EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ««« « « « « 1999 « « 2004 ««« Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy 2002/2101(DEC) 19 February 2003 OPINION of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy for the Committee on Budgetary Control on the discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2001 financial year (Commission) (SEC(2002) 403 – C5-0239/2002 – 2002/2101(DEC)) Draftsman: Hannes Swoboda AD\490306EN.doc PE 320.267/DEF EN EN PE 320.267/DEF 2/5 AD\490306EN.doc EN PROCEDURE The Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy appointed Hannes Swoboda draftsman at its meeting of 9 September 2002. It considered the draft opinion at its meeting of 19 February 2003. At this meeting it adopted the following conclusions unanimously. The following were present for the vote Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourneacting chairperson, , Hannes Swoboda (draftsman), Ole Andreasen, John Walls Cushnahan, Georg Jarzembowski (for Michael Gahler),, Hugues Martin, Philippe Morillon, Doris Pack (for Alfred Gomolka), Jacques F. Poos, Ioannis Souladakis, Ilkka Suominen. AD\490306EN.doc 3/5 PE 320.267/DEF EN CONCLUSIONS The Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following points in its motion for a resolution: VII. Underimplementation of the Budget B. SAPARD Paragraph 49 (to be modified as follows) Recommends that, exceptionally, the n+2 rule not be applied to SAPARD in order to prevent cancellation of large sums at the end of 2004 and 2005, precisely because of the structural difficulties of farming in those countries; C. PHARE Paragraph 50a (new) Is deeply concerned with the high level of outstanding commitments confirmed by the Court of Auditors under the Phare programme at the end of 2001 (more than 2.3 billion Euro); D. IMPROVING FINANCIAL LIABILITY IN CANDIDATE COUNTRIES Paragraph 50b (new) Reiterates that combating fraud and corruption as well as protecting the EU financial interests must be absolute priorities in all candidate countries; calls on the Commission to ensure that all candidate countries implement proper accounting, audit and control systems; set up anti fraud units to co-operate with the European Antifraud Office (OLAF); and further improve co-operation between their national audit bodies and the European Court of Auditors; XI. External Policies (Heading 4 FP) Paragraph 73 (add at the end) Calls on the Commission to take the necessary measures in order to ensure that all financial and technical co-operation assistance to the Palestinian Territories can be reliably accounted for; notes the recent Olaf's decision to open an external investigation in conformity with article 5.1 of Regulation (EC 1073/1999), in relation to allegations of misuse of funds donated by the European Union in the context of EU budgetary support to the Palestinian Authority; expects that its results will bring further transparency to the use of EU financial assistance in this sector; invites the Commission to reach an agreement with the Israeli Government ensuring that no further destruction of the projects financed by the EU will be done; PE 320.267/DEF 4/5 AD\490306EN.doc EN Paragraph 73a (new) Calls on the Commission to present, before the final vote on the 2001 discharge, detailed information on the use of the EU budgetary resources in 2001 in favour of KEDO; Paragraph 73b (new) Notes with concern the increasing outstanding commitments in external policy sectors (Heading 4 FP) and insists on the need for the Commission to improve the quality of the justifications of the budgetary transfers and respect the political priorities and budget guidelines as defined by the European Parliament; Paragraph 73c (new) Notes the answers given by the Commission on the use of the EU budget and EDF resources under United Nations Programmes; is of the opinion that the agreement reached between the Commission and the UN still needs to be improved, in order to ensure proper and timely co-operation between the EU and UN agencies; insists for the EU delegations to be allowed sufficient time for giving their opinions on proposals made by NGO's and for implementing alternative procedures to shorten time between NGO's submission of proposals and signing of contracts; Paragraph 73d (new) Calls on the Commission to more clearly establish the added value of macrofinancial assistance (called Structural Adjustment Facility in the Mediterranean countries (SAF)); to establish an harmonised approach for all beneficiary countries and improve transparency in the decision making process for the various phases of their management; underlines the need for urgent considerable improvement of monitoring the financial management in beneficiary countries and in carrying out expert evaluations of the assistance; AD\490306EN.doc 5/5 PE 320.267/DEF EN.