My Lords, given the composition of the committee of your Lordships' House which wrote this report, I suppose we should not be too shocked that it has produced such a masterpiece—a masterpiece of Euro-philiac forgiveness of the sins of their beloved project of European integration. I pointed out the continuing problem of the heavily biased membership of our European Select Committees when the House approved it at the start of this Session. If we look at the Select Committee which validated this unfortunate report, we detect only one reasonably sound Euro-sceptic and one rather pallid imitation out of the 18 Peers who sit on it. As far as I am aware, nearly all the other 16 are among the most ardent Euro-philes in your Lordships’ House, including the chairman, for whom I have much personal affection. Sub-Committee A, which produced this report, follows the same pattern with only one Euro-sceptic out of its 10 members and a Euro-phile chairman. I fear that all other sub-committees are the same.
That being so, it is not surprising that the report does its best to excuse the inexcusable and to wander round all over the place without pinning the blame for the EU’s financial shambles firmly where it belongs; that is, with the European Commission in Brussels. I say that the Commission is responsible because that is the legal position under the Treaty establishing the European Community, principally under Article 274 thereof. I know that it is wearisome, but I fear that I should quote the relevant extract. Article 274 states that, "““the Commission shall implement the budget … on its own responsibility … having regard to the principles of sound financial management. Member States shall cooperate with the Commission to ensure that the appropriations are used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management””."
There are several other clauses in this part of the treaty which confirm this position. I would think that that seems clear enough, as I trust your Lordships will agree. The rules concerning the responsibility of financial controllers and authorising and accounting officers derive their authority from Article 279 and give prime responsibility to the chief accounting officer—Marta Andreasen that was, and Mr Brian Gray now.
The Commission’s powers extend to withholding the money from member states if it is not satisfied that they are using it properly, so it really is in the driving seat. It could, for instance, insist on an independent audit of any recipient country’s expenditure, and it could insist that that country’s Prime Minister—or head of Treasury, or whoever—signed off for it. But no, that would not be the communautaire way of doing things: no one signs off for anything, not even the chief accounting officer. How long would a public company last in the real world if the directors refused to sign the accounts? How long would it last if its own internal auditors refused to give it a clean bill of health—there is no such thing as an external audit of any EU institution, a point I shall come back to later—not even for one year, and certainly not for the 12 years which is the EU’s proud record? Let us be in no doubt that the responsibility for this amazing state of affairs lies firmly with the Commission.
I have mentioned Marta Andreasen, who gave evidence to the committee, and I believe that my noble friend Lord Willoughby de Broke will be addressing some of his remarks to her case. But I want briefly to record my admiration for this honourable and courageous lady who, for her honesty in refusing to sign the EU’s obviously bogus 2001 accounts, was sacked and treated with contempt by the European Union. She has been defamed under privilege in your Lordships’ sub-committee by the man most responsible for her treatment, the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, who I am sorry but not surprised to see is not in his place.
EU: Financial Management and Fraud (EUC Report)
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Pearson of Rannoch
(UK Independence Party)
in the House of Lords on Monday, 5 March 2007.
It occurred during Debates on select committee report on EU: Financial Management and Fraud (EUC Report).
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
690 c79-80 
Session
2006-07
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2023-12-15 11:58:43 +0000
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