European Parliament resolution on the Commission report on the measures taken in the light of the observations of the European Parliament in its 1997 discharge resolution (COM(2000) 224 — C5-0223/2000 — 2000/2113(DEC))
Date: 2001-01-16
Institutions: Committee on Budgetary Control, European Parliament
Subjects: European Anti-fraud Office, European Court of Auditors, budgetary discharge, financial year, general budget (EU), implementation of the budget, interinstitutional relations (EU), personnel administration

C 262/52

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Tuesday 16 January 2001

30.
Calls on the Commission to speed up the consideration and investigation of complaints which it
receives regarding breaches of the EIA Directive, as well as infringement proceedings, where appropriate,
with a view to guaranteeing protection for cultural heritage which may be under threat;

Calls on the Member States to encourage, from primary level upwards, the raising of pupils’ aware-

31.
ness of aspects relating to the protection and preservation of cultural, linguistic and natural heritage;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission, the governments

32.
of the Member States, the Council of Europe and Unesco.

6. 1997 discharge

A5-0397/2000

European Parliament resolution on the Commission report on the measures taken in the light of
the observations of the European Parliament in its 1997 discharge resolution (COM(2000) 224 )
C5-0223/2000 ) 2000/2113(DEC))

The European Parliament,

( having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2000 containing the comments which form an integral
part of the decision giving discharge to the Commission for the implementation of the general budget
of the European Union for the 1997 financial year (1),

( having regard to the Commission follow-up report (COM(2000) 224 ( C5-0223/2000),

( having regard to Article 89(8) of the Financial Regulation,

( having regard to Annex V, Article 6 of its Rules of Procedure,

( having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A5-0397/2000),

A. whereas Parliament decided to postpone discharge for the 1997 financial year pending commitments

from the Commission regarding reform,

B. whereas Parliament called on the Commission to address problems relating to eight areas, namely, the
closure of accounts,
institutional management and supervision, staff policy, Technical Assistance
Offices (TAOs), the discharge authority’s access to information, management of Community policies
in partnership (SEM2000), combating fraud and corruption and the delivery of external aid, including
that provided to Palestine,

C. whereas Parliament made three requests to the European Court of Auditors, namely to monitor sys-
tematically responses to previous criticisms, to draw up common agreements with national courts of
auditors in order to carry out complementary checks on Community policies, and to assess the policy
of administrative decentralisation,

D. whereas Parliament called on its Secretary-General and its Constitutional Affairs Committee, in their
respective areas, to create appropriate general procedures for the handling of confidential documents,

E. whereas Parliament reserves the right to return to appraise progress by the Commission, the Court of

Auditors and the Secretary-General of Parliament under the forthcoming discharge procedure,

(1) OJ L 45, 17.2.2000, p. 37.

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 262/53

Tuesday 16 January 2001

General appraisal of progress

1. Welcomes, on balance, steps taken by the Commission to tackle the underlying causes of problems
highlighted by Parliament but will remain vigilant, in the forthcoming discharge exercise, to ensure that
the Commission fulfils previous commitments;

2.
Acknowledges that, of the eight recommendations adopted by Parliament, the Commission has made
some progress in five areas, namely the closure of accounts, institutional management and supervision,
Technical Assistance Offices, management of Community policies in partnership (SEM 2000), and combat-
ing fraud and corruption;

Regrets that, as regards two of the key areas identified by Parliament, the Commission still needs to

3.
improve staff policy and deliver rapid and effective external aid, especially to Palestine;

Closure of the accounts

4. Welcomes the Commission proposal (COM(2000) 461), adopted on 26 July 2000, to simplify the
Financial Regulation and replace the interim solution which was swiftly adopted by the Commission in
reply to Parliament’s call for an urgent revision of financial control; hopes that this will lead to more
comprehensive, transparent and timely financial statements in the long-term;

5. Welcomes the Commission’s Action Plan for improving financial management and proceduces
(SEC(2000) 276), adopted on 17 February 2000, and will continue to monitor its implementation to
ensure that it reduces the unacceptably high percentage of significant errors relating to payment proce-
dures identified by the Court of Auditors in its statement of assurance; requires the Commission, in an
effort to reduce errors, to name the Member States who fail to tackle errors, especially in the highest
spending areas;

6.
Is concerned that the backlog amounted to ECU 52,524 billion at the end of 1997, ECU 58,848
billion at the end of 1998, and ECU 70,916 billion at the end of 1999; notes that ‘backlog’ confusingly
comprises normal outstanding commitments as well as old commitments dating back more than five years
and dormant commitments where no payments have been made over the past two years; calls on the
Commission to make this distinction clear in its reports;

