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23. Notes that, as its Committee of Inquiry into the Community Transit System was not informed by the
Commission of the real scale of its problems with the computerisation of the transit system, it made anincorrect analysis of the reasons for the delay in the introduction of the system;
Personal responsibility of Commissioners
24. Considers that examples discovered during the discharge procedure have revealed a real concern
that irregularities are committed without individual Commissioners perceiving the need to take personalresponsibility for such actions;
Weaknesses in the Commission’s structure
25. Believes that the discharge procedure has illustrated in many cases a lack of flexibility in personnel
management with unacceptable abuses arising from this. Urgent action is required to modernise thestructures in preparation for an incoming Commission on 1 January 2000.
(b) A4-0201/99
Resolution informing the Commission of the reasons why the discharge cannot at present be given in
respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Communities for the 1997
financial year
The European Parliament ,
− having regard to the revenue and expenditure accounts and the financial statement of the European
Communities for the 1997 financial year (SEC(98)0519 − C4-0350/98, SEC(98)0520 − C4-0351/98,SEC(98)0522 − C4-0352/98),
− having regard to the report of the Court of Auditors for the 1997 financial year (
1) and to the special
reports relating thereto,
− having regard to the Council recommendation of 15 March 1999 (C4-0156/99),
− having regard to Article 276 of the Treaty establishing the European Community,
− having regard to Article 89 of the Financial Regulation, and in particular paragraphs 1 and 4 thereof,− having regard to Rule 86 of its Rules of Procedure,− having regard to the initial report of the Committee of Independent Experts on the allegations of fraud,
mismanagement and nepotism in the European Commission,
− having regard to the attached Working Document of the Committee on Budgetary Control on the
implementation of the general budget of the European Community for the 1997 financial year,
− having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinions of the Committee
on Research, Technological Development and Energy, the Committee on Employment and SocialAffairs, the Committee on External Economic Relations, the Committee on Regional Policy,the Committee on Transport and Tourism, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health andConsumer Protection, the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media, the Committee onDevelopment and Cooperation, the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs, the Committeeon Fisheries and the Committee on Women’s Rights (A4-0201/99),
A. whereas, pursuant to Article 276 of the EC Treaty, the European Parliament gives discharge to the
Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget,
B. whereas the President and Members of the Commission have resigned from office,
(1) OJ C 349, 17.11.1998.
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1. Decides to postpone discharge;
2. Notes that the Committee of Independent Experts will submit by September 1999 a second, final
report (resolution of 23 March 1999 on the resignation of the Commission and the appointment of a newCommission (
1)) giving a far-reaching overview of the culture, practices and procedures of the
Commission;
3. Notes that discharge cannot be granted to an outgoing Commission which has no authority to enter
into any commitments towards the European Parliament in respect of future policy; believes that dischargeshould be granted to the new Commission in response to the reform undertakings it gives, pursuant toArticle 89(4) of the Financial Regulation, between now and 15 October 1999;
4. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the above-mentioned working document of the
Committee on Budgetary Control to the Commission, the Council and the Court of Auditors.
(1) Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 2.
