Europe - it doesn’t get any better

Keith Nuthall and Alan Osborn

European Commission President Romano Prodi has announced a string of reforms designed to strengthen his institution’s ability to fight internal fraud and mismanagement. Stung by criticisms following the Eurostat scandal that he has failed to deliver on his goal of curbing European Union (EU) financial misconduct, he told the European Parliament’s budgetary affairs committee that the Commission would increase the political responsibility of Commissioners for the actions of their officers. Prodi said a procedure would be introduced under which departmental director-generals would have to alert their Commissioner to any fact or development for which they might be politically responsible. The move follows claims by Commissioners that they were left unaware of the accounting irregularities at Eurostat. Prodi added that a new early warning system would be established for “collecting and cross-checking all information relating to allegations of fraud, irregularities or wrongdoing”. The Commission president also called on EU anti-fraud agency OLAF to focus on larger cases, passing on less important allegations “to the appropriate authorities”. He added that there should be improved flow of information between OLAF and institutions under investigation “so that these will be better able to take precautionary measures.” Mr Prodi’s proposals drew criticism from the committee, however; Spanish conservative MEP Juan José Bayona De Perogordo accused the Commission of shifting responsibility for the Eurostat affair on to OLAF “like a thief accusing the police of not having watched him closely enough.” Belgian Green MEP Bart Staes said the fact the scandal was highlighted by whistleblowers showed that the Commission “had failed terribly.” At a later meeting of the committee, Commission secretary-general David O’Sullivan said that the creation of a system of political responsibility for fraud would be difficult, given that there was “no common European model for structuring the relations between directors-general and Commissioners.” He claims not to have been informed of the seriousness of Eurostat’s problems until this May.