Community aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special report 2/2000, Court of Auditors

The committee adopted the report by Bart STAES (Greens/EFA, B) on the Court of Auditors' special report. The committee expressed support for the 'devolution' policy pursued by the Commission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had helped to increase and improve its staffing, particularly in the areas of financial control and audit. It was impressed by the improved financial management measures which the Office of the High Representative (OHR) had adopted since March 1999. However, it urged the OHR and the Commission to submit a detailed overview of the facts which had led to "conflicts of interest" and to make this overview available to the EP and OLAF. The Commission was asked to provide Parliament with an evaluation of all ex post audits performed so that it could ascertain, under the discharge procedure, whether proper administrative and financial control was now guaranteed. The committee stressed the need to ensure maximum staff continuity, by means of suitable contracts, in the OHR anti-fraud unit. It called on the Commission to give more precise replies regarding certain programmes and projects that had received funding, involving the media sector and support for civil society. It urged the Commission to sign framework agreements with the OSCE for co-financing projects such as the monitoring of elections. It recommended that civil society be promoted by means of more purposeful policies and clearly formulated priorities for the Balkans, using the "Road Map" drawn up by the Commission (a set of specific measures to be implemented in accordance with a specific timetable). It also wanted Bosnia-Herzegovina to be allocated sufficient funding making it possible to provide further support for mine clearance and facilitate the country's reconstruction and the return of refugees. The Commission was asked, as part of the discharge procedure for 1999, to provide Parliament with an overview of the results attained by the programme for return of refugees financed in Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1996.