European Parliament approves Budget Discharge, calls for extension of EAR mandate

Thessaloniki 26 April 2007: The European Parliament has given a positive assessment of the work of the European Agency for Reconstruction, approving its expenditures for 2005 and calling for the extension of the life of the Agency.

The statements were part of a report on the 2005 expenditures of the European Institutions, including the Agency, a process known as the “discharge”.

In the discharge, issued by the European Parliament on 24 April 2007, specifically lauds the Agency’s staff for its professionalism and hard work:

“[The European Parliament] Congratulates the Director and its staff for the work done in a very difficult environment improving considerably the image of the EU and its visibility”

The Parliament states that the Agency does not only have the infrastructure to swiftly implement EU assistance but also a pool of highly experienced staff with valuable know-how in post-conflict reconstruction.

The European Parliament therefore “insists” that the Commission prolong the activities of the Agency and use it to carry out certain EU external tasks, the “RELEX external actions Agency”.

In fact, it calls on the Commission to explain to the Parliament why it did not task the Agency of implementing the Union’s special programme for the northern part of Cyprus and aid to the Palestinian population.

The parliament concludes that “the Agency could play a most efficient role in areas where traditional development assistance cannot be implemented; considers also that this would significantly increase the EU’s visibility.”

The full discharge on the Agency is found at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-20070136+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN