progress on this point with the support of the entire committee. Thanks to an intense, concerted effort, proposals have been drafted on the main problems in this area. From the relationship between the EU and tax havens, to the databases on beneficiaries of European funds, the report makes a practical contribution to increasing the transparency of expenditure and to strengthening the anti-fraud and anti-corruption strategies.
Lastly, with regard to OLAF, it is crucially important to guarantee its full operational independence, the full cooperation of the Member States and an appropriate human resources strategy, which it most definitely needs. We must keep the debate alive and kicking in Europe so as to establish the role of a single European Prosecutor.
To conclude, I believe it is vitally important to fight together for the transparent and efficient management of European resources. In this regard we must ensure that the problems that do exist are not exploited in any way in order to call into question instruments of fundamental importance to the European project, such as cohesion policy and development aid. Rather, we must look clearly at the problems, at the distortions that still exist in the various European spending areas and use these data to take new, determined steps forward, thereby making the management of our finances more efficient and transparent.
I believe that, by making this effort, the various European institutions really will make progress in the construction of a Europe that is stronger, more integrated and able to better satisfy the needs of Europeans."@en1
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