7.
Notes that, following Parliament’s request, the Commission submitted a strategy paper on 16 Novem-
ber 2000 in which it indicates how it will clear the abnormal backlog of € 4,990 billion before the end of
2003 and adopt measures to prevent the accumulation of abnormal outstanding commitments; calls on
each Commission Directorate-General to inform Parliament on a bi-annual basis on progress towards
meeting this goal;

Institutional problems of management and supervision

8.
Notes that the Commission has responded to Parliament’s call for a systematic follow-up and review
of recommendations following internal and external audits by setting up an Audit Progress committee,
chaired by the Commissioner responsible for Budgets; calls on the Commission to provide a detailed man-
date and to submit a summary on a quarterly basis of planned and completed tasks, starting from March
2001; regrets that this could not be done sooner; calls on the Commission to delegate follow-up to special
Court of Auditors reports to the individual Commissioner responsible; requests that the Commission’s
Audit Progress Committee follows up Parliament’s discharge recommendations pertinent to its mandate;

9.
Acknowledges that, in response to Parliament’s request, the Commission will present Annual Activity
Reports for each Directorate-General, which will include an appraisal of qualitative and quantitative targets,
for the first time in March 2001;

C 262/54

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Tuesday 16 January 2001

Staff policy

10. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has made the codes of conduct for the Commissioners and
their private offices legally binding, as requested by Parliament in paragraph 13 of its abovementioned
resolution of 19 January 2000 on the 1997 discharge;

11.
Notes that, in response to Parliament’s call for professional human resource management, the Com-
mission presented the results of the Peer Group exercise on 26 July 2000, which identifies core and what
are known as negative priorities, but is concerned about the legal basis, as well as the scale and selection
criteria of the early retirement scheme, foreseen for some 600 officials;

12. Welcomes the fact that, following a commitment on 11 April 2000 to seek Parliament’s opinion
in October 2000 by means of a consultative document regarding the inclusion of rules and obligations on
whistleblowing in the Staff Regulations and a consultative document on ways to modernise the disciplinary
procedure, the Commission adopted, on 29 November 2000, consultative documents on raising concerns
about serious wrongdoing (SEC(2000) 2078) and the reform of disciplinary proceedings (SEC(2000) 2079);

Expects an explanation in writing of why the Commission will not comply with Parliament’s request

13.
for the creation of an external chamber for budgetary discipline;

Technical Assistance Offices

Notes that, in response to Parliament’s lack of satisfaction with its attempts at rationalisation of 124
14.
TAOs, whose annual cost for 1 365 staff amounts to € 133,6 million, on 11 April 2000 the Commission
promised a communication in September 2000; notes also that, in preparing a communication on exter-
nalisation of the management of Community programmes, including presentation of a framework regula-
tion for a new type of executive agency, the Commission,

(a) provided a document in May 2000 setting out the concepts and definitions for externalisation mea-

sures,

(b) adopted in May 2000 measures for the improvement of the management of external aid programmes

involving externalisation measures,

(c) adopted a communication in July 2000 on the budgetary implications for 2001 of reincorporation of

tasks performed by TAOs,

(d) adopted the conclusions on the Peer Group review on 26 July 2000 leading directly to Letter of
Amendment 1/2001, which identifies the tasks that should be retained by the Commission or could
be subcontracted to third parties,

(e) adopted on 26 July 2000 proposals for the recasting of the financial regulation which include a reg-

ulatory framework for externalisation,

(f) presented proposals for dismantling TAOs in its Letter of Amendment No 1 to the 2001 preliminary
draft budget on 4 September 2000,and welcomes an orderly transition plan which foresees that, of a
total of 124 TAOs:

( 62 will be replaced by the end of 2001 (787 staff and € 71,5 million),

( 6 will be replaced after 2001 (121 staff and € 12,6 million), and

( 56 TAOs will be allowed to lapse (457 staff and € 49,4 million);

The discharge and management of Community policies in partnership (SEM 2000)

15. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has committed itself to providing Parliament’s Committee
on Budgetary Control with detailed information on the work of the Personal Representatives Group, which
acts as an informal forum on shared financial management of, in particular, the Common Agricultural
Policy and the Structural Funds;

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 262/55

Tuesday 16 January 2001

Combating fraud and corruption

16.
Invites the Commission to comply with paragraph 34 of its resolution of 30 November 2000 on
the budgetary control aspects of the reform of the Commission (1) and to abandon the setting up of an
additional advisory financial irregularities panel, since such a panel would circumvent and undermine the
responsibilities of the OLAF anti-fraud office;

Recalls that, in response to Parliament’s request for a full list of cases in which it is suspected that
17.
Commission officials or other employees may be involved in fraud and corruption, the Director of the
OLAF anti-fraud office has supplied a confidential register;

External aid; aid to Palestine

18. Welcomes the fact that, as regards external aid, in response to Parliament’s call to the Commission
to submit before 31 March 2000 a programme setting out in detail its strategies, the Commissioners
responsible for external relations presented an outline of proposals on 30 March 2000 (2), before unveiling
a communication on the reform of external relations on 16 May 2000 (3), which proposes a reunification
of the project cycle, the creation of a body for project identification and implementation, extensive devolu-
tion of project management to the Commission’s external delegations and urgent measures to eliminate old
and dormant commitments;

19.
Looks forward to receiving before 15 March 2001 a special report by the Court of Auditors on
country programming, project preparation and the role of delegations in managing the Commission’s
external aid programme;

Is encouraged by the Commission’s efforts, hampered by the absence of a Head of Delegation in
20.
Jerusalem, violence on the ground since 28 September 2000 and the subsequent evacuation of the Inter-
national Management Team in October 2000, to ensure that the 230-bed European Hospital in Gaza, a
flagship project launched in 1990 and 97 % complete in 1996, will be fully operational by 15 January
2001 and welcomes the fact that:

( dermatological services have been on offer to out-patients on a half-day basis since 15 July 2000 (4),

and

( six departments have been offering full services to in-patients since 15 October 2000 (5) (dermatology,
ophthalmology, general surgery, paediatrics, gynaecology and internal services), and calls on the Com-
mission to ensure that:

(a) all remaining departments are opened,

(b) old equipment is replaced, and

(c)

remedial work is completed as soon as possible;

Regrets that, in spite of the political importance of the region for the European Union, from mid-
21.
1999 to mid-2000, in the absence of the Head of Delegation, the Commission office to the West Bank and
Gaza was represented by one administrator; calls on the Commission to improve its organisation of staff-
ing so as to avoid the post of Head of Delegation being left vacant for more than one month;

22. Welcomes the official transmission, before 15 December 2000, of a special report by the Court of
Auditors on management by the Commission of the programme of assistance to Palestinian society and
looks forward to a detailed examination of recommendations to address the deficiencies that the Court
believes are not unique to the programme of assistance to Palestine, but affect EU cooperation generally;

‘Texts Adopted’, Item 15.

(1)
(2) Letter from Commissioners Patten and Nielson, 30.3.2000.
(3) Communication on the reform of the management of external assistance.
(4) Letter from Commissioner Patten, 25.7.2000.
(5) Letter from Commissioner Patten, 21.11.2000.

C 262/56

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Tuesday 16 January 2001

Court of Auditors

23. Welcomes the commitment of the Court of Auditors to monitor systematically in its annual reports
actions taken by the Commission following past criticisms;

24.
Encourages the Court of Auditors in its on-going efforts to promote cooperation between national
courts of auditors, and welcomes the creation of ad hoc working groups on the audit of State aid and on
cooperation with candidate countries, under the so-called Contact committee, which comprises the heads
of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the European Union; calls on the Court of Auditors to regularly
inform Parliament of these activities;

Recalls that it requested the Court of Auditors to report on the Commission’s policy of administra-

25.
tive decentralisation and looks forward to a thorough financial and performance audit in due course;

Access to information by the discharge authority

26.
Reaffirms its call, contained in paragraph 26 of its abovementioned resolution of 19 January 2000
on the 1997 discharge, that on principle, as the discharge authority, it must have at least as much access
to Commission documents as the Court of Auditors, whose task it is to support Parliament in monitoring
the implementation of the budget; regrets that, as yet, the Commission has not accepted that fundamental
principle; again urges the Commission to revise its position and comply in full with the provisions of
Article 276 of the EC Treaty;

European Parliament

27. Welcomes the fact that its request to the Secretary-General of Parliament to implement procedures
for the handling of confidential documents, including the setting up of a secure archive, secure reading
room, formal rules of access and an access register, has resulted in a proposal submitted to the Bureau for
deliberation in December 2000, and calls for implementation before 31 January 2001;

*

*

*

Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of its committee to the Council and

28.
the Commission, and to the Court of Auditors for information.

7. Court of Auditors’ Special Report: Collection of own resources

A5-0331/2000

European Parliament resolution on the Court of Auditors’ Special Report No 8/99 on securities
and guarantees provided for in the Community Customs Code to protect the collection of tradi-
tional own resources together with the Commission’s replies (C5-0228/2000 ) 2000/2132(COS))

The European Parliament,

( having regard to the Court of Auditors’ Special Report No 8/99 (C5-0228/2000) (1),

( having regard to Article 248(4), second subparagraph, of the EC Treaty,

( having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

( having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A5-0331/2000),

(1) OJ C 70, 10.3.2000, p. 1.