European Parliament
Gábor Harangozó (PSE ),
draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Regional Development
Mr President, firstly I would like to thank our rapporteur, Mr Szent-Iványi, for our positive cooperation on the drafting of the Regional Development Committee opinion on the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance. My opinion is that this report is an opportunity to provide at all stages for the involvement of the European Parliament in the control and management of the new IPA.
In that respect, consultation is not sufficient. In fact, due to the budgetary and political character of the issues at stake, provision should be made for codecision procedures. I believe that the lack of visibility in the level of funding per country, objectives and components should be clearly addressed and that the new instrument should ensure clarity and predictability of the Union’s commitments to its partner countries. Moreover, proper account should be taken of the specific situations and potential difficulties of the beneficiary countries. Alternative implementing arrangements should therefore be in force in order to avoid any shared management problems.

