Resolution of the European Parliament containing the comments accompanying the decision concerning discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the sixth, seventh and eighth European Development Funds for the financial year 2001
Date: 2003-04-08
Institutions: Committee on Budgetary Control, European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, European Development Fund, budgetary discharge, financial year, implementation of the budget

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RESOLUTION

of the European Parliament containing the comments accompanying the decision concerning
discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget of the sixth, seventh
and eighth European Development Funds for the financial year 2001

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

— having regard to the balance sheets and accounts of

the sixth, seventh and eight European

Development Funds for the 2001 financial year (COM(2002) 211 — C5-0190/2002),

— having regard to the annual report of the Court of Auditors on the activities of the sixth, seventh
replies

for 2001 together with the institutions'

and eight European Development Funds
(C5-0539/2002) (1),

— having regard to the Court of Auditors' statement of Assurance on the European Development

Funds (C5-0539/2002),

— having regard to the Annual Report 2001 from the Commission to the Council and the European
the external assistance

Parliament on the EC development policy and the implementation of
(COM(2002) 490 — C5-0607/2002),

— having regard to its resolution of 1 March 2001 on the Commission communication to the Council

and the European Parliament on the European Community's development policy (2),

— having regard to the EuropeAid Cooperation Office's annual activity report for 2001,

— having regard to the Commission communication on financial information on the sixth, seventh

and eighth European Development Funds 2001 (COM(2002) 726 — C5-0003/2003),

— having regard to the Council's recommendations of 7 March 2003 concerning the discharge to be
given to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the operations of the European
Development Funds for the 2001 financial year (C5-0091/2003, C5-0092/2003, C5-0093/2003),

— having regard to Article 33 of

the Internal Agreement of 20 December 1995 between the
representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on the
financing and administration of the Community aid under the Second Financial Protocol to the
fourth ACP-EC Convention (3),

— having regard to Article 74 of the Financial Regulation of 16 June 1998 applicable to development

finance cooperation under the fourth ACP-EC Convention (4),

— having regard to Rules 93 and 93a, third indent and Annex V of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the

Committee on Development and Cooperation (A5-0072/2003),

(1) OJ C 295, 28.11.2002, p. 289.
(2) OJ C 277, 1.10.2001, p. 130.
(3) OJ L 156, 29.5.1998, p. 108.
(4) OJ L 191, 7.7.1998, p. 53.

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A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

the present Commission took office in September 1999,

the EC's
whereas
development policy was launched in November 2000 and the reform of the management of EC
external assistance in May 2000,

the reform of

whereas the principal aim of the Community's development policy is to reduce poverty with a view
to its eventual eradication (1) and whereas the EU and all Member States have endorsed the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which set outcome targets mainly related to education and
health,

whereas poverty reduction and the promotion of human rights requires the establishment of a
genuine participatory democracy and a responsible, corruption-free government,

whereas national ownership, budget support, multi-donor approach and country-based indicators
for all donors are new strategies in the Community's development policy following the reform,

whereas, consequently, the visibility and separate identity of each donor's support will diminish,
thus each donor becomes part of a collective effort and it will be impossible to attribute effects to
individual donors,

whereas this new approach in no way can be allowed to have a negative influence on the European
taxpayer's possibilities of receiving correct and satisfactory information so as to evaluate if EDF
funds have been spent according to international standards for public administration as regards
effectiveness, economy and efficiency, in relation to the results obtained and bearing in mind, inter
alia, the substitution effect of this expenditure,

whereas the reform of the EC's development policy does not affect the Commission's responsibility
for the implementation and management of this policy and the monitoring that is necessary to
assess whether the Community finances entrusted to it are properly used,

whereas the rate of implementation is extremely slow and whereas the sixth, seventh and eighth
EDF, which began the 16th, 11th and 4th years respectively of their periods of validity, are still
being implemented,

whereas a number of the reasons for underutilisation are due to circumstances for which the
Commission has no responsibility; whereas, however, that does not exempt the Commission from
promptly stepping up its efforts to simplify procedures and administration to enable the funds to
be paid more swiftly to the final recipients;

Ownership

1.

