EP-Commissie Begrotingscontrole vindt regels te star (en)

The Spanish Secretary of State travelled to Brussels as the representative of the Spanish Presidency of the EU to defend management of the 2008 European budget in the European Parliament committee that is responsible for monitoring it.

In his speech to the Committee, Carlos Ocaña advocated more flexible control rules that are “not more lenient, just quicker”.

Ocaña pointed out that the Council is in favour of introducing “clear and simple” rules and regulations that can be uniformly applied, and stated his belief in the need for these controls, as well as exchange of available information, to be efficient and effective.

After stating that no cases of fraud had been detected, Ocaña said that the improved management of EU funds is "promising", going on to say that "there is zero tolerance for fraud, but we must not confuse errors with fraud”.

He added that the Court of Auditors i stated that errors are occasionally the result of excessively complex legislation.

According to the speeches of some MEPs who are critical of the controls applied in this area, Ocaña said that "We must improve management of the EU budget. We must be prudent, but we must not exaggerate, because it is not that unsatisfactory. We must work to simplify procedures”.