Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-051"
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"en.20010131.3.3-051"2
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".
Mr President, I am the one who should apologise for having gone on too long, most of all to those Members of Parliament who were unable to ask their questions. I shall, however, remain at your service, as you know, in the weeks and months to come in order to continue this discussion.
Mr Cunha, if you read the report, you will see that we actually say that the CAP, whose objectives are production, export capacity and sufficiency, has not actually become involved in the way we might have hoped in this territorial cohesion policy, particularly because, in the regions likely to benefit from cohesion policy, farm sizes are that much more modest. I have, therefore, myself, stressed the fact that we should, as I said earlier, improve synergy through the common agricultural policy. One of the means to do so would perhaps be, in future, to boost the emphasis on the rural development arm of the CAP, which was started in Berlin.
Mrs Darras, I do not believe that we shall need to renegotiate the Financial Perspective in the matter of cohesion policy. The plans made in Berlin seem to me perfectly adequate. In anticipation, we even made provision for 2002, and now it is quite clear that no new countries will join in either 2002 or 2003. Sufficient sums were set aside to cope with these accessions, and so I do not think we shall need a new Financial Perspective. You mention changing the criteria, if necessary. We might continue to discuss possibilities, Mrs Darras, but I should like to point out that we are not too far off the real situation when we work on the basis of the standard of living, of per capita GDP, because it can be observed that where there is the lowest standard of living there is also the highest rate of unemployment, the worst environmental conditions, and the lowest levels of Internet access. Thus, in some way, taking a snapshot of the per capita standard of living, we have produced an accurate snapshot of the real state of the regions – and indeed it is no mere accident that my predecessor, Mrs Wulf-Mathies, and all the other Members of Parliament who have given some thought to these questions all agreed on this criterion. Now, you know we can combine this criterion with other aspects, especially unemployment, but I would like us to retain this criterion as I think it an objective one.
Mr Nogueira, I do not have sufficient time to take part in a debate on globalisation. I even, as you identified earlier, mentioned the new context of cohesion policy associated with globalisation, which constitutes the risk which Jacques Delors and others clearly identified fifteen years ago, and which impelled them to propose this cohesion policy. In the same single market, there is a risk that wealth, trade and people will continue to be concentrated in the same locations and that the poorest regions are impoverished and marginalised further. That risk in the single market is exacerbated in a Europe living in an age of globalisation. That is why I think we do indeed need a cohesion policy and support for cohesion in future.
Mr Rack, yes, I am willing to look into new methods with you, particularly as far as development of the new Objective 2 policy is concerned. I wonder, for example, about the sense and usefulness of the Brussels-driven zoning for Objective 2, in which I am required to officially specify, in agreement with the Member States, whether every individual district, community or village is or is not to receive Objective 2 status. I do not think that all this bureaucracy is particularly useful, and that is why Objective 2 policy, concerning regions other than the most underdeveloped, could be simpler and more decentralised, with instruments subordinated to Community policies or to regional development, the urban areas, mountainous regions, island regions, border regions or cross-sector objectives such as social cohesion and the fight against poverty. I am perfectly willing to look into developing instruments which are decentralised in terms of their administration within the Member States and which do not convey the impression of excessive bureaucracy that the people of Europe sometimes have.
Mrs Torres Marques, I cannot go any further than I already have on the subject of the Financial Perspective. I have not forgotten the outermost regions; I even mentioned them in my opening remarks. There is a specific paragraph on these regions. As Mr Prodi requested, I do a great deal of work for these seven outermost regions. This is why, a few weeks ago, the Commission published an important report on adjustments or exceptions in the field of structural aid, and aid for agriculture and fisheries which, overall, have been well received by the authorities in these outermost regions and I think that, pursuant to Article 299 of the Treaty, we must continue to have a special policy for these outermost regions precisely because they are our outermost regions and, as such, our most remote active frontiers in the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic or near the American continent.
Mrs Hedkvist-Petersen, thank you for pointing out the importance of the term ‘solidarity’. I also consider it important. The title that we wanted to give this report, ladies and gentlemen, is “European Unity, solidarity between nations, regional diversity”, and, as you will see when you read it in detail, I was careful to stress – since this was a concern of mine – the need to coordinate Community policies with regional development and cohesion, particularly in terms of research or the social agenda while noting that Member States and national governments will, of course, retain their jurisdiction on social policy. I am working within the scope of the Community’s current jurisdiction."@en1
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