Brussels, 24/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the European Commission took note of the Annual Activity Reports from all Directors General and Heads of Service (see Europe of 22/23 July, p.9). This is the first self-assessment exercise, one of the cornerstones of the internal administrative reform piloted by Commissioner Neil Kinnock, in which several of the 35 high ranking officials in question have refused to provide the annual declaration guaranteeing the legality and proper functioning of operations and good use of resources.
A Commission Communication summarising the Annual Activity Reports (AAR) also includes an 18-point action plan focussing on the expected impact of the implementation in 2003 of the new Financial regulation and management by activity, outlining ways of settling the problem of inadequate staff training and increasing protection of the EU's financial interests. The reservations expressed by the Directors General and Heads of Service outline problems changing their departments to meet the new financial control procedures since a substantial part of the budget (agriculture, the Structural Funds and external aid) is controlled by Member States. Another area of concern: the top levels of the Commission's hierarchy are concerned about the implementation of the Community acquis in candidate countries and the level of preparation of various departments.
Other comments published in the Communication cover the following problems: concerns about financial management systems and the validity of internal control (procedure documentation, controlling procedures for managing contracts, etc); concerns about how shared or decentralised management operates (decentralised bodies where the Director General does not have a mandate for effective control); problems with carrying out audits (problems with resources or problems in getting the necessary information from Member States, several Director Generals' lack of experience in how internal audit structures function); lack of staff (including weaknesses in the recruitment procedure); and delays in updating accounting systems and the accounting framework.
The Communication also highlights great progress in moving in the direction of achieving the Commission's strategic objectives and analyses the Regional Directors' comments and reservations about the current management systems, proposing targeted action to deal with the reported shortcomings. Once adopted, all the specific action plans (together with the full set of AAR and declarations of guarantee will be sent by the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors. The different Commissioners and Director Generals will present them to MEPs in the relevant EP Committees.
Kinnock made the following statement to the press: "Today's review fulfils another major pledge of the Commission Reform Strategy. We undertook to ensure regular, thorough and comprehensive reporting on the work of all Departments to the College by senior management in order to measure the degree to which primary objectives are being reached and to obtain details of the management systems needed to achieve those objectives. The outcome is a series of very candid documents that offer comprehensive analysis and provide both positive and critical assessments of the current systems…. We now have a very solid foundation of the Action Plans which will quickly be compiled in order to provide systematic means of pursuing remedy and gaining improvement. These first Annual Reports also provide a base line for the in-depth Internal Audits which are about to commence and will be undertaken up to the end of 2003. … As we promised when we started Reform, however, we are also prepared to look for shortcomings, to identify means of overcoming them, to report the whole picture internally and externally, and then to get on with making further effective change. We are keeping that promise. All of the resulting activities help to make the Commission more open and better managed."