Press Release: Commission to speed up payments

The Commission intends to make its payments faster in future. Last year only about two thirds of all payments were made within the 60-day limit the Commission has set itself. One of the reasons for this was that the number of payment orders to be made each year has risen in four years to about 356 000 (plus 80% ). “Payments ought to be made on time as a matter of course, by the Commission too”, explained Michaele Schreyer, Budget Commissioner, who laid out on 19 July 2000 an action plan for faster payments before the Commission. “It is just not acceptable for payments out of the Community budget to take more than 60 days. The Commission has set itself a clear objective of seriously improving matters.”