ANNEX
WORKING DOCUMENT
postponement of the discharge to be given to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the
general budget of the European Union for the financial year 1997
A. whereas the discharge procedure for the 1996 financial year has revealed serious shortcomings in the
ability of the Community’s Executive properly to implement the Union’s policies,
B. whereas these doubts were confirmed by the report of the Committee of Independent Experts, which
pointed out that the institutions of the European Union still need to acquire a culture of responsibilityand the resources necessary for the practical implementation of responsibilities,
C. believing that the serious criticisms expressed by the independent experts and the discharge authority
about financial management need to be converted into a call for practical measures with a view torelaunching Union action during this crucial stage prior to enlargement and the launching of Agenda2000,
D. whereas the European Parliament, in its capacity as discharge authority, is the only elected body
empowered to exercise supervision of the proper and efficient implementation of the budget, butwhereas account has to be taken of the assessments of the committee of independent experts,
E. whereas the Council has, for several years, in its recommendations for discharge, performed its task in
a way which does not suggest an in-depth evaluation of implementation of the budget,
F. recalling that on 14 January 1999 the European Parliament had already called for specific measures on
the following matters: the setting up of a new independent anti-fraud agency; publication of the fulltext of the Declaration of Interests by all Commissioners; forwarding to Parliament of the three codesof conduct concerning the work of the Commissioners and their offices, officials and relationsbetween them; establishment of a formal agreement on confidential procedures; reform of the StaffRegulations, notably with regard to disciplinary action,
G. noting that the discharge constitutes a political act expressing confidence in the Executive in respect
of the proper and effective management of the Union’s financial policies; and that this act isindissolubly linked with the decision of the European Parliament to close the accounts of the financialyear in question, such closure constituting discharge,
H. recalling that the action of the Member States’ administrations has an impact on the implementation of
most of the budgetary policies and that the discharge procedure must take account of this factor,without however diminishing the institutional responsibility of the Commission to implement thebudget,
I. recalling that the Commission is obliged to ensure that the discharge authority is provided with all the
information required under Article 276 of the Treaty,
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J. whereas the crisis surrounding the 1996 discharge procedure resulted above all from two factors:
− the inadequacy of the Commission’s political, financial and administrative management in the
many tasks it performs both internally and externally,
− embezzlement on the part of some staff members, to which the response of the Commissioners
has too often been lax and ineffectual,
K. whereas the Commission’s policy has been characterised by, on the one hand, excessive centralisation
of tasks and, on the other, excessive decentralisation of powers towards external bodies such as theTechnical Assistance Offices, which are not subject to appropriate scrutiny,
L. noting that the committee of independent experts identified a link between the Commission’s
management failures and deficiencies in the establishment plan, which it felt constituted a violation ofthe integrity of the European public service,
M. whereas, therefore, the Commission’s staff policy culture must be adapted to the increased managerial
responsibilities which the Commission already exercises and which are assuming growingimportance in the Union context, particularly in the run-up to enlargement,
N. noting that the Commission, having acknowledged the existence of this challenge, has put in hand a
huge reform programme in respect of in-house and external staff,
O. emphasising that the Commission bears ultimate responsibility, at Community level, for the action of
the national administrations which are jointly responsible for the implementation of the nationalpolicies managed on a partnership basis; noting that the Commission, acting in conjunction with thefinancial representatives of the Member States in the context of the SEM 2000 programme, has beendeveloping measures since 1996/97 to consolidate and strengthen the partnership with the nationaladministrations,
P. noting that, since a large proportion of Community funds is managed by the Member States,
a substantial percentage of the management shortcomings are linked to malfunctioning in the nationaladministrations and that the Council must therefore acknowledge its responsibility to improvecooperation between Community and national administrations and involve the latter more closely inthe discharge procedure, as provided moreover in the new version of Article 274 of the EC Treaty,
Q. whereas, therefore, cooperation between national and Community partners must constitute the central
