Brussels, 27/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee adopted four reports on Wednesday which reveal that the European Parliament is overall on track for being able to discharge the 1999 budget. All the discharge reports (including the most controversial one by Freddy Blak on the European Commission's discharge) are included on the agenda of the European Parliament's April plenary session in Strasbourg.
The report by Christos Folias (EPP-ED, Greece) recommends that the European Parliament's Secretary General be instructed to discharge the EP's 1999 budget (Section I - European Parliament/Annex by European Ombudsman). The Committee welcomes the improvements made to the implementation of the EP's budget, but states that it would be preferable to highlight "continued, systematic" professional training for authorising officers. As for the award of contracts, the rapporteur highlights the necessity to award more contracts by competitive tendering. When it comes to building management, the Committee repeated its view that decisions should be based on "workability" and "optimisation of financial resources". It asserts that it is unacceptable that the final cost of the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg has not yet been determined and calls on the competent authorities to put pressure on the contractors to ensure they act responsibly. Christos Folias wants visitors' comments to be taken into account with a view to improving the EP's information policy by concentrating on the Community issues of most general interest. The Committee also calls for the creation of a high level working group to assess the effectiveness of EP expenditure on disseminating information, particularly to the Member States.
The report by Heide Rühle (Greens/EFA, Germany) which was unanimously adopted, suggests that the EP should adjourn the discharge of the Commission's sixth, seventh and eighth European Development Funds (EDFs) for 1999. The report by the Commission's internal audit services into the administrative and/or disciplinary enquiries being carried out into delegation staff is unlikely to be available before May 2001. The Committee is believed to argue that the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is "not yet capable" of carrying out enquiries into fraud involving the EDFs.
By adopting the report by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL, Finland), the Budgetary Control Committee shows that it feels the European Coal and Steel Community's 1999 budget should be discharged. The MEPs are calling for the Commission to determine the degree to which the ECSC had met the economic expansion, development, employment and improvement in standard of living objectives outlined in the Treaty. They note that the ECSC's balance sheet is sound. It amounted to EUR 4.448 million at the end of 1999.
The report by Lousewies van der Laan (ELDR, Netherlands) recommended that the 1999 budget of the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Committee of the Regions, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin) and the European Centre for Development of Vocational Training (Thessalonika) be discharged. The Committee does, however, call for the discharge to be suspended for the Economic and Social Committee until the conclusions of the OLAF investigation are available. A number of irregularities noted by the European Court of Auditors in its 1996 annual report are being investigated.