Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-29-Speech-3-174"
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"en.20001129.10.3-174"2
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"Chairman, this debate is timely as the Commission has in fact taken important steps, new steps in the reform of external relations. It agreed today in the creation of the new office responsible for European cooperation from the identification of activities to implementation. The process of implementing the Commission’s decision of May on reform of external relations is going well.
I would also remind Parliament that the decision contains a review clause. We will have to assess how this new system works and, if necessary, we will take steps to pursue reforms further and deeper. The Commission is very much aware of the importance of Parliament’s support for the reform of its policies and working methods. I am very grateful for the supportive recommendations in Mrs Sauquillo’s report and for the very positive contributions tonight in this debate. I assure that I will do my best to keep Parliament informed of policy proposals and I welcome the invitation to the Commission to report regularly to this Parliament on the reform of the external service.
There are three main elements to the reform: the enhancing of the programming process; the reunification of the management of the project cycle; and the devolution of powers to our delegations, all are making substantial progress.
As regards country programmes, the Commission has adopted a standard framework for country strategy papers. This was discussed during the recent development council and was positively welcomed by all Member States. We now have a harmonised scheme to draft country strategy papers and indicative cooperation programmes in all developing countries. This will put the country concerned at the centre of the process, and it will also provide a basis for close coordination with Member States and other donors involved in that country. This is the tool we have missed in the discussion over many years about how to coordinate better. The clear focus of our action on fighting poverty as part of our overhaul of the policy framework and concentration on a limited number of sectors will be key elements in improving the impact of our cooperation.
Within the Commission, the inter-service quality support group has started work under the chairmanship of the Development DG. It will ensure that strategy papers follow the agreed framework and methodology and I am confident that this group will bring more quality and consistency to our country strategies. This covers the whole geography and it makes also a big improvement as to the consistency with the policy we are backing.
Last but not least, I shall with my colleagues, the external relations Commissioners, very soon submit to the college legislative proposals to modify the rules relating to the legal basis for all external relations instruments and budget lines. This will allow the management committees to focus their work on strategies and not on individual projects.
As regards the reunification of the project cycle, the creation of the new office has now been agreed today formally in the Commission. The office will be responsible for the management of all steps of the project cycle. As from the beginning of next year, 250 officials will be transferred from the Development DG and the External Relations DG to the office and gradually contractual agents will also join the staff of the office while, in parallel, the technical assistance offices will be dismantled. Here also, things have moved quite fast with the help and understanding of the budgetary authority.
Finally, a programme of devolution of powers to the heads of delegations has been set up. In three years, about 120 delegations or officers will see major improvement in their working methods. Together with extended financial powers they will receive upgraded computer systems and telecommunications. Here again the understanding of the budget authority has played a crucial role for funding this major reorganisation of the European External Service. In 2001, for instance, financial responsibilities will be deconcentrated to 22 delegations, 15 more delegations will see their computer facilities upgraded and 40 additional posts of officials will be allocated to external services. The creation of SEM in 1998 was a first step towards improving the speed of delivery of 8 programmes. Even if that reform were clearly insufficient, and this is beyond any discussion today, it did in fact lay the basis for a number of the changes which we are now pushing forward. Simplifying procedures is essential if we are to speed things up. It is also necessary to make sure that programmes can in future be easily managed by our delegations and made more accessible to our partners.
How could we have talked of increasing transparency when we had 46 different tendering procedures? How could we expect the delegation official to move from Morocco to Mauritania or from Botswana to South Africa when the procedures of each programme and the relevant financial management systems had to be learned from scratch? So simplifications are very necessary.
The resolution is quite correct in identifying as problems the unclear and divided responsibilities within the totality of the cooperation cycle and the problems we have had. Moreover the creation of SEM provided no solution to the continuing mismatch between 8 voluminous administrative resources. The resolution supports a reform going further in one respect than agreed today by the Commission. It favours not just the reunification of the project cycle but of the whole cooperation cycle, including programming which now remains with the DG Development and DG Relex. On this point, I can only say that the reform is a dynamic process. The quality support group will enable a more deliberate and better-managed handover from the programming part of the total activity to the office. This is something we are giving quite a lot of attention in order to have this run smoothly."@en1
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