Strasbourg, 14/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament, in ruling on the Commission Communication concerning the development of the Union's external service, followed its rapporteur, Mr Galeote Quecedo (Partido Popular, Spanish), which agrees with the need to decentralise this service, but by developing human resources and ensuring a better training (see summary in EUROPE of 1/8/12 June, p.15). In the same vein, the Budgetary Committee rapporteur, Mr Bourlanges (EPP, French) called to lighten the over worked posts and to achieve a better balance between the personal from Brussels and the local agents (which cost less, but which do not have the "central memory" of the institutions). The EP moves in favour of the establishment of regional delegations and for the opening of delegations in Singapore, Taiwan, Paraguay, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Iran, but also Switzerland.
Once more, despite certain criticisms formulated against the Commission (lack of ambition and precision), the two institutions are in agreement over the fundamentals. We are right in the middle of a first decentralisation exercise, added Chris Patten, and, in general, the work moves forward as planned: but the decentralisation can only succeed if we retain, in Brussels, a collection of mothers in law second guessing what people do on the ground, he said. As for the first pilot session of European diplomats, it was a success, concluded Mr Patten.