mr president yet again this parliament is being presented with substandard accounts and being asked to discharge them
these are accounts which the court of auditors has refused to give a positive statement of assurance accounts which still fall short of being legal and regular
the auditors have said again that these accounts are riddled with irregularities yet we are expected to rubber-stamp them
i am pleased that mrs mathieu has recommended a postponement of discharge for the european police college accounts
we will support that recommendation as olaf needs more time to conclude its investigation
allegations have been made of fraudulent activity at that college including the use of taxpayers money by staff to buy furniture for their personal use
i can tell parliament that the british conservatives will not accept these irregularities
we shall refuse to grant discharge until such time as the court of auditors gives a positive statement of assurance
trust in politicians is at an all-time low and we will reduce our standing further if we are seen to condone such waste
every time we discharge substandard accounts we encourage more waste and more fraud
every time we vote to grant discharge we send a signal to the council to the commission and to our constituents that we do not treat this issue seriously
my party will look particularly carefully at how labour and liberal democrat meps decide to vote on this issue
they cannot argue at home that they want to bring change to politics to clean up and reform politics and yet year on year vote to accept these substandard accounts
anyone who is serious about reforming this system and about protecting the taxpayer should vote against granting discharge
