1996 discharge: EC general budget

Commissioner Liikanen took note of the decision to defer discharge and assured Parliament that the Commission would do everything in its power to comply with these wishes. With regard to the fight against fraud, the Commission was looking at measures involving the consolidation of the powers and mandate of UCLAF within the Commission to ensure its independence. As regards SMEs, the Commission had launched an overall assessment of aid programmes, the final result of which should be available towards the end of the year. In the external policy field, the Commission had proposed a review of the regulations on reconstruction aid in the former Yugoslavia and would strengthen its delegation in Sarajevo. As regards the decentralisation of Phare activities, the Commission was actively pursuing its consideration of the possibilities and, as regards the audits by the Court of Auditors on the activities of the European Investment Fund, a new meeting would be proposed with the Court for the purpose of reaching an agreement on this issue. Finally, in the field of administrative and budget management, the Commission had undertaken a vast programme of internal reform. The Commissioner considered that the SEM 2000 initiative had provided the foundations and instruments to build up healthy financial management and the MAP 2000 project complemented this in the personnel and administrative field as it set out a framework for modernisation based on the principles of decentralisation, simplification and rationalisation. In addition, the Commission was now dealing with the difficult question of the linguistic implications of the forthcoming enlargements.