The Budget (BUDG) and Budgetary Control (CONT) Committees meet in a joint hearing on Financial regulation.

Brussels

LEWANDOWSKI, Janusz (EPP, PL)

Committee on Budgets

Multiannual financial framework 2014-2020 (T)

joint hearing

HAUG, Jutta (S&D, DE)

de MAGISTRIS, Luigi (ALDE, IT)

A sustainable review of the Financial Regulation - boosting Europe's progress 2020: extract from the joint hearing

Exterior view of European Parliament Brussels

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Luigi DE MAGISTRIS (ALDE, IT), Chairman Budgetary Control, The plan of regulation is very important for the political life of European institutions as well and at the end of the day the financial regulation is important to all European tax payers. This is even truer today, because there are countries and member states of the European Union that go through a very serious economic and financial crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Luigi DE MAGISTRIS (ALDE, IT), Chairman Budgetary Control, We want to reduce "red tape".Reducing red tape can actually make it easy to carry out serious checks and controls and the understanding of this comities become clear in many of our reports. We have 0 Tolerance when it comes to squandering of public moneys 0 tolerance when it comes to corruption. We want to enhance complete transparency in the use of European public funds and this is even more important after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty witch strengthens parliament's powers and hence strengthens the power of the budget committee in relation to the financial regulation and imposes even greater obligations on the member states.

SOUNDBITE (English), Janusz LEWANDOWSKI, Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Three major directions, that is about simplification, here is the input of a public consultation mostly visible, than leveraging and pulling resources, let us call blending of resources, as we are sure of the budgetary constraints will be as important for us in the future as they are now. Therefore leveraging communitarian sources and national states resources and private resources is a must and you have a big input into this sphere. Than enhance accountability as mentioned by both presidents, 80 percent is being implemented in the member states so it matters, it is very important and this up to the expectations of a court of auditors with general aim to go for the first ever positive declaration of assurance probably.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Luigi DE MAGISTRIS (ALDE, IT), Chairman Budgetary Control , And one of the main issues where today's meeting can give us food for thought and give us some ideas about, is of how to improve auditing, how to improve control carried out by the commission and by OLAV.

SOUNDBITE (German), Jutta HAUG (S&amp;D, DE), We want our money to be spent more speedily and in a better organised, better regulated fashion in the interest of all our citizens.

SOUNDBITE (German), Jutta HAUG (S&amp;D, DE), Once the legislative process for amendment under the Lisbon Treaty applies and an amendment of a particular article, we have to see how this applies to a parallel legislative procedure and also when we got a simplification. So who is going to have an overview about all of this?