Strasbourg, 12/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has given a discharge to the European Commission for the execution of the Community budget for 2003, thus giving its approval on Wednesday to the report by British Labour Party member Terry Wynn (EUROPE 8912). The discharge was approved by a very large majority (542 votes for, 51 against, with three abstentions), as was Mr Wynn's report (546 votes for, 40 against, 38 abstentions) calling for the Commission to provide provisions compelling its auditors to “certify accounts” and Member States to publish a declaration certifying the legality of the operations. At the plenary Mr Wynn declared that, “If its recommendations are implemented by the institutions, then the Holy Grail of a positive Statement of Assurance - DAS - will be in sight. However, to get to that point we will need some real commitment and cooperation from the Commission, the Court of Auditors and the Member States”. Wynn added during the press conference that he hoped “these measures will eventually bear fruit, possibly in time for the 2005 discharge, in two year' time. Commissioner Siim Kallas affirmed during the plenary that “the ball is now in our court and with the Council; we will try to send it back with both sped and precision. Fortunately, contrary to tennis, this is a game where everybody wins. Indeed, we all win if the four relevant institutions, the Commission, the Council, the European Parliament and the Court of Auditors, are able to agree on a road map towards a positive DAS in the near future”. Mr Kallas indicated that he would present the College of Commissioners with a road map for a positive DAS, before July 2005.
By adopting the report of Mr Wynn, the EP deplores the “hostility” of the Commission to strengthening the role of the auditors and considers that the assurance provided by the Directors General should be supported by an overall assurance by the auditor. It therefore expects the Commission to include in its expected proposal to amend the financial regulations, provisions that oblige the auditor to certify the accounts (for example on the basis of systematic checks and on site inspections). On this point, some people at the Commission fear that the implementation of a “parallel structure” for administrative management could impact significantly on the current system. The EP is also calling on the Commission to display greater rigour in controlling the agencies incurring expenditure and to not tolerate incompetence.
The EP has also adopted the following reports: - Alexander Stubb (EPP-ED, Finnish) who found no problem in giving the other EU institutions quitus (Council, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions and the European Ombudsman); - Inés Ayala Sender (PES, Spain) and Carl Schlyter (Greens/EFA, Sweden) giving a discharge to the directors of the decentralised agencies; - Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulo (PES, Greece) on the execution in 2003 of budgets for the 6,7,8 and 9th European Development Fund (EDF).