Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-039"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000411.3.2-039"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioners, I too should again like to confirm that postponement must not be construed as a refusal of discharge. On the contrary, we had no party political axes to grind in our committee and we obtained a broadly-carried compromise across all groups with just one vote against.
We can see that the new Commission is making an effort, but the 1998 discharge is at issue here and we must take it very seriously. We must restore the public’s lost confidence in the European institutions. We must re-establish confidence and that means that, as a committee, we must make a critical examination of the 1998 budget. We want neither to play down nor sensationalise the problem. On the contrary, we need to exert constructive pressure and we see the decision as a chance, not a punishment.
Our yardstick was how responsibility and transparency were dealt with and requires an open approach to shortcomings and an open approach to mistakes. We hope that the action plan will help the administration to achieve better management. We also take the view that the same yardstick must then be applied to Parliament and in this we completely disagree with Mr Kuhne, although we welcome his critical report.
Criticism is just one side of the equation; consistency is the other and we hope that a majority in Parliament will vote to postpone the decision, subject to the clear condition that the administration of Parliament must also table an action plan to improve management. The questions of the award of contracts, buildings and staff are at issue. We know all about the pressure of time up to the point of discharge. The report by the financial controller, for example, was submitted relatively late. Obviously it was not possible to submit this action plan in time for today’s decision. However, we call on Parliament for precisely this reason to vote for a postponement here, so that an action plan can be drawn up jointly by 15 May. This too we see as an important chance for Parliament to restore confidence and make it clear that it takes its own administration and the shortcomings in its own administration seriously.
I must also highlight something else, since Mr Kuhne appeared to be hinting that a hush-up would be in the groups’ interest. I can only say, as the new treasurer of the Greens, that I went to the administration and to the Court of Auditors back in November or December and pointed out that I had discovered a number of errors in the management of the finances on entering office, that there was mismanagement and that I would fight to get this mismanagement dealt with over the next three months. I also pointed out that I was in favour of maximum transparency and openness in this area and that we urgently needed to address the financing of European parties in order to be able to refute the accusation of indirect party financing which was rightly being levelled at Parliament. We need clear-cut criteria and clear-cut guidelines. We must do away with grey areas at European level because, as we all know, grey areas can and will always be abused, which is why we want transparency and openness.
Transparency and openness mean – and this is my clear call – that we must apply the same yardstick to all the institutions. We should vote for a postponement whenever we are of the opinion that an action plan can be drawn up within a month which will show the public that we take our errors seriously and are trying to correct them and I would stress once again that it has nothing to do with dismantling institutions; on the contrary, we want to strengthen them and we want to restore trust in the eyes of the public in Europe."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples