Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-15-Speech-2-729-000"
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"en.20111115.35.2-729-000"2
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"Madam President, first of all, let me congratulate Mr Filip Kaczmarek on his excellent report on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in 2010. As the honourable Members will know, attending JPA meetings has been a top priority for me since my appointment as Commissioner for Development, and it will remain so.
I would like to remind Members of this House that the Commission is rated as one of the most transparent organisations in the world. Furthermore, there is a wide range of reporting covering budget support issues, such as the Annual Report on External Assistance, country
on budget support sent to Member States and the European Parliament, country evaluations and, in ACP countries, the joint annual reports on the implementation of the country strategy papers.
On 13 October 2011, the Commission adopted a communication on the future approach of EU budget support to third countries. This revised budget support policy highlights the need to link budget support to the fundamental values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and to bolster the assessment of eligibility criteria. It also seeks greater transparency by ensuring that this becomes one of the eligibility criteria in the future.
In this regard too, the Commission is eager to take up the excellent suggestion contained in Mr Kaczmarek’s report and develop closer relations with the national parliaments when asked to do so, naturally while fully respecting the national sovereignty of each ACP country.
As for procedure, the Commission recently presented a proposal to the Council to conclude the agreement on this second revision of the Cotonou Agreement and to start the ratification process at EU level. We hope that Parliament will give a favourable opinion to the Council on this so that provisional application can begin at the earliest opportunity.
I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the EU co-Chair, Louis Michel, for his tireless efforts to enhance the leading role that the JPA has to play in nurturing and developing a truly democratic dialogue between the representatives of the European Union and ACP Member States.
I am convinced that strengthening the political nature of the JPA and its oversight functions – as reflected in the second revision of the Cotonou Agreement signed in Ouagadougou in 2010 – is of paramount importance. Not only will it ensure that the agreement functions democratically, more importantly; it will also usher in a new and more effective interaction between the joint institutions, namely, the Joint Council and the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
With the entry into force of the second revision, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly will be fully able to exercise its powers of democratic scrutiny by discussing and commenting on the ACP-EU Council of Ministers’ annual report on implementation of the agreement.
Furthermore, with the economic partnership agreements and other trading arrangements, the European Development Fund and strategy papers included as subjects for discussion, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly now enjoys greater parliamentary oversight functions. On this point, I would like to thank Parliament for acknowledging that, in sending the draft country and regional strategy papers to the JPA, the Commission had fulfilled its promises.
The improvements brought about with the revision of the Cotonou Agreement do not end there. I believe that developing the national parliamentary dimension, an aspect emphasised in your report, will help promote the broader and more inclusive partnership we seek. It is certainly a move that the Commission welcomes, in line with its policy to foster country ownership and democratic governance. The Commission encourages and supports efforts by partner countries to build up parliamentary oversight capacities so that the use of public funds is subject to proper supervision.
An assessment of European Commission support to parliaments in the ACP region during the past decade found that it amounted to just over EUR 100 million, spread across some 30 countries, most of them in Africa. While our initial efforts focused mainly on law making, recent support has increasingly addressed parliaments’ oversight duties. Building on that assessment, we have now completed the reference document entitled ‘Engaging and Supporting Parliaments Worldwide: EC Strategies and Methodologies for Action to Support Parliaments’.
Together with our already healthy collaboration with Parliament’s Office for Promotion of Parliamentary Democracy, this document will help the Commission both achieve more with the parliamentary support it offers and contribute to fulfilling its policy commitments in this field.
Furthermore, the role of national parliaments is even more important in the countries where budget support is used. The Commission audit publishes on our website the exact amount each country receives in budget support."@en1
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