2001 BUDGET DISCHARGE: STING APPEARS TO HAVE GONE OUT OF FORMER ACCOUNTANT SCANDAL.

The session began with an exchange of views with Greece's Secretary of State for the Budget George Floridis, who poured cold water on the lukewarm challenges from certain quarters. Whereas, for example, Gabriele Stauner (EPP-ED, Germany) wondered: "Do we really believe that the accounting system will be ready in 2005? I think the Commission is playing for time, safe in the knowledge that many of us will no longer be here", Mr Floridis exclaimed: "Maybe I am overly optimistic but I believe the Commission is complying with the demands of the Court of Auditors and is not seeking to waste time; The institutions are set down in continuity and there will be a Budgetary Control Committee after the next elections to resume work. Some very unjust criticism has been bandied about and I do not believe it is a good approach to stoke conspiracies against other institutions". Responding to a question from Jan Mulder (ELDR, Netherlands) concerning the Greek accounting system, the Secretary of State acknowledged that "it needs to be modernised further to be made compatible with that of the EU". Mr Floridis also drew the Parliamentary Committee's attention to the accounting system in the candidate countries which has serious weaknesses and will pose problems for the absorption of EU credits".

The hearing of Jules Muis began with a declaration by the Chair of the Budgetary Control Committee, Diemut Theato (EPP-ED, Germany), welcoming the fact that the letter from the Director-General of the Internal Audit Service had finally been forwarded to the Parliamentary Committee along with other documents. However, she added: "with all the experience of recent years, why are documents still only provided bit by bit and at our insistence?" Here again the charge fell flat, fielded this time by the rapporteur Paulo Casaca himself: "Permit me to contradict you, but it is clear this was an internal document destined for Mr Kinnock. Since it is confidential, there is no reason why the Committee on Budgetary Control should have access to it. One needs to know the difference between public and confidential documents. I, for my part, have received all the documents I requested from the European Commission and only encountered problems in securing documents on Eurostat from OLAF", he indicated.

The principal controversy in the 2001 discharge procedure concerns a case of misappropriation of funds linked to Eurostat (see European Report 2753 for further details). "Mr Casaca has...