Strasbourg, 08/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the margins of the EP plenary session in Strasbourg, the Budgetary Control Committee (chaired by CDU MEP Diemut Theato) interviewed the Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen and the Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler about pre-accession aid for candidate countries, ahead of the adoption of the of the report by John McCartin (EPP-ED, Ireland) on the discharge of the budget for 2000. The Budget Commissioner, Michaele Schreyer, and a member of the Court of Auditors, Mr Engwirda, also attended the hearing.
Ms Theato said that their political message was that the financing of enlargement had to be implemented without any problems. The Budgetary Control Committee asked the Commissioners about problems with the discharge and the slowness of implementing the aid in question, and also about protecting the EU's financial interests through the controls that have been set up and about the effectiveness of co-ordination at the Commission. Mr Verheugen was at great pains to reassure them, explaining that by the end of 2002, the Commission would have a clearer view of the administrative capacities of the candidate countries, adding that the sheer scale of the exercise was what had caused problems to date. He reiterated his confidence in the Commission's delegations in the candidate countries, welcoming the progress they had made in setting up structures to combat fraud (along the lines of OLAF). The Commission would honour its pledges to the countries that were not in the first group, he asserted. Mr Fischler also stressed the importance of combating fraud and when asked about delays in payments to the candidate countries, he said that the important thing was not the amount of money paid out but transparency and traceabilty, adding that the candidate countries would benefit from SAPARD funding until the end of 2003. To questions about whether too many demands were being placed on the candidate countries, he replied that they had to prepare themselves on time since they might become new Member States in two years' time and it would not be appropriate to give the impression that they would not be able to deal with their obligations as future Member States.