plank of much wider integration, on a subsidiary basis, of the Community and national levels andwhereas external supervision of the Community and national audit bodies is a major component ofthis overall framework,
R. noting that the GNP resource is assuming growing importance in the own resources system; noting
that a precise calculation is currently hampered by tax evasion and the existence, to some extent, of anunderground economy throughout the Community; noting that the Commission has embarked ontechnical measures to ensure that national accounts are exhaustive but taking the view that thisproblem is also a political one,
S. believing that assistance to the Palestinian people through programmes and projects implemented by
the European Commission has played and will continue to play a crucial economic and political rolein the Middle East despite deteriorating economic and social conditions,
T. whereas, finally, there is a need to identify the priorities required to serve as the basis for the dialogue
between the discharge authority and the new Commission,
I. GENERAL REMARKS
Discharge procedure1. Considers it essential that there should be a reform of the rules on the discharge procedure; requests
the Commission to propose that this be implemented as part of the revision of the Financial Regulation,while Parliament will carry out a revision of its Rules of Procedure;
Tuesday 4 May 1999C 279/122 EN 1.10.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities
2. Will open negotiations with the Council, the Commission, the Court of Auditors and the Member
States in the context of the SEM 2000 programme, with a view to ensuring that the discharge procedureincludes a dialogue with the national administrations; considers that to this end any agreement reached,which should be finalised as part of the revision of the Financial Regulation, should include:
− bringing forward the starting date of the discharge procedure and, as a consequence, that of the
submission of the Court of Auditors’ annual report, in particular with a view to shortening thecontradictory procedure;
− the possibility for representatives of the national administrations to be heard by the discharge
authority at its request or on their own initiative;
− notification of the measures which national administrations have adopted in the light of the discharge
decision;
Information for the discharge authority
3. Considers that the right of information accorded to it by Article 276(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of
discharge requires the Commission to submit to it, in their entirety, all documents it considers necessaryfor the exercise of this responsibility;
4. Instructs its Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities to
table a proposed amendment to the Rules of Procedure seeking to:
− emphasise the specific nature of Parliament’s right to information in the context of the discharge
procedure;
− provide for confidential procedural arrangements appropriate to the different types of document and
information;
− restrict the exercise of these rights to the objectives of budgetary control;
Staff policy
5. Calls on the Commission to target the reform of staff policy, which must be clearly defined, at the
following objectives:
(a) reduce vacant posts to a maximum of 2% of the posts in the establishment plan;(b) progressively devolve on the national authorities and the applicant countries the tasks of supervisory
administration, while entrusting supervision to decentralised bodies in their territories and ensure anadequate sharing of controls by the Community and national bodies;
(c) establish staffing needs (in quantitative and practical terms) in relation to the Union’s political
priorities, on the basis of the report requested from the Commission by Parliament in the context of thebudgetary priorities for 2000;
(d) continue with the modernisation policy (MAP 2000 programme), possibly on the basis of the impetus
which a critical assessment by the Court of Auditors might give to the development of the programme;
(e) open up competitions to the maximum number of participants on a geographical basis, in particular by
making them neutral in terms of the cultural and occupational differences which exist between oneMember State and another; prevent dysfunctions by wider use of computer technologies and/ordecentralisation;
(f) codify the tasks of the seconded national experts in relation to their skills;(g) settle cases of incompatibility in the field of recruitment and performance of budgetary and
administrative tasks, while at the same time providing for incompatibilities for Commissioners andtheir private offices;
(h) restrict the number of members of private offices, codify their tasks and boost the plurinational factor;
6. Takes the view that the serious management and supervisory problems resulting from the ever wider
use of Technical Assistance Offices (TAOs) require an urgent and appropriate response and calls on theCommission to implement the following measures without delay:
(a) introduce systematic monitoring of compliance by TAOs with Community provisions on budgetary
and administrative matters and with the application of national law;
(b) provide for incompatibility rules for the TAOs;
Tuesday 4 May 19991.10.1999 EN C 279/123 Official Journal of the European Communities
(c) rule out the use of TAOs for any European public service task (in particular, any discretionary