2.

Notes that the need to reform the nature of the relationship between donors and developing
countries has fostered the concept of ‘ownership' which should give primacy to the role of the
developing countries
the
Commission to outline,
in its next annual report on the EC development policy, the scope for
interpretation of this concept in beneficiary countries and whether it has a negative influence on
EU priorities for development policy;

in the development process;

(involving all

stakeholders)

invites

Asks the Commission to provide information in its next annual report on the EC development
policy on the involvement of representative parliamentary institutions, civil society organisations
and minorities in the drawing up of the countries' development policies (including developing
countries with problems of governance and administrative capacity) and endeavour to ensure that
real and effective consultation is taking place so as to justify reference to ‘national ownership';

(1) The European Union's Development Policy, conclusions of the 2304th meeting of the Development Council,

10 November 2000.

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Budget support

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Notes that macro-economic budgetary support has become part of the Community's financial and
technical cooperation with ACP countries, that since 1992 the Community has provided budgetary
support amounting to EUR 2 604 million (Point 4.5.7.1 in COM(2002) 490) and that in 2001, EUR
270 million was spent on ACP macro-economic support (Point 2.5.3 in COM(2002) 490);

Notes the principle according to which the amount of aid granted is directly linked to the country's
level of performance in social sectors and public finance management measured by performance
indicators and intensive discussions with Government on the degree of achievement of the targets
the government has set itself, and that meeting the targets secures full funding, whereas missing
them reduces it;

Calls on the Commission to keep Parliament's competent committee regularly informed of the
results achieved by budget support operations in the field of social development;

Regrets that the annual report on the EC development policy and the implementation of the
external assistance does not give full information on when and under which circumstances budget
support is an adequate instrument to use;

Considers the mentioned indicators — ‘stable and sustainable macro-economy, prudent fiscal and
monetary policies, sound macroeconomic policies' (Point 2.5.3 in COM(2002) 490) — too general
and asks the Commission, in its next annual report on the EC development policy, to inform
Parliament in detail of the conditions and circumstances to be fulfilled in order to have the
assurance that budget support is an adequate instrument;

Public finance management

8.

9.

Notes that EDF budget support is controlled according to national control procedures in the ACP
States, and not the EDF procedures (1), and that the support therefore is subject to the same risks
as expenditure financed from national income;

Points out that budget support differs in this respect from project aid, which is implemented
according to the procedures imposed by individual fund providers;

10.

Notes that the shift from specific project aid to programme budget support places a transparent
and efficient management of public finance in the developing countries in the centre of the
development strategy to provide assurance that resources are used as intended;

11.

Expects that the Commission, in parallel with the increasing use of budget support, will closely
monitor the quality of public finance management in beneficiary countries;

12.

13.

Invites the Commission to keep the use of budget support at a minimum until it has evidence that
public finance management in beneficiary countries is of such a standard that the inherent risk of
the budget support approach has been considerably reduced;

in its next annual report on the EC development policy,
Asks the Commission to publish,
guidelines against which progress in the management of public finance in each of the countries
concerned can be assessed, as well as performance indicators for measuring progress towards these
guidelines;

(1) Special Report 5/2001 of the Court of Auditors, point 40 (OJ C 257, 14.9.2001, p. 1).

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14.

Is aware that the improvement of public finance management takes time as it is a complex process;
asks the Commission, in negotiations with the responsible authorities in the beneficiary countries,
to stress the importance given by the discharge authority to significant progress in the reform of
mechanisms for the sound management of budget execution in beneficiary countries;

Sector programmes and multi-donor approach

15.

Notes that development aid to sector programmes, provided in conjunction with other donors
creates specific control and monitoring related problems, which the Commission necessarily must
address, as long as the reform mentioned above has not given tangible results;

16.

