Proposition 52K0981

Projet de loi contenant le règlement définitif des budgets d'organismes d'intérêt public pour l'année 2000.

General information ¶

Submitted by

Open Vld Verhofstadt Ⅲ

Submission date

March 17, 2008

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

budget institution of public utility national budget

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR

Abstained from voting

LDD FN VB

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Discussion ¶

April 24, 2008 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, I will mainly refer to the written report and I will simply add that the Commission is pleased to advance in the catching up on the budgets of public interest bodies. The aim is to regain compliance with the law within three years, as recalled by several members of the commission. It should be noted that in 1999, the delay was 11 years. The recovery is ongoing but the effort will need to continue.

Mr. Speaker, I did not intend to speak at first, but since Mr. Devlies is present, I would like to communicate to him, given his new position, our opinion on the state of the public institutions of category A.

I am very pleased that Mr Flahaux points out that the setback is being recovered. Mr. Reynders started in 1999 with an eleven years behind. Meanwhile it is 2008. So he has been in power for a little more than 8 years and we have taken 3 years. I don’t think this is really a super performance.

I would like to point out that the Court of Auditors has made it very clear in the Committee on Finance that it is able to fully overcome the downturn in the next two years. I would like to point out that this is necessary, not only for a good financial and fiscal condition of the Regie der Gebäude but also because there must be a good overview of the state resources, not only of the cents but also of the assets.

Mr. Devlies, a second point that I would like to point out to you concerns the fraud files that have been known to the Regie der Gebäude since 2006 and which are now being further investigated. It is time that they can finally be dealt with and in this regard it is necessary to further look at all the construction files that are again and again budgetarily overwhelming.

I would like to ask this new government very clearly to respond quickly and accurately. Through a sleepy control, all sorts of misstatements are possible and we see that this is still happening now.

Mr. Speaker, like colleague Van de Velde, I did not initially intend to take the word in the discussion of this bill, but there are some important elements.

The file of the Regie der Gebäude has been drawing for several years, especially as regards the accounts. The accounts have suffered a considerable backwardness. In the light of the budget discussion, I had the opportunity to ask the people of the Court of Auditors whether they can make additional efforts to prioritise the accounts of the Regie der Gebäude. They have the capacity to do so, both in terms of personnel and resources. However, they say that the Minister of Finance must then absolutely work out to instruct the Regie der Gebäude to enter the accounts of the Regie der Gebäude.

It is estimated that the 2001 accounts would be approximately ready now. I ask you, Mr. Secretary of State, to make the Administration of Buildings an absolute priority within the Government, because in each budget round we here approve allocations for the Administration of Buildings. Every year there is a discussion about the patrimony of the Regie der Gebäude, the state of affairs in the renovation works, the awarded contracts, the semi-finished contracts and a number of fraud elements that are tied to the Regie der Gebäude?

I think it would be appropriate for this new government to work on this as a priority and thus depart from the mechanism that only handles two accounts per year. It should be much faster. The Court of Audit is ready. The Minister of Finance should simply require his service to respond quickly and work on it. That is all I want to add to this design.

Mr. Speaker, a short response. I can inform you that the Government shares the concerns of the two speakers and considers the updating of the accounts of public administrations as a priority. There has been an important collection operation over the past few years. Currently, the accounts are updated on the basis of two years at a time, so that by the end of this legislature the accounts will be fully updated. In addition, the Minister of Finance also proposed to hold a discussion on the situation of the Regie der Gebäude in the Committee on Finance and Budget. It is therefore up to the members of the Chamber to schedule this in the Committee on Finance and Budget.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to add something. Also in this budget is another number of buildings that will be sold. It seems to us a little poker game to, as long as the correct situation is not known, simply sell buildings. We are therefore submitting a bill to ensure that it is not the minister who, together with the Regie der Gebäude, can unilaterally decide to sell buildings, but that the Chamber can maintain a clear supervision over the sale of the buildings as long as these annual accounts are not in good order. I think that in the present circumstances it is only logical and responsible to do this through the Chamber and not only through the ministers and the Regie.

Mr. Speaker, I hear well what is said and, as a new member of Parliament, I can only share the requirements of mere compliance with the law: the accounts must normally be approved during the following year.

However, it must be known that in 1999, under the previous finance ministers, Philippe Maystadt and Jean-Jacques Viseur, we had accumulated 11 years of delay in the accounts. In this context, as all members of the commission have acknowledged, on the one hand, the services of the general administration have managed to catch up with the delay and, on the other hand, we will be able to vote today on the 1999 and 2000 financial years. The Court of Auditors is currently examining the accounts of the years 2001 and 2002.

I therefore dare hope that it will not be necessary to wait until the end of the legislature for public interest organizations to be updated, as the law simply requires. In this way we find ourselves in a previously terrible situation.