disbursement of public European funds, including preparatory activities) and strictly define therelevant scenarios;
(d) define by way of regulation all the provisions governing the statuses of staff, Commissioners and
TAOs;
7. Calls on the Court of Auditors to deliver an opinion as soon as possible with alternative approaches
to performing the duties which have hitherto been entrusted to the TAOs;
8. Regrets, however, that the Commission’s reaction was lacking in a number of key respects: wants the
new Commission to take up these points again in a constructive way and in a spirit of cooperation with theEuropean Parliament;
Conclusions of the independent experts and revision of the Financial Regulation and of the Staff
Regulations
9. Notes that the conclusions drawn by the independent experts in their first report, points made on
numerous occasions in the past by the Committee on Budgetary Control, highlighted gaps in thesupervisory, investigatory and disciplinary systems within the Commission; believes that initial reformscould already be contemplated as part of the revision of the Financial Regulation, pursuant to therecommendations adopted by the European Parliament in its resolution of 11 March 1999 on the need tomodify and reform the European Union’s own resources system (
1):
(a) the administrative and budgetary procedure leading up to the commitment and implementation of
expenditure should be made more fluid, by eliminating the red tape which hampers the decision-making process, in return for a greater burden of responsibility for authorising officers;
(b) the Financial Controller’s approval, which was given too frequently to irregular operations, must
presuppose not only that the act is regular in formal terms, but that the underlying operation is alsolegitimate;
(c) the separation of the powers of a priori supervision (the Financial Controller’s approval) and auditing
powers will be necessary to prevent the same body from carrying out tasks of a divergent, and oftenincompatible, nature;
(d) administrative inquiries, which are too frequent and rarely lead to disciplinary inquiries, should be
limited by precisely defining the cases in which they should apply, the relevant time-limits and the usemade of the results;
Commission reform
10. Takes the view that the Commission must introduce more comprehensive institutional reforms
enabling it better to adapt its management and supervisory culture to the new challenges with which it isfaced and consequently to improve its relations with the European public and external organisations;
11. Stresses the need for a public register of incoming documents and a uniform and adequate
procedure for archives to avoid problems with ‘lost files’ and increase transparency;
12. Accordingly calls on the new Commission to put in hand the following reforms:
(a) to reduce and rationalise portfolios, by defining a limited number of real responsibilities, and to adapt
its structures and directorates-general accordingly;
(b) the strengthen the coordinating role of the President and the Secretary-General of the Commission in
accordance with the Amsterdam Treaty;
(c) to strengthen the Commission’s institutional and management structures in order to ensure that tasks
are not decentralised at the expense of cohesion.
Community policies managed on a partnership basis
13. Notes that the launching of the SEM 2000 programme has made it possible to find solutions of
principle for several problems arising from the implementation of the policies managed in partnershipwith the administrations of Member States, for example, concerning the eligibility of structural operationsand financial adjustments in that area; expects, however, that this theoretical result will be reflected in apractical improvement in implementation and that such progress, already noted in the DAS for 1997 in theEAGGF, will also be true of the structural actions; will verify the implementing procedures for thefinancial adjustments as part of the discharge;
(1) Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 2.
Tuesday 4 May 1999C 279/124 EN 1.10.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities
14. Regrets that the proposals on the reform of the Structural Funds essentially leave the definition of
eligibility to national provisions and calls on the Commission to establish a hard core of provisions with aview to enhancing homogeneous application in the Member States;
15. Notes that a large number of cooperation problems are still entirely or partly unsolved, in areas such
as the integrated supervision of EAGGF operations and the capacity of paying agencies, customscooperation, Community transit, fraud prevention and adaptation of applicant countries to Communitystandards in terms of management and supervision;
16. Urges Member States to devote more resources to the control of areas of expenditure for which they
are responsible and to implement in full Article 280 of the Treaty;
17. Encourages the Commission to continue its work and assures it of its critical support; to this end,
urges the Commission to involve Parliament formally in an observer capacity in the work of SEM 2000 inrespect of partnership management;
Cooperation between audit bodies
18. Issues an appeal to the European Court of Auditors and to the national audit bodies to step up their
