Brussels, 20/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - Two days away from Wednesday's general elections, the Dutch government made a decision last Friday on the finance minister, Gerrit Zalm's proposal for adopting “national declarations” guaranteeing the national parliament and European institutions' effective management and expenditure of European funds. An initial declaration will be made by the government in 2007 covering expenses for the 2006 European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), followed in 2008 by an initial declaration on spending in 2007 on Structural Funds. In a press release published on Monday the government underlined that, “For twelve years now, the European Court of Auditors has not been able to provide unqualified assurance on the regular spending of the European budget with a positive Declaration of assurance (DAS). This undermines the credibility of the European Union towards its citizens. Proposals by the European Commission to improve the financial management, amongst which the implementation of a national declaration, now takes its own responsibility by voluntarily introducing a system of a national declaration”.
The Hague government is launching an appeal to other Member States to do the same. In exchange, the Netherlands is hoping that administrative charges for financial control imposed “by Brussels” will be reduced once the system of national declaration will have proved its effectiveness. This dossier will be examined on Tuesday 21 November during negotiations between the Council and Parliament on updating provisions in the financial regulation. The EP, nevertheless, invited Member States to accept these national declarations. (hb)