Common foreign and security policy CFSP: implementation of expenditure, opinion 1/97 Court of Auditors

In adopting the report by Mrs Edith MÜLLER (Greens, D) on the implementation of expenditure under the common foreign and security policy, Parliament called for a review of the interinstitutional agreement of 16 July 1997 on the financing of the CFSP with the aim of arriving at a modus vivendi concerning the implementation and supervision of joint actions, which should ensure that: - in future the Commission was fully involved in and consulted on the planning and preparation of joint actions from the outset, - cooperation between the Council Presidency and the Commission in implementing joint actions followed clear operational rules, while leaving the Commission free to implement the budget under its own responsibility, - CFSP envoys could be questioned by Parliament on the implementation of expenditure, -statements of accounts and consolidated accounts were drawn up for each joint action, providing full information on the Community funds invested and the contributions of other donors. Noting that the 1997 interinstitutional agreement did not resolve the problems highlighted by the Court of Auditors with regard to powers and the monitoring of CFSP joint actions, Parliament also called for the review of this agreement to consider procedural questions of a technical nature. It wished in particular for the role of the Commission to be clarified which, as the body responsible for the implementation of the budget, should participate fully alongside the Council and the Presidency in the adoption of the procedures for the consultation and information of Parliament. Lastly, Parliament called on the Member States to establish a CFSP staff reserve to finance joint actions and that a special report should be published by the Court of Auditors two years after the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty on the implementation of CFSP expenditure. �