mutual cooperation in order gradually to establish systematic partnership on the basis of sharedprogrammes and comparable auditing methods with the aim of agreeing on a common approach tosupervising the management of the Community budget;
II. 1997 DISCHARGE
Own resources system19. Supports the Commission’s efforts to ensure that national accounts are exhaustive, by taking full
account of tax evasion and the underground economy;
20. Believes that these efforts must be reflected in institutional and political responsibility and that the
Executive, which is the guarantor of the proper implementation of the budget, must take institutional andpolitical responsibility therefor;
21. Calls on the Commission therefore to arrange for the technical establishment of the exhaustiveness
of the national accounts to be followed by a declaration, made on its own political responsibility,guaranteeing that those accounts are exhaustive and that the Executive stands surety for any dispute whichmight arise in this regard;
22. Expresses surprise at the fact that the Council, while understanding the analysis by the Court and
the Commission on the desirability of replacing the old European system of integrated economic accountsby the new one proposed in 1995, has failed to draw the logical conclusions and is intending to maintainthe status quo, without providing any explanation;
23. Calls on the Commission in its entirety to do everything in its power to ensure that the new
computerised transit information system (NCTIS) becomes operational as soon as possible; regrets theinexcusable delays which have already occurred; expects the Commission to inform Parliament of thereasons, if there are any further delays, and of the action taken by it;
24. Notes that the problem resulting from the importation of New Zealand dairy products has not yet
reached its conclusion, but emphasises that a practical solution must be found to put an end to a situationwhich may well inflame international relations and obstruct the operation of the market; therefore calls onthe Commission:
(a) to support the efforts of the United Kingdom Government aimed at recovering the sums owed to the
Community budget;
(b) to assess the seriousness of the matter, and of the negligence, in respect of the four alleged cases of
irregularities;
(c) to ascertain, on the basis of these criteria, which of the above cases unquestionably necessitate a
penalty within the meaning of the Customs Code, and in particular Article 239 thereof;
Tuesday 4 May 19991.10.1999 EN C 279/125 Official Journal of the European Communities
(d) to take account of the opinions of specialised international organisations, such as the World Trade
Organisation, without prejudging the possibility of an appeal against their decisions;
(e) to ensure that the New Zealand Government assumes a monitoring role in the IMA-issuing system in
order to avoid the conflict of interest arising from the fact that the New Zealand Dairy Board iscurrently both beneficiary and monitor of the arrangement;
(f) to enact binding control rules for imports under reduced-rate customs quotas and, at the same time, to
revise the IMA1 customs certificate procedures which are currently in force;
(g) to support the legitimate interests of all Community importers by enabling them, in accordance with
the rules of free world trade, to import products at a reduced rate under the same conditions as thosegranted to exporters from countries benefiting from customs preferences;
EAGGF−Guarantee Section
25. Notes that the Commission has complied, in respect of the BSE problem, with most of the
recommendations formulated by the European Parliament’s temporary committee of inquiry, but requestsit, as part of the clearance of accounts, to recover in full the amounts paid out in contravention of theRegulations in force, to report to Parliament explicitly on the state of recovery, and to continue its work onsetting up a comprehensive system for the identification and registration of bovine animals;
26. Calls on the Commission once again:
(a) to speed up implementation of an integrated system for the financial and budgetary management of
the EAGGF−Guidance Section;
(b) to ensure that risk analysis is applied to all customs inspections for the arrangements which affect the
Community budget, including both exports and imports;
(c) to speed up development of the new transit system;(d) to improve coordination between physical and a posteriori checks, as provided for by Council
Regulation No 4045/89, and to step up laboratory analyses of agricultural products benefiting fromexport refunds;
27. Notes that as regards the clearance of accounts for the EAGGF−Guarantee Section, for the years
1993 and 1994, the case concerning Fle ´chard and the state of recovery need further clarification;
28. Notes, in agreement with the Council, that the Court of Auditors’ observations on durum wheat
refer to the text of the existing rules and have no implications in terms of implementation or irregularitiesand that, consequently, there is no need to draw conclusions from them as part of the discharge procedure;notes that it would nevertheless be appropriate for the legislative and budgetary authorities to give thoughtto changes to make legislation more equitable;
Structural policies
29. Notes that the Court of Auditors, reviewing implementation of the Structural Funds, expresses