Considers that the Commission, before any support is provided and together with the other donors
and the beneficiary country, should:

— establish measurable progress indicators, drawn up in relation to objectives and a solid and

reliable baseline;

— obtain a sufficient guarantee that

the planned programme falls inside EU development

objectives;

— be satisfied that the financial reporting system used by the multilateral organisation corresponds
to the standards of the European Court of Auditors and that accounts will be forwarded on
time;

17.

18.

19.

Takes the view that the Commission, which has the political and financial responsibility for more
than 10 % of Official Development Assistance worldwide, should use its position to ensure
appropriate reporting, accounting and auditing mechanisms;

Underlines, that the Commission also should control and follow up on the accounts provided by
the multilateral organisation, monitor relevant audit reports and inform the European Court of
Auditors and the discharge authority of the results;

Asks the Commission to provide information,
in a separate section of the next edition of the
annual report on development policy, as to which audit reports it has received from multilateral
donors, what conclusions and recommendations are contained therein, what action has been taken
on the basis of
those conclusions and recommendations, and to report on cooperation and
coordination with international donors;

20.

Stresses, in particular, that it should be assured that the European Court of Auditors has access to
all documentation (including national internal audit reports) and can effect on-the-spot visits to
carry out audits so as to monitor the use of EU support;

ACP States' Supreme Audit Institutions' participation in the audit of the EDF

21.

Is convinced that the quality of public finance management is of the utmost importance for the
effectiveness with which resources are mobilised and used, and firmly believes that a step forward
is to support the creation of strong, efficient and independent Supreme Audit Institutions in the
beneficiary countries;

22.

Considers that giving these institutions partial responsibility for the implementation of the EDFs
would help to strengthen the performance of the executive bodies — Government departments —
and contribute to the process of developing democratic practices;

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23.

24.

Asks the Commission to analyse the set up, independence and efficiency of the Supreme Audit
Institutions in beneficiary countries and to consider the results of such an analysis as one of the
determining elements, in the light of which future development aid should also be evaluated;

Asks the Commission, in a special chapter in its next annual report on the EC development policy,
to clarify the way in which it shall involve Supreme Audit Institutions in the audit process and to
establish a programme and timetable for this process;

Complementarity — a one-way issue?

25.

26.

27.

28.

Notes that, on several occasions, the Council has stressed the importance of the Country Strategy
Paper approach as a key instrument
for achieving greater complementarity in the area of
development cooperation between the Community and the Member States;

Notes that the Commission has carried out a survey of Heads of Delegation on the coordination
with Member States in the field (1);
is concerned both that Member States' knowledge of
Commission aid programmes is very poor and that Commission involvement in Member State
programming of bilateral assistance is restricted to that of merely informing, thus leading to an
overall picture of unsatisfactory coordination and complementarity of national aid programmes
with EU development policy priorities;

Asks the Council to consider whether maintaining roughly 50 management committees is an
appropriate way to ensure that EC aid better complements aid from Member States; takes the view
that the Council should concentrate on strategic issues and not be involved in the Commission's
micro-management of individual projects;

Asks the Commission to provide Parliament by 1 June 2003 with satisfactory and detailed
information concerning disbursements to these management committees and to put
forward
proposals as to how this area may be rationalised;

EuropeAid Cooperation Office's annual activity report

29.

30.

31.

Notes that
the control
the Director-General confirms that he has reasonable assurance that
procedures put in place offer the necessary guarantees as to the legality and regularity of the
underlying transactions (2); finds it difficult to reconcile this statement with the recognised need to
strengthen the external audit function ‘swiftly and substantially' (3); seeks clarification of the impact
of this observation to improve external audit capacity;

Considers that, even if the need to strengthen the external audit function is not presented as a
formal reservation nor is included in the list of ‘observations'
in the declaration, but merely
mentioned in the general descriptive part of the annual activity report itself, it is in any case a
statement which questions the Director-General's positive assurance;

Regrets that the declaration itself does not include a definition of ‘reasonable assurance' and asks
the Commission to present a breakdown of this concept in its ‘operational scope' i.e. how many
transactions need to be tested, and its ‘operational depth' i.e. what kind of tests must be performed
in the transactions selected, as well as to include in the declarations the definition of other key
concepts used;

32.

