Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-016"
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"en.20051115.6.2-016"2
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"Mr President, thank you for giving me the floor. I should also like to thank the Court of Auditors for a constructive annual report. One of the areas in which the EU has the biggest image problem of all is specifically in relation to the issue of how the Community’s money is managed. We know from numerous opinion polls that Europe’s populations do not have a particularly high degree of confidence that their money – that is, the money they pay in taxes – is properly managed. This distrust is partly justified and partly based on misunderstandings. I wish to thank the Court of Auditors for an annual report that helps us MEPs fulfil two objectives: firstly, that of eradicating the misunderstandings and, secondly, that of coming up with good advice and helping solve those problems that do in actual fact exist, for problems there undoubtedly are.
With regard to myths and misunderstandings, anyone who takes the trouble actually to read the Court of Auditors’ annual report will be able to see that the scare stories circulated by the press and also by the opponents of the EU here in Parliament are not credible. It will become apparent that all these stories are based on myths and misunderstandings and that matters are not as bad as the frequent horror stories would suggest. Particularly by highlighting the agricultural sphere, in which we have now reached a point at which approximately 60% of the resources are managed properly, the annual report documents the fact that big improvements have taken place. That is obviously a good thing. Some praise is in order, because progress is being made. That being said, it must naturally be emphasised that the mere fact that improvements are taking place in certain areas does not of course mean that we can live with the overall picture. It is simply not good enough. I agree with the previous speaker, Mr Pomés Ruiz, who said that it is scandalous.
That brings me, of course, to the second task. The first task was to explode myths. The second task is, of course, more important, for it consists of finding out how we are to solve these problems. I quite agree, moreover, that, on this subject, a clear picture emerges. It is in those areas in which there is shared administration – in other words, in which the Member States have just as high a degree of responsibility for managing the money – that the problem area in fact lies. The Member States are simply not complying with their responsibilities and are not doing enough. I agree that we must do further work on the recommendation made last year to the effect that there is a need for what have been called political statements from the finance ministers of each individual country every single year. Over the next few months, we must debate the annual report in more detail and implement the discharge procedure. I can now already see that the responsibility of the Member States is one of the issues on which we must focus most of all."@en1
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