THE FUTURE OF THE EC DEVELOPMENT BUDGET
European Parliamentary Scrutiny of the Development
Budget
77. DFID pointed out in evidence that there is a
lack of opportunity for detailed European Parliamentary scrutiny
of the overall budget for external action:
"Within the European Parliament, which has final
authority over budget allocations, there is an active Development
Committee which looks closely at policy issues. But there is no
single Committee dedicated to the external assistance budget able
to take an effective view of relative priorities."[142]
Members of the European Parliament's Development
and Cooperation Committee told us in Brussels that the Committee
had no formal role in commenting upon the Financial Perspective
or Agenda 2000. Given the sheer volume of official development
assistance and official aid now being distributed by the EC, we
find this lack of accountability totally unacceptable. We believe
that the role of the European Parliament's Development and Cooperation
Committee, which is active in its contribution to policy discussions,
should be strengthened to include scrutiny of the EC budget.
78. The reforms we advocate in this Report, both
to the structure of the Commission and the budget, will require
support across the Community, from all member states, if they
are to be implemented. We therefore urge the Parliamentary Committees
of other member states with responsibility for development to
consider and support our analysis and recommendations.
142 DFID Institutional Strategy Paper on the EC p.3 Back
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