Is of the opinion that the Director-Generals' activity reports are a key element in the financial
reform of the Commission, but questions the usefulness of a declaration that contains important
reservations;

(1) Commission's answers to the questionnaire of the Committee on Budgetary Control on the 2001 EDF discharge,

Annex 9, p. 124 (PE 315.845).

(2) Annual Report 2001 of the Court of Auditors on the activities financed from the general budget, together with the
institutions' replies, point 9.77 (OJ C 295, 28.11.2002, p. 1), and EuropeAid Cooperation Office's annual activity
report 2001, p. 27.

(3) Annual Report 2001 of the Court of Auditors on the activities financed from the general budget, together with the

institutions' replies, point 9.87, and EuropeAid Cooperation Office's annual activity report 2001, p. 20.

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33.

Notes that methodology and guidance for producing the Annual reports for 2002 will be reviewed
and enhanced; (1) expects improvements so as to allow the declaration of the Director-General to
be considered a step forward and represent a more faithful indication of the state of play;

34.

Notes that in 2001 AidCo arranged for the carrying out of 46 audits; invites the Court of Auditors
to analyse these audits and to forward the results to the discharge authority;

Reform of the management of the external assistance

35. Welcomes the fact that the reform of the external relations services has prevented a further
geographical division; takes the view that the managerial model for efficient development aid
delivery should be based on strong delegations in the fields, efficient financial monitoring and
strong horizontal expertise in Headquarters;

36.

37.

Is not convinced that the reform which has been carried out fully corresponds to this model in so
far as six external relations services share responsibility in the area of external relations; considers
that a further rationalisation could have a positive influence on the effectiveness of Community aid
management;

Deplores the fact that the evaluation of the current organisational structure of the management of
the external assistance has not been carried out as planned; expects the Commission to respect its
own planning in the future and urges the Commission to inform Parliament of the results of this
evaluation before 1 June 2003;

Statement of Assurance and its significance

38.

Takes the view that the current DAS, as the result of a financial audit into the regularity and legality
of expenditure, but not the outcome of the expenditures, provides only part of the necessary basis
on which to make a global judgement about the work of the Commission, the other part being
value for money audits, assessing to which extent policy objectives have been achieved;

39.

Believes, in particular, that developments in policy and management methods have to be reflected
in an auditor's work and that, consequently, budget support and the multi donor approach require
an outcome-oriented monitoring process measuring results achieved in the supported sector;

40.

Notes that the Court of Auditors did not carry out on-the-spot audits in the beneficiary countries
owing to the ‘human and financial resources available' (2);

41.

Calls on the budgetary authority to take into account the need for the Court of Auditors to provide
the discharge authority with the necessary information;

(1) Annual Report 2001 of the Court of Auditors on the activities financed from the general budget, together with the

institutions' replies, Commission's reply point 9.53-9.54.

(2) Annual report of the Court of Auditors on the activities of the sixth, seventh and eighth European Development
Funds for 2001 together with the institutions' replies, Statement of Assurance, paragraph IV (OJ C 295, 28.11.2002,
p. 289).

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Reliability of the accounts

42.

Requests the Commission to disclose the extent of implementation of macro-financial aid; considers
the Commission's reply (point 20) unsatisfactory and asks for
transparent, exact and full
information on this aid type;

Legality and regularity of the underlying transactions

43.

