Sanatarkat istuntoselostukset

Tiistai 7. heinäkuuta 2015 - Strasbourg

5.1. Tilintarkastustuomioistuimen jäsenen nimittäminen - Bettina Michelle Jakobsen (A8-0198/2015 - Igor Šoltes) (äänestys)

- Avant le vote:

  Igor Šoltes, rapporteur. – Madam President, the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) has evaluated the credentials of Bettina Michelle Jakobsen, the Council’s nominee for membership of the Court of Auditors, and heard Ms Jakobsen at the Committee’s meeting of 17 June.

Ms Jakobsen’s career and her professional background as an auditor, including serving as Assistant Auditor-General in Denmark since 2005, are truly excellent. They demonstrate her technical competence, her professional commitment and her full independence. These are all qualities which I believe should become the standard for nominees. Apart from that, with our positive vote, Bettina Jakobsen will be only the fifth female Member of the European Court of Auditors in its current composition. That means that the Member States also need to make further strong efforts to achieve a more gender-balanced institution.

Ms Jakobsen’s hearing before the CONT Committee demonstrated her commitment to good cooperation between the European Court of Auditors and the European Parliament in general and with the CONT Committee in particular. This cooperation must be based on mutual respect and understanding of the importance of effective European Union spending and policy management.

At this opportunity, allow me to highlight that I fully support the initiative to update the questionnaire addressed to nominees to ensure an even more comprehensive insight into nominees’ careers, independence and possible conflicts of interests.

In the CONT Committee, we fully support the European Court of Auditors’ ambitions to increase its focus on performance and value-for-money audits and to work more closely with the European Parliament and other stakeholders when establishing its reports programme, to help ensure the relevance of its work.

As a former Auditor-General myself, it is with deep respect for Ms Jakobsen’s professional background and with full support for her candidacy, as expressed by the CONT Committee, that I ask this House to follow the CONT Committee’s recommendation and vote ‘yes’ to Ms Bettina Michelle Jakobsen being appointed the new Danish Member of the European Court of Auditors.