A4-0094/98

Resolution on the report from the Commission on the measures taken in response to the comments contained in Parliament's resolution which form part of the decision giving discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the general budget for the financial year 1995 (COM(97)0571 - C4-0126/98 - I)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 206 of the Treaty establishing the European Community,

- having regard to its resolution of 10 April 1997 containing the comments which form part of the decision giving discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 1995 ((OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 32.)),

- having regard to the report from the Commission (COM(97)0571 - C4-0126/98 - I),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A4-0094/98),

1. Welcomes the Commission's compliance with a request voiced by Parliament in that it has submitted its report far earlier than in the past; requests the Commission to submit its response on measures to be taken or already taken before the summer break to enable the budgetary authority to take it into account during the budgetary procedure;

2. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has for the first time published the Member States' replies to the observations made by the European Court of Auditors in its report; regrets, however, that these replies were not published until a year after the publication of the annual report of the Court of Auditors;

3. Requests the Commission and Member States to ensure that the Member States' replies are available early enough in the future to be given proper consideration during the discharge procedure;

4. Welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors has complied with a request voiced by Parliament in that it has for the first time submitted the results of its activities in connection with the statement of assurance as part of its annual report and intends to integrate the statement of assurance even more closely into its annual report in the future;

5. Calls on the Court of Auditors to ensure that in the future its annual report is forwarded to Parliament in time for its first part-session in October;

6. Points out that this would enable the budgetary authority to take greater account of the statements and comments of the Court of Auditors during the budgetary procedure and that it would also give Parliament an opportunity for more thorough deliberation in preparation for its discharge decision;

7. Accepts that, although the Commission gives information, in an annex to the annual balance sheet, on each Member State's position on debts to the Community not recovered or written off, it is unable to provide an explanation in each case in view of the large number of cases involved; calls on the Commission to forward to Parliament regularly in the future the reports which its financial controller draws up on the basis of Article 29 of the Financial Regulation on debts not yet recovered;

8. Notes that the Commission considers neither legislation nor an action programme necessary to make the collection and recovery of sums due to the Community more effective, but places its faith entirely in the success achieved under the SEM 2000 programme; calls on the Commission to report to Parliament regularly on the progress made in this context;

9. Welcomes the fact that the Commission is at last complying with the request already voiced in Parliament's resolution of 21 April 1993 on the discharge for the 1991 financial year ((OJ C 150, 31.5.1993, p. 104.)) and, in application of Article 13 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budget procedure, has initiated procedures that may lead to the suspension of payments relating to olive oil if the Member States concerned fail to react;

10. Notes that, according to the Commission, the Greek authorities have initiated legal proceedings in twelve cases of alleged fraud in the cotton sector; calls on the Commission to obtain regular information from the Greek authorities and to report to Parliament on the progress made in these proceedings;

11. Reiterates its request that livestock farmers engaged in intensive pig fattening and in other intensive animal production systems be required to cover a larger proportion of the cost of measures to combat classical swine fever and other contagious animal diseases than hitherto, whereby the contribution of the farmers must be proportionate to the risk they might pose, by their farming system, in terms of the eventual spread of the disease;

12. Calls on the Commission to submit to the Council and Parliament an evaluation of the existing systems in Member States for farmers' contributions to the cost of combating contagious animal diseases which fall under Community regulations; this evaluation must include the aspect of equal competition opportunities for livestock farmers in the Union; it must also examine how an improvement in legal bases can contribute towards improved prevention of contagious animal diseases;

13. Calls on the Commission to submit to the Council and Parliament an option paper containing proposals to this effect, accompanied by a cost-benefit analysis of the Community's current policy on measures to combat swine fever;

14. Emphasizes once again the extreme importance it attaches to the nuclear safety programmes; notes that the Commission has not complied with Parliament's request that a Task Force be set up with responsibility, on an inter-departmental basis, for pooling and employing more effectively Commission resources in this sphere; points out that it will return to this issue in the context of the special report of the Court of Auditors on nuclear safety that has been announced;

15. Calls on the Commission to submit to the Member States under the common foreign and security policy a proposal for the setting up of a preparatory group to develop, on the basis of experience of joint actions hitherto, procedures under which the organizational and financial technicalities can be made to operate as rapidly and smoothly as possible;

16. Notes that the Commission's reply to paragraph 79 of the discharge resolution does not provide any explanation of the factors that led it, following the evacuation of the Berlaymont building, to enter into a commitment to pay various property taxes in respect of the rental of buildings; calls on the Commission to undertake an administrative inquiry with a view to determining where the blame may lie;

17. Reiterates its request to the Court of Auditors, already voiced in its discharge resolutions for 1992, 1993 and 1995, to publish as part of its annual report a list of the instances in which the financial controllers of all the institutions have withheld their approval and of any decisions overruling such refusals;

18. Requests the Court of Auditors to draw up a special report on the practice of withholding approval by the financial controllers of the Union's institutions;

19. Requests the Commission to report to it by 30 June 1998 on the measures they have taken subsequent to this resolution;

20. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Court of Auditors.

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