Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-21-Speech-3-360"
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"en.20040421.16.3-360"2
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".
Mr President, as my colleague Mr Fischler stated yesterday, the Commission took immediate action when it had evidence of the problems in Eurostat. This has resulted in a thorough restructuring of the Eurostat Directorate-General and its operations. In addition to the statement made by my colleague on behalf of the Commission, I would like to emphasise the measures regarding in particular the revision of the code of conduct, the improvement of the flow of information related to fraud allegations, as well as a revision of the legal framework of OLAF.
With regard to the political responsibility mentioned in the motion of censure that is going to be debated here tonight, I would like to confirm the position of the Commission as very clearly stated by President Prodi in his speech of 25 September 2003 at the conference of presidents of the political groups.
I also want to underline, as my colleague Mrs Schreyer did yesterday when answering a question from Mrs Avilés Perea, that the reform measures will prevent problems like those which occurred in Eurostat before 1999 from recurring, and that the Commission has learned its lesson with regard to the problem of inadequate information flows revealed by the Eurostat case and has taken appropriate action.
President Prodi and his whole Commission are committed to zero tolerance against fraud. You know very well that this is not a guarantee that no fraud will ever occur but it is a guarantee that nothing will be hushed up. Potential problems will be brought out into the open and appropriate measures will be taken.
As also stated by my colleague Mr Fischler today, the Commission remains committed to following up on actions taken to maximise the safeguards against fraud and it is grateful to the European Parliament for its substantial contribution and its continued support in this matter.
I would particularly like to point out the following measures. Firstly, revising the code of conduct that governs relations between the Commissioners and their services and which emphasises the political responsibility of the Commissioner, as well as that of the Director-General or the head of service. The new code includes specific procedures requiring the Commissioner to be informed about any fact, situation or question concerning management – especially financial management – the gravity of which could invoke the responsibility of the Commissioner or the college.
Secondly, putting in place measures aimed at facilitating the cross-referencing of any information related to fraud allegations, helping to ensure that the political level is kept informed and that any cases detected are properly followed up.
Thirdly, strengthening information circuits between the central services and operational services, especially in the areas of control and internal audit. This involves a series of important measures that aim at fine-tuning financial management reforms that had already been introduced by the Prodi Commission. These measures derive essentially from the recommendations which the internal auditor made in his report on DG Eurostat's contracts - informing and training staff about the different mechanisms in place for whistleblowing and revising OLAF's legal framework with the adoption of two new legislative proposals to be examined by the new Parliament. These proposals aim to improve the information flows within the institutions of the Union and to reinforce the procedural guarantees.
Despite the crisis, Eurostat's functions in performing the essential statistical work of the Commission have not been interrupted. A major reorganisation of Eurostat was approved by the Commission on 29 September 2003 and the new establishment plan has been in operation since 1 November. The system of approval for commitments and payments was reorganised. The financial circuits were more explicitly defined so as to bring into play the responsibilities of the delegated authorising officers at head of unit and directorate level. The Commission's decision to end the contractual links with four companies required a significant amount of work in ending the contracts themselves and in ensuring that the potential for litigation was minimised. Following on from the special audit undertaken by the internal audit service in September 2003, as well from the in-depth audit that had recently been concluded, a series of initiatives generated by the annual activity report were also undertaken.
There will be a radical new departure in the field of providing statistical information. Based on the principle that European statistical information is a public service, all statistical data drawn up and collected by Eurostat should be available free of charge to users and should be available on the Internet.
Finally, the work programme for 2004 is strictly prioritised and intentionally realistic. The emphasis is on the essential missions of Eurostat, namely the production of figures and independent statistics. The Commission is keen to reduce its dependence on external companies and organisations and to ensure that the European statistical service remains a public service which is open and available to users and acts in the public interest.
The Commission has thus taken very concrete and swift measures to respond to the criticism made by the European Parliament in its resolution of 17 December 2003 on the Commission's legislative and work programme for 2004. This is also confirmed in the Commission's progress report of 9 February 2004 on completing the reform mandate.
The Commission would like to thank the European Parliament and the rapporteur, Mr Bayona de Perogordo, for having voted today by a large majority to grant discharge to the Commission in respect of the execution of the general budget of the European Communities for 2002. This vote confirms that the Eurostat affair is a very regrettable exception to the generally sound financial management of the budget of the European Communities. However, the Eurostat affair also shows the necessity and the importance of the reform progress engaged by the Commission."@en1
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