several criticisms, supported by the Council, most of which relate to the need for better coordinationbetween the legislation, estimates and implementation of the Structural Funds; emphasises in thisconnection that:
(a) the budgetary authority will need to budgetise in a realistic manner the amounts in the financial
perspective and ensure that sufficient payment appropriations are entered to meet actual commit-ments;
(b) the Commission must do its utmost to ensure that the Member States keep it informed of
implementation operations up to and including final beneficiaries (including the setting-up ofdatabases);
(c) the legislative authority and the Commission will have to define more precisely the concept of
additionality and the detailed arrangements for application and penalties in the event of non-compliance;
(d) the Commission and the responsible authorities in the Member States must act at every level (entry of
appropriations, implementation, better use of monitoring committees) in order to narrow the gapbetween legislation and implementation of structural measures;
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(e) revision of the Financial Regulation and reform of the Structural Funds should be such as to give legal
commitments, accounting commitments and payments a status accurately reflecting the actualimplementation of actions financed;
30. Expects to receive specific proposals on this matter from the Commission and the SEM 2000
authorities which it will deal with during its work on Agenda 2000;
Internal policies
31. Regrets that a grey area has emerged in the management of internal policies and observes that the
most striking examples in 1997 are to be found in the management of a scientific visitor and the Leonardoprogramme;
32. Deplores the Commission’s failure, despite several demands, to inform the European Parliament
about the management problems affecting the Leonardo programme, thus letting Parliament vote onLeonardo II on a false basis;
33. Notes that the Commission has adopted certain of the measures recommended during the debate
with the budgetary control authority, namely:
− revision of the status of visitors, which will in future preclude any distortions in recruitment;− termination of the contract with the TAO Agenor in respect of management of the Leonardo
programme;
− takeover of the management of the programme by the Commission, which must happen without delay
and be accompanied by measures designed to ensure proper continuation of the programme;
34. Calls on the Commission to act without delay to recover in full the money paid to the scientific
visitor for his contracts with DG XII and the JRC;
35. Takes the view that the irregularities and favouritism which characterised the Commission’s
management are symptomatic of responsibilities situated both at political level and at the level of theadministration and supervisory authorities;
36. Points out that the Commission has faced up to its institutional responsibilities; emphasises
however that the latter are also attributable to the imperfections of the system, which must be rectified bymeasures relating to in-house and external staff;
External policy areas
(a) Palestine
37. Is concerned that the Commission, although hampered by extraneous factors, has on occasion
failed to deliver and monitor its programmes effectively and notes that its actions have often beencharacterised by a lack of coordination, leading, inter alia, to erratic patterns of disbursement;
38. Regrets that the Commission has embarked upon ambitious projects, such as the European Gaza
Hospital, with insufficient attention to their feasibility and sustainability; resulting in an image notcommensurate with the economic contribution of the European Union;
39. Calls on the Commission, within the context of its strategic priorities, to build upon people-
to-people projects proven to be simple, visible and effective;
40. Insists that the European Commission improve its programme preparation, implementation and
evaluation by significantly strengthening coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and otherresponsible authorities and by establishing a management information system to prevent major problemsand delays;
(b) South Africa
41. Is concerned that the positive work undertaken by the Commission’s delegation in South Africa,
under difficult circumstances, to implement Community development aid is undermined by the slownessand inflexibility of procedures imposed by the Commission in Brussels and is disturbed by the subsequenttarnishing of the image of the European Union;
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42. Notes that problems have been repeatedly raised in a number of audit reports submitted by the
Court of Auditors, including the concentration of management powers in Brussels, lack of suitable staff inthe delegation and a general failure to manage and follow up projects in a timely and effective fashion;
43. Believes that the delegation in South Africa should be recognised as a key office and deserves
special attention from the Commission;
(c) PHARE and TACIS
44. Believes that the situation exposed by the Commission’s financial controller concerning the
procedures for the award of PHARE and TACIS contracts is detrimental to the Union’s image in recipientcountries; calls on the Commission:
(a) to fully comply with the Financial Regulation and therefore to award contracts by private treaty only
in exceptional cases;
