Author (Person) | Bower, Helen |
---|---|
Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning |
Series Title | In Focus |
Series Details | 9.4.03 |
Publication Date | 09/04/2003 |
Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus |
After weeks of speculation, the European Parliament granted the 2001 budget discharge to the European Commission on 8 April 2003 but called on it 'to establish a modern, reliable and accurate accounting system for the financial year 2005'. 440 MEPs voted to adopt socialist Paul Casaca's report on the implementation of the 2001 budget whilst 67 MEPs voted against it and 14 abstained. The report, which was adopted by the Parliamentary Committee on Budgetary Control, on 24 March 2003 recommended that the European Parliament grant discharge to the 2001 budget but proposed a number of measures to be taken by the European Commission:
The European Commission's handling of the EU budget has been under Parliament scrutiny since Martha Andreasen, the chief accountant of the European Commission, was sacked after drawing attention to the vulnerability of the accounting system. This episode led some people to remind members of the Prodi Commission that their predecessors were forced to resign en masse in 1999 after the European Parliament failed to give its vote of confidence to the European Commission's handling of the budget. However, in this instance the question concerns the Commission's accounting system and its commitment to reform as opposed to allegations of corruption. But the controversy that has surrounded the 2001 budget did prompt Romano Prodi to order the publication of sensitive internal memos highlighting the scale of the problems in the EU budget department at the beginning of March, just weeks before the budget committee were due to vote on the discharge. The smaller political groups had particularly sought to oppose the discharge, claiming that it was time the European Parliament took action to rectify the imperfections in the managements of the EU funds. However, the larger European political parties supported the discharge, arguing that to oppose it now would only hinder the European Commission's reform of the accounting process. Speaking after the vote, the European Liberal Democrats budget control committee spokesman, Jan Mulder, said:
The discharge comes at a time when the European Parliament is embroiled in a row with the other key EU institution - the Council - over the financing of enlargement. The European Parliament has criticised the Council for attaching a deal on the financing of enlargement, which was agreed at the Copenhagen European Council, to the Treaty as Annex XV because the Parliament claims this infringes on the EP's budgetary rights and power of co-decision. Whilst the European Parliament has said that this will not stop it giving the formal go-ahead to the accession of ten new Member States, it is clear that the Parliament is determined to assert its role in the budgetary procedure. Helen Bower Compiled: Wednesday, 9 April 2003 The European Parliament granted the 2001 budget discharge to the European Commission on 8 April 2003 but called on it 'to establish a modern, reliable and accurate accounting system for the financial year 2005'. |
|
Subject Categories | Economic and Financial Affairs |
![](https://www.europeansources.info/wp-content/uploads/esologo2.png)