Finance strategy looks for structural change

Date: 02/11/1995

THE European Commission is expected to endorse the second stage of its strategy to tighten up its internal financial management next week. The new rules being prepared by Personnel and Budget Commissioner Erkki Liikanen are designed to ensure better value for money from annual EU spending.

They will concentrate on organisational and structural changes within the institution with special emphasis on evaluating programmes both before they are approved and once they are completed. The exercise will involve a stronger role throughout the Commission for the budget and financial control directorates-general and greater responsibility on officials in charge of individual programmes.

In future, operational and administrative decisions will be taken at the same time, just as they are in member states. Thus, when priority action is decided either for Central and Eastern Europe or the Mediterranean, the decision will include not just the policies to be followed as at present but agreement on the staff required to implement them.

The Commission is winning political backing from the European Parliament for its new financial control plans. When it requested extra staff in next year's budget to strengthen its financial management team, MEPs increased the number of director-level (A2) posts from the two requested to eight.

Anti-fraud Commissioner Anita Gradin gave MEPs a hint of the new measures when she addressed the institutional affairs committee earlier this week, pointing to a better balance between policy and financial issues and proper evaluation of spending priorities.

By adopting the second stage next week, the Commission will show its financial management programme is being pursued independently of any criticism likely to emerge from the Court of Auditors' annual report due on 14 November.