Mr President, the resignation of the Commission in the spring of 1999 was in fact the dénouement of a much more deep-seated problem within the European Commission, namely vague working structures that resulted in a lack of political accountability, fragmented policy priorities and unsatisfactory results. Commissioner Kinnock’s White Paper offers a solution to these problems but also goes much further in that the reform proposals are founded on the basic principles of a modern European public service. The people of Europe should be the main concern of a service of this kind, and for their part, they simply expect to see results and appropriate action when their interests are at issue. Issues such as the BSE crisis, oil prices, and the greenhouse effect have a distinctly European dimension. So the Commission has an important task to fulfil in this respect. It will only be possible to achieve results for the citizens if the Commission is able to act swiftly and transparently, and be accountable to this public service, among other things. So this is what the goal of the reforms taking place within the Commission must be. We have all seen how the culture of fear has rather paralysed – totally paralysed I might say – the decision-making processes within the Commission, and by that I also mean the departments and the officials. The field of external relations, for example, exemplifies the major problems that the Commission is unfortunately still struggling with. Many thousands of project applications have been awaiting assessment for over a year now. Letters and requests for information as to the state of play are either dealt with half-heartedly or not at all. Situations of this kind have severely eroded the confidence of the citizens and organisations concerned. That being the case, Commissioner Kinnock’s proposed transition to efficiency and supervised management and budget deserves all the support it can get. The Commission could then concentrate on its core tasks and dramatically improve its efficiency. At the same time, the package of reform proposals could break through this culture of fear, restoring the officials’ faith in themselves as an organisation, because there are a lot of good people there. The European Parliament could then judge the Commission on its results, with the political priorities established by Parliament and the Council, but also, in fact, the emphasis on service provision for the people of the EU, forming the all-important framework for assessment. It is essential to quickly win back the credibility of the European public service in the eyes of the public. This cannot be achieved by over-emphasising the word ‘internal’ in the reforms. The public must also be able to feel that the Commission is truly accessible and transparent. The White Paper on European governance that came out recently, contains a whole host of worthwhile initiatives to this end, but there is still a great deal to be done in other areas. I have in mind the people’s access to documents, an issue that we have yet to be satisfied on. Now is the time to close the chapter on fraud, bureaucracy and the fall of the Commission once and for all. Let us open a new book on a modern European public service that fulfils its constitutional role in the proper manner, is ready for the forthcoming enlargement and lastly, which embraces service provision for the European public as its new mission statement. Commissioner Kinnock and President Prodi will receive the full support of the group, which also means that we will keep an ever-watchful eye on the results and criteria outlined so eloquently in the White Paper.

Political group: PSE