European Commission, administrative reform: management of Community programmes, statute of executive agencies

The committee adopted the report by Mr Jean-Louis BOURLANGES (EPP-ED, F) amending the proposal under the consultation procedure. While subscribing to the proposal in principle, the committee wanted externalisation to be restricted to tasks related to the management of Community programmes. It said that tasks related to the Commission's public service activities may only be delegated to external agencies when justified because of their temporary nature or technical complexity. The committee wanted the Commission to be liable in law for the acts of an executive agency. Furthermore, the Commission should also be responsible for the overall implementation of the budget of those agencies, as MEPs made it clear that they would not accept separate discharge procedures for each individual agency. Finally, the committee wanted an external assessment report covering the first three years of operation of each executive agency to be drawn up in order to decide whether the proposed regulation was properly suited to the externalisation of Community programmes and to rectify any shortcomings where appropriate. �