Brussels, 19/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - Among the measures proposed for increasing transparency at the EU, the European Parliament affirmed on Tuesday 19 February that each institution should adopt rules of professional ethics for its members, based on those regarding financial interest practices. By adopting the report of José Javier Pomés Ruiz (EPP-ED, Spain) on transparency in the financial area, the EP is calling on the European Commission to set up a “fully operational” information system for the public on beneficiaries of European Union subsidies and sums that need recovering, before the next European elections of 2009. According to MEPs, the Commission should improve information to the public on agricultural spending and beneficiaries.
Parliamentarians are again highlighting the urgent need to implement a code on professional ethics at the European anti-fraud office (OLAF), in order to guarantee the presumption of beneficiaries' innocence when they are the subject of lengthy and damaging investigations. This should be done when these parties have been found innocent by the legal authorities but where they cannot be compensated for damages and losses sustained during the investigation in question. The Commission is also being invited to communicate the names and amounts involved in the recoveries to the budgetary authority and public, as well as the final destination of these payments.
The EP is also asking the Commission to look at how a public black list can be established in cases of proven fraud. In the context of the experts' group advising the Commission, the Parliament is calling on the Commission to carry out a comprehensive re-examination of the composition of these groups before the end of 2008 and to take measures, “to ensure a balanced representation of interest groups”. MEPs are insisting that the Commission implements, before the end of 2008, “an open, transparent and inclusive process for selecting members of new expert groups”. (L.C.)