(b) to bring in the ACPC for all contracts involving administrative support costs;(c) to propose better arrangements in the context of revision of the Financial Regulation to make sure that
there is also as much competition as possible when contracts are awarded to non-profit-makinginstitutions or associations;
(d) to ensure genuine price competition between tenderers;(e) to provide reasons for the inclusion or exclusion of each firm on the list of those which may be invited
to submit tenders in the restricted procedure;
(f) to ensure that the files relating to the award of contracts are complete so that the procedures
themselves may be reconstructed;
45. Calls on the Court of Auditors to carry out an audit of the procedures for the awarding of contracts
and of the contents of the PHARE and TACIS files;
(d) Management of external aid
46. Notes that the joint RELEX service has not tackled the most important problem facing beneficiaries
of the PHARE and TACIS programmes concerning the long payment periods for participation in projects;calls on the service to submit forthwith a proposal to modify the internal procedures in order to ensureprompt payment of beneficiaries by the Commission;
47. Believes it is essential to give the RELEX service a genuine added value, and calls on the
Commission:
(a) to make available, as soon as possible, posts to meet the nominal staffing level of this service;(b) to give the services responsible for external relations enough staff to perform their strategic task of
setting guidelines;
(c) to provide a precise breakdown of tasks performed by the external relations services and RELEX;(d) to speed up the programme of simplifying and harmonising procedures and typical contracts which
should be reduced to the bare minimum;
(e) to write off, in agreement with the partner countries, all dormant commitments which can no longer be
completed satisfactorily;
(f) to strive, in agreement with the legislative and budgetary authority, towards a genuine concentration
of priority actions;
(g) to end its current policy of demanding bank guarantees from NGOs;
48. Calls on the new Commission to make the management of pre-accession aid more efficient by
bringing under the same service implementation of the funds concerning enlargement, as provided for inParliament’s resolution of 14 January 1999 (PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD programmes);
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49. Notes that, although the Commission has now forwarded to Parliament the internal audit reports on
Leonardo, it has not forwarded the eleven audit reports on the handling of certain contracts under ECHOwhich the Committee on Budgetary Control requested in October 1998;
(e) MED
50. Is concerned that there is still a considerable gap between commitments and actual payments for
external aid to developing countries and third countries in the Mediterranean region and that there is nosign of this trend reversing, despite the fact that the budgetary priorities have been set out in SEM 2000;is concerned that the gap between theory and practice in respect of external aid is undermining the EU’scredibility in this area;
(f) Nuclear safety
51. Believes that the delays and shortcomings in the Commission’s activities in the field of nuclear
safety underline the inflexibility and inadequacy of the Commission’s resources compared with theimportance of the task;
52. Calls on the Institutions to ensure that there is in future a match between the resources and tasks
entrusted to the Commission, and calls on the Commission no longer to accept any responsibilities withouthaving the appropriate expertise and resources;
EAC
53. Deeply regrets the fact that after 16 years the Commission has still not implemented Regulation
3245/81 on the European Association for Cooperation, despite the fact that this regulation is explicitlymentioned in the remarks in the budget; calls for maximum transparency in winding up the Association,subject to Belgian national legislation and close scrutiny by the Court of Auditors and the Commission’sfinancial controller;
Fraud − OLAF
54. Welcomes the progress made in establishing OLAF and expects
− the Council to finalise the outcome of the negotiations before the end of May;− the Commission to confer on OLAF all the powers which were conferred on UCLAF and
responsibility for all matters concerning unlawful activities, regardless of whether any financialdamage is involved;
55. Repeats its call for a complete list to be submitted of instances of presumed fraud, corruption or
other illegal acts committed by Commission officials;
EIF
56. Recalling that the issue of transparent public audit and control of the EIF has been a long-festering
question which has been raised successively in each discharge decision since the creation of the Fund on14 June 1994, urges the Commission to seize the initiative and ensure rapid agreement between all partiesto grant the Court of Auditors full access to the EIF, thereby enabling it to report to Parliament on thestrengths and weaknesses of EIF management of Community and own equity funds;
Decentralised agencies
57. Regrets that the new statutes for the second-generation agencies which have been agreed by the
Commission and Parliament are being blocked by the Council, thereby preventing Parliament fromexercising its proper control and discharge powers.