- det forhold, at der fandtes interne informanter („whistleblowers“), var af afgørende betydning for at kunne gennemføre konklusionerne fra de professionelle revisionstjenester, og derfor bør de pågældende i fuldt omfang rehabiliteres af Kommissionen og have en erstatning for materielle og immaterielle skader; - det forhold, at der fandtes en professionel og uafhængig instans af revisorer både på afdelingsplan og generelt, var af afgørende betydning for afsløringen og afhjælpningen af en veletableret fejlforvaltning og fejlagtig finansiel praksis; det er af afgørende betydning, at fremme og styrke udviklingen af den interne revisionsmodel, der blev fremlagt som del af reformen af Kommissionen; - der er et presserende behov for at bekæmpe hemmelighedskræmmeriet, de indviklede forhold og den manglende klarhed i informationsstrømmene inden for Kommissionen og mellem Kommissionen og eksterne organer som Europa-Parlamentet og OLAF; disse forhold var ansvarlige for, at oprindelige revisionsrapporter med presserende, højtprioriterede og tydelige og direkte budskaber, som Eurostat-IAC rapporten fra september 1999 om Datashops "finansieringsrammeordning", forblev upåagtet og ukendt, og at der i næsten fire år ikke blev reageret på dem, hvilket medførte umådelige udgifter for EU-institutionerne; - der skal stadig gøres store fremskridt i forbindelse med afklaringen af ansvaret; Kommissionens reaktion i juli på Europa-Parlamentets foranledning på baggrund af ubestridelig dokumentation for alvorlig fejlforvaltning og uregelmæssigheder var undtagelsen snarere end reglen; understreger, at de enkelte kommissionsmedlemmer er politisk ansvarlige for forseelser i tjenesterne under deres ansvarsområde og står til regnskab over for Europa-Parlamentet for sidstnævntes handlinger; vil tage hensyn til dette i forbindelse med dechargeafgørelsen for regnskabsåret 2002;
- The existence of whistle-blowers was crucial and instrumental for the purpose of rendering the conclusions of the professional audit services operational; those concerned must accordingly be completely rehabilitated by the Commission and must also be compensated for the material and non-material damage caused to them; - The existence of a professional and independent body of auditors both at departmental level and at the general level was of crucial importance in unveiling and starting to correct long-established erroneous management and financial practices; it is fundamental to strengthen and support the development of the internal audit model put forward as part of the Commission's reform; - There is an urgent need to combat the culture of secrecy, complexity and lack of clarity in information flows within the Commission and between the Commission and outside bodies such as the European Parliament or OLAF; such a culture was responsible for the fact that initial audit reports with urgent, top priority and clear and direct messages, like the Eurostat-IAC report of September 1999 on the Datashops' 'financial envelopes' system, remained unnoticed, unknown and not acted upon for almost four years, at tremendous cost to the European institutions; - Substantial progress still needs to be made as regards clarification of responsibilities; the action taken by the Commission at the beginning of July, at the prompting of the EP, in response to undeniable evidence of serious mismanagement and irregularities, constitutes more the exception than the rule; stresses that individual Commissioners are politically responsible for wrongdoings by the departments for which they are responsible and are accountable to the European Parliament for the actions of the latter; will take these considerations into account in its decision on the discharge in respect of 2002;