Verbatim report of proceedings

Thursday, 2 February 2006 - Brussels

8.10. National management declarations – Responsibilities of the Member States in executing the EU budget (vote)

- Before the vote:

  Terence Wynn (PSE). – Mr President, I rise under Rule 108. We are about to vote on a resolution which is in response to an oral question tabled to the Council last night. This is an extremely important issue for Parliament to try to ensure that taxpayers’ money is managed and supervised correctly within the Member States.

Within the oral question there were six specific questions and there was also an additional verbal question which was: will the Council discuss this with Parliament? We had a ten-minute statement from the Presidency which answered none of the seven questions. Whilst I would ask Members to support this text in its entirety, could I ask the President to ask the Council if we could have the answers in writing, please.

(Applause)

  President. – That goes without saying, Mr Wynn. The Presidency’s role consists of making sure, as far as possible, that Parliament’s decisions are enforced and respected by the Council. The request will therefore be sent to the Council.