Is concerned about the results of the Court's analysis of the structure of internal control and
monitoring systems at the Commission as regards the EDF (paragraph 23-31);

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

Draws attention to the weaknesses identified and the Court's conclusion that ‘the current audit
mechanism does not yet make it possible to ensure that Community financing is verified in an
appropriate and uniform way' (paragraph 30);

Notes that the Commission in general agrees with the Court of Auditors' findings; recognises that
reforms are ongoing and that the Court expects improvements; invites the Commission — having
regard to the criticisms — to make a serious effort to ensure, before the next discharge, that
tangible improvements to the internal control systems are in place;

Expects the Commission to forward to the committee responsible (as and when produced and not
at the end of the year) all documents necessary for full and satisfactory information on progress in
improvements and/or problems encountered during the process;

Reminds the Commission, as the executive body, that it has the responsibility to provide the
discharge authority,
to discharge (the principle of
completeness);

in advance, with any information relevant

Instructs its competent committee, at the beginning of next year's discharge procedure, to formally
request that the Commission supply a list of all documents and correspondence in its possession
relating to the subjects under investigation, as specified by the competent committee (discovery of
documents procedure);

Deconcentration and audits

49.

Reiterates its endorsement for the process of deconcentration and notes that the Commission's
minimum requirement is that each delegation has ‘at least one trained finance and contract official'
though considers this to be only part of the solution to improve sound financial management of
the EDF, as many of the structural problems lie centrally in AidCo in Brussels, where they should
also be resolved;

50.

Asks the Commission to provide before 1 July 2003, factual and precise information on its audits
policy in the framework of deconcentration as regards:

— the inherent risks in development aid programmes and how to deal with such risks,

— the overall control environment (organisation, allocation of responsibilities, human resources,
accountability) and, in particular, the role and status of the ‘trained finance and contract official'
in relation to the Head of Delegation, other administrators and Headquarters; takes the view
that accounting officers should not be hierarchically subordinated to authorising officers,

— control mechanisms to be applied to, and by,

intermediaries, other donors and beneficiary

countries,

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— the question of how, and if at all, how much, Headquarters have to monitor delegations'
controls under a deconcentrated management system; takes the view that there should be a
close supervision by Headquarters (Internal Audit Service and DG-AidCo) of audits and audit
systems in the delegations;

51.

52.

53.

Calls on the Commission, when strengthening the delegations in the framework of deconcentration,
to also take account of the need for specialised staff in the areas of social development, health and
education, as this is a basic objective of Community aid;

Is not satisfied that the Commission has not established procedures to ensure an objective selection
of projects for auditing, as the current system relies too heavily on the sole discretion of the head
of delegation (1);

Asks the Commission to make sure that financial audits are supervised, coordinated and monitored
by the Headquarters in order to ensure that audit results are taken into account,
the
methodologies used for the audits are comparable and relevant and the results of controls and
audits are coordinated with other donors;

that

Human Rights

54.

55.

Is concerned that evaluations carried out in 2001 showed that ‘there was some way to go before
human rights were established at every level in the Commission as a true “crosscutting issue” with
a common purpose and uniform policy input to all cooperation programmes and political relations'
(Point 7.3.1 in COM(2002) 490) and that ‘there is a need for the Commission to better define the
frontiers of human rights, democracy and good governance, and to ensure that the respective roles
of the human rights units in the External Relations DG and in the EuropeAid Cooperation Office
are better understood' (2);

Asks the Commission to provide, before 1 June 2003, full information on the nature and scope of
the problem and on measures which have been, or which will be taken in the short term to resolve
the identified weakness, and in the longer term to give declared horizontal objectives (human
rights, equality between men and women, environment and conflict prevention) the necessary
organisational structure;

56.

Asks, the Commission in particular to provide, before 1 June 2003, information on the criteria for
suspending aid as a result of human rights violations, and the number of times this has occurred;

57.

Recognises that it is not easy to define and draw up indicators in this area of cooperation and
invites the Commission to strengthen its efforts to define criteria and benchmarks by which the
outcome of activities can be better assessed;

Budgeting the EDF

58.

Regrets that no progress has been made as regards budgeting the European Development Funds as
repeatedly called for; recalls its position, as expressed in its resolution of 17 December 2002, on
the proposal for a Council regulation on a Financial Regulation applicable to the ninth European
Development Fund (3);

(1) Commission's answers to the questionnaire of the Committee on Budgetary Control on the 2001 EDF discharge,

Annex 6, page 107 (PE 315.845).

