Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-129"
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"en.20000615.4.4-129"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, as has already been mentioned, the problem with this report is that it amounts to a retrospective review of a chapter in the history of the Structural Funds which has long since been closed, during the previous parliamentary term in fact. This looks pretty boring, and the press have already gone home. Nevertheless, we should not underestimate the seriousness of the issues involved, as the central point of this discussion should be to learn from the mistakes of the past. In view of the challenge of an enlarged Union, which will in future have 28 or more Member States, we can no longer afford not to use European money for European objectives such as employment, sustainability, environmental protection and equal opportunities in an efficient way.
This was simply not the case during the last period. I am emphasising this because I have the impression that the new programmes are once again being approved because of pressure from the Member States, although they do not provide for optimum use of funds in accordance with Europe’s objectives. And this Parliament has been calling for optimum use of funds for years. We cannot afford, as we did in 1998, to spend EUR 30.4 billion only to find that unemployment is increasing again in the poorer regions.
I would like to cite an example that underlines my doubts. The Commission is simply not throwing its weight behind the need to make European objectives the real guiding principle of Structural Fund policy. This House called for this report to include a chapter specifically devoted to equal opportunities. The three sentences at the beginning are not enough, we asked for a specific chapter, so that we could monitor this area of EU policy separately and effectively. Equality of opportunities is not just the remit of the ESF, it is the remit of all the Structural Funds.
Let me give you another example. Although unemployment is rising in Germany’s five new
money is once again being invested in roads instead of jobs in the new Community support framework. I expect the Commission to drop its “business as usual” approach and instead to become the motor of sustainable development in Europe again."@en1
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