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15/04/2004
Prodi Challenged over Eurostat

British Conservatives have secured the support of the 232-strong majority EPP-ED group to next week challenge Romano Prodi and the European Commission over its handling of the Eurostat scandal.

Hans-Gert Poettering, the leader of the EPP-ED Group, has tabled a formal request for a debate over Eurostat next week in Strasbourg in conjunction with British Conservative James Elles MEP, who played a central role in the parliamentary debates that led to the resignation of the Santer Commission in 1999.

The request raises a range of points over the Commission's response to the Eurostat affair. Currently, Commissioners do not take political responsibility for their departments, resulting in a major failure of accountability. The Commission has not demonstrated that is has learnt lessons from the Eurostat affair, and does not have in place adequate mechanisms to identify and then address financial mismanagement and possible fraud.

In a parallel move, James Elles, the Vice-President of the EPP-ED Group, has also tabled an amendment to the debate on procedures for approval of the EU's 2002 accounts, proposing a postponement of the approval of the accounts until OLAF, the EU's fraud office, has reported on the Eurostat affair.

Jonathan Evans MEP, Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, said: "I am delighted that we have secured the agreement of the 232-strong EPP-ED Group to express our Group's strong concern at the Commission's failure properly to allocate responsibility for the Eurostat affair. Now that the Commissioner most heavily implicated, Pedro Solbes-Mira, has announced his resignation in order to return to domestic Spanish politics, it is important that the remaining and replacement Commissioners should recognise the level of Parliamentary concern. No-one has done more to expose cases of EU fraud and mismanagement than Conservative MEPs who have highlighted issues raised by a number of whistle-blowers and pressed relentlessly for reform. We will continue to do so."

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