Brussels, 10/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - During its meeting on 7 May, the Ecofin Council should adopt conclusions whereby it will stress with interest that "after a long period of reorganisation, the conditions seem to be met for the Anti-Fraud Office to be able to carry out its mission in satisfactory and stable conditions". The draft conclusions (elaborated by the Council's group to fight against fraud), which was the subject of an agreement within the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) more specifically covers the latest OLAF activity reports (see EUROPE of 23 October). In this text, the Council notes that efforts have been made in internal inquiry activities concerning the Community institutions and bodies, while noting the "existence of certain difficulties evoked by the surveillance committee concerning the extent of OLAF control in the unfolding of internal inquiries".
OLAF is invited to actively pursue its operational activities and to fix for this priorities, objectives and performance criteria, and to present an annual programme of activities "with a view to ensuring better a priori consistency in its interventions". This programme should also allow follow-up and evaluation of the results obtained, and specific attention should be paid to the development of preventive measures. Furthermore, the Council shares the wish expressed by the surveillance committee to reflect on the arrangements for OLAF cooperation with Eurojust, one can read in the proposed conclusions.
There is also recapitulation of the different measures taken by OLAF to guarantee "its independence and transparency of operation, as well as to improve effectiveness of management and follow-up of inquiries": - the introduction of the manual of this institution's methods and procedures; - the installation of the system for managing issues; - the creation of a third directorate on "intelligence, operational strategy and information technology"; - and the recruitment of experts in legal and judiciary matters or the creation of a unit responsible for following up the financial aspects of the investigations (including recovery).