MEPs step up reform pressure on Kinnock

Date: 13/01/2000

By Gareth Harding

MEPS will fire a warning shot across European Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock's bows next week when they call for a radical overhaul of the way the institution operates.

A report by Dutch Liberal MEP Louse-wies van der Laan will recommend signing off the accounts for the EU's 1997 budget, but call for a shake-up in the way the Commission doles out money in the future.

Likewise, a report by Dutch Socialist Michiel van Hulthen on the committee of wise men's second report on Commission reform will welcome the changes made by Kinnock so far but call for these to be accelerated.

The European Parliament delayed its decision on whether to discharge the 1997 budget last May because of the political vacuum created by the resignation of the Santer Commission. The assembly also wanted to tie signing off the 1997 accounts to Kinnock's reform plans, which are due to be unveiled on 1 March.

In her report, Van Der Laan claims the Commission is "still far too inclined to regard the annual report of the Court of Auditors as an irritating ritual rather than a useful contribution to the improvement of financial management".

She insists that the Commission should systematically follow up the Court's recommendations for reforming financial controls, and says that where complaints are repeated two years in a row, "management should be held accountable for persistent failure to improve the situation".

Her report also recommends that member states, which are responsible for disbursing more than 80% of the money lost to fraud, should work more closely with the Court to eradicate abuses of EU funds.

Serious problems with Union aid to Palestine were identified in the Court's report on the 1997 budget and Van Der Laan says the Commission should draw lessons from this experience for its entire foreign-aid programme and make plans for fundamental reforms by the end of March. Among the changes the Parliament is likely to back next week are prioritising aid to support key EU goals; setting performance targets for the deliverance of aid; and establishing clearer tendering rules for outside contractors.

Van Hulthen's report adopts many of the suggestions made by the committee of wise men last September. But he is more forthright in his calls for comprehensive changes to Commission staffing policy. "The Commission's existing human resources policy is no longer suited to the requirements of a modern, multinational organisation," he insists, calling for an end to age discrimination, new entry competitions for would-be officials and a "fundamental review" of the institution's generous allowances system.

Van Hulthen also believes the Commission is not the only EU body in need of reform. "Much remains to be done to improve the financial probity of the Parliament," he warns.

MEPs will fire a warning shot across European Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock's bows when they call for a radical overhaul of the way the institution operates.