Press Release: Commission Reform Progress Report: Profound extensive modernisation is operational and will be sustained

The European Commission adopted on 9 February 2004 the latest in its series of Reform Progress Reports. The Report which covers 2003 - shows that the Commission has successfully installed 95 out of the 98 modernisation commitments listed in the March 2000 Reform Strategy White Paper Action Plan, that the remaining Actions are in the course of application, and that profound updating of the Staff Regulations will come into effect, on schedule, on 1 May 2004. The Report includes numerous practical examples of the way in which comprehensive Commission Reform is meeting the strategic objectives of promoting higher quality service to the public, employing new means of effective planning of tasks and resources, modernising personnel policy, implementing the highest modern standards of internal control and financial management, and generating cost savings. The report also details - inter alia - the further reinforcing measures being taken in response to irregular practises detected in Eurostat; it incorporates new proposals relating to the work of the EU's anti-fraud office, OLAF; and it sets out guidelines to improve the use of existing rules to facilitate 'whistleblowing'.

European Commission: Reforming the Commission http://ec.europa.eu/comm/reform/index_en.htm

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