BRUSSELS, 28/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the European Commission confirmed having given the final report from the internal audit service on the alleged misappropriation of funds within Eurostat to the presidents of European Parliament political parties and members of the Budgetary Control Committee (Cocobu) on Friday. According to the Commission, the report, which will be debated on 3 November within Cocubu, will confirm the conclusions of the interim report published at the end of September, which hadn't been able to testify to embezzlement proved after 1999. “The content and the conclusions of the report confirm the conclusions of the interim report published on 25 September and the policy conclusion remains the same” the Commission's spokesman Reijo Kemppinen declared on Monday.
During the hearing before the EP conference of presidents on 25 September, Romano Prodi had refused to request the resignation of Commissioner Pedro Solbes, who is responsible for Eurostat. The interim report from the Commission's internal audit service had not been able to testify to embezzlement proved after 1999, but had underlined the “lack of transparency” within Eurostat and the persistence of “worrying elements” inherited from former practice.
The president of the EP's EDD group, the Dane Jens-Peter Bonde believes on the other hand that the report shows that the Commission's accounts system “is still entirely open to fraud”. M. Bonde requested an independent enquiry from the Commission, considering that M. Solbes should “accept his political responsibility and resign”.