Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-14-Speech-2-207"
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"en.19991214.9.2-207"2
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"Mr President, the budget for the financial year 2000 will inevitably take the form of an increase, and this increase will be higher than the increase in national budgets. How is it that the Union budget is exempt from the discipline which Europe imposes on its Member States? I am happy to talk about the unusual nature of the European structure, but we must avoid having one sauce for the goose and another for the gander.
Have we forgotten that the same citizens finance both the national and the Community budgets? As always, the demand for efficiency has again been put to bad use in order to justify action by the European Union. I shall not refer to the political choices which have been made or the haggling which has formed the basis of the budgetary discussion between the Council and Parliament. We denounced them at the first reading of this budget.
I make this point because we feel that this is a constant factor in Community policy. Agriculture is a perfect example. Agriculture was a hallowed common policy; it was the cement which held the European edifice together and today it is the main loser in the budgetary debate. We cannot accept that. This is the price which Europe is paying, once again, for its lack of consistency. The race towards world prices and increased yields have jeopardised what was most precious to us: the quality of our food and the survival of rural employment. Our quality of life is being sold off and this too will have to be paid for tomorrow.
These are priorities which we think should be financed, rather than increasing programmes which some of us at least find obscure. The President of the Court of Auditors yesterday drew the attention of this House to the, I quote, “persistence of the ‘spending culture’ within the Community, more concerned with the volume of expenditure than with its quality”.
In fact, by wanting to do too much, Europe does nothing properly, which is why the French members of the EDD Group will be voting against this budget, which does not meet the expectations of the citizens of Europe."@en1
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