Traduction de «Segreteria della commissione delle grazie » (Italien → Anglais) :

21. Acknowledges and welcomes the steps made to strengthen the secretariat of the Committee in order to cover the need for linguistic, legal and political expertise and stresses that this process should continue, so that response times may become shorter, investigations even more effective and its service be equally available to all citizens of the EU; ; regrets, however, the permanent lack of staff in the Committee secretariat with regard to the growing number of petitions coming from the new Member States;

It produces decisions that guarantee legal certainty for economic operators and citizens, given the role of the Commission as the guardian of the Treaty and the role of the Court of Justice.

Lastly, I wish to thank the secretariat of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, which made it possible for us to have the amendments and the proposals in all languages in good time.

The report describes the advances made with the Commission's own internal Reform, through the considerable progress made in the introduction of Activity Based Management (ABM) which allows for a better match between priorities and resources; the finalisation of the consultations with Commission staff unions on changes to staff policy, which enabled the transmission to Council of the Commission's proposal for a revised Staff Regulation in the first quarter of 2003; and finally the advances made in terms of modernising financial management, notably through the separation of the audit and control functions and the work done on developing ...[+++]minimum standards for internal control and risk management.

Encourage the efficient use of slots. The proposal further strengthens the Commission's efforts to reduce congestion at European airports through tight monitoring, sanctions against abusive practices and incentives for airlines to use their slot portfolios efficiently through slot exchanges and re-timing possibilities of slots as well as through better access to routes serving intra-Community routes and specifically the regions.

On the 27th of June, the Council of Ministers adopted the Directive amending Directive 77/388/EEC on the common system on Value Added Tax (VAT) as far as the treatment of cut flowers, ornamental plants and firewood is concerned. This brings to an end a three-year controversial discussion between Member States, reaching a compromise for which the European Commission, and in particular Commissioner Mario MONTI, has been employing all its efforts.