(2) Point 17.2.1 in ‘Annual Evaluation Review 2001' on

http://europa.eu.int/comm/budget/evaluation/pdf/review2001_en.pdf (23.12.2002).

(3) P5_TA (2002)0607.

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59.

60.

Is concerned about the numerous disadvantages mentioned by the Court of Auditors (1) of having a
different financial regulation for every EDF; notes the advantages of simplification, as indicated by
the Commission, but recognises that renegotiation of existing legal frameworks with ACP states is
not a viable option; repeats that budgetising the EDF would be a considerable improvement to both
the effectiveness of the aid delivered as well as to the management thereof;

Notes that preparations for the 10th EDF will start already in 2004 with the participation of the
new Member States, and considers enlargement to be a perfect opportunity for Member States to
come to an agreement on the future financing of an effective and coherent EU development policy
according to the same budgetary principles as those applicable to other external policy activities;

61.

Looks forward to receiving the promised Commission communication on the implications of
budgeting the EDF by mid-2003;

62.

Endorses the statement by the Court of Auditors that ‘under no circumstances must the breakdown
of administrative responsibilities between the Community and the ACP partner States have the
effect of exonerating the Commission of its responsibilities as regards economic, efficient, effective,
legal and regular use of the resources at its disposal. In particular, the Commission must actually be
able
final
to recover
beneficiaries' (2);

that have been unduly paid to national authorities or

amounts

Other issues

63.

Urges the Commission to ensure compliance with the interest rate ceiling set
Convention for EIB loans and to explain as soon as possible the reasons for exceeding this ceiling;

in the Lomé

64. Welcomes the Commission's first publication of an annual report on the EU's development policy;
this extremely useful document more
the next edition of

calls on the Commission to edit
rigorously;

65.

66.

67.

Notes that the Commission has reported global sectoral commitments for 2001 on the basis of the
35 % benchmark for social
introduced in 2002, which did not apply in 2001;
appreciates nevertheless the efforts made by the Commission to meet this benchmark, although
implementation in ACP countries should be improved; emphasises that the 35 % must be allocated
‘mainly' to education and health, where global performance in 2001 was particularly weak, and
calls for significant improvements in these areas in coming years;

infrastructure,

Congratulates the Commission on producing for 2001 reliable sectoral distribution statistics
compatible with OECD-DAC and on implementing the Common Relex Information System (CRIS)
to assure quality sectoral reporting in future years; welcomes the decision to introduce in the future
similar innovations for audits and framework contracts;

Underlines the importance of reliable reporting for the move to a results-based approach to
development policy, but notes that more remains to be done; welcomes the Commission's work on
methodology on reporting progress towards the MDGs; notes they have agreed to present details of
results targets and performance indicators in July 2003; calls on the Commission to continue to
inform and consult Parliament at every stage of this process;

68.

Expresses concern about the level of financial expertise in the deconcentrated delegations, especially
as they are to be the focus of future audit activity, and calls on the Commission to implement
without delay thorough and effective training programmes, especially in the area of audits;

(1) Opinion of the Court of Auditors No 12/2002, paragraph 4 (OJ C 12, 17.1.2003, p. 19).
(2) Opinion of the Court of Auditors No 12/2002, paragraph 11.

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69.

Expresses reservations over the increasing use of budget support as an instrument of development
policy before the completion of work with other donors on public financial management in
beneficiary countries; expresses particular concern in relation to the numerous
reporting
requirements imposed by the donor community on some developing country governments; calls for
donor harmonisation in this area to be brought
to rapid fruition and for sound financial
management to be ensured before such programmes are approved;

70.

Underlines the need to monitor the quality of actions carried out under budget support and
expresses concern that fundability limits the traceability of funds and hence compromises the
attribution of results to a particular donor.