Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-11-Speech-2-116"
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"en.20011211.7.2-116"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the result of the budget negotiations that we have before us is self-evident. During the period of the budget negotiations, that is to say from the time the preliminary draft budget was submitted to the present day, many new demands on the EU budget have arisen. World events, the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the war in Afghanistan, and the crisis in the Middle East have all given rise to new budgetary requirements. The crises in the agricultural sector that we have witnessed this year have meant new budget requirements in the coming year, and the public's changing expectations also need to be reflected. Together, we have succeeded in adapting the 2002 budget to these new challenges and given how often the European Union is criticised, we should make sure that this positive outcome is heard loud and clear.
A new feature of the 2002 budget is the commitment of funds for measures in the area of judicial cooperation, including the development of the new information system for Schengen and for Eurojust. The Commission's estimate of funds for this area is something quite new.
Another new item is the programme to restructure the Spanish and to some extent the Portuguese fishing fleets which up to now have been able to fish in Morocco's waters. The Commission welcomes the fact that the budgetary authority accepts the Commission's proposal both with regard to the level of this special programme – EUR 197 million – and also concerning the specific shape of the programme and the proposal to finance it by mobilising the flexibility instrument. The compromise solution of making additional funds available in the 2002 budget for the regions bordering the candidate countries was really not easy to achieve. However, the compromise of entering part of the additional amount in the 2003 budget for these two requirements is acceptable, and I can assure you that the Commission will make the necessary financial proposals for 2003, so that the funds for the programme to restructure the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets will be available.
It is now up to Spain and the border regions to implement the programmes being allocated additional funds as rapidly as possible, and the Commission will support this. I say this because it is evident that the public and the fishing industry in Spain expect this now, as do small and medium-sized enterprises in the border regions.
Parliament has this year once again very strongly supported the Commission's reform process during the discussions on the budget. I would like to express the Commission's heartfelt thanks for this. However, I nevertheless wish to touch on one point, and a very important one at that, regarding the reserve for the 105 new posts envisaged up to now. In the Committee on Budgets you agreed two conditions for lifting this reserve. The first is that the Commission should bring forward a proposal for a permanent early retirement scheme. The Commission has already included this in its guidelines for personnel policy, and will consult on a proposal for amending the statute.
The second condition was better matching of budgetary decisions and the Commission's work programme. This was also the subject of this morning's debate, and the Commission undertakes that, as from next year, it will present the most important initiatives with an impact on the budget at an earlier stage. I can also assure you personally that I will support this request for the budgetary implications for the coming year of new legislative proposals to be made clear at the appropriate stage of the budget process. I hope that we will also reach a satisfactory outcome on this point.
Two thousand and two is an important year for agricultural policy. The interim review of the agricultural policy has to be presented. Next year the agricultural budget will rise by only 0.5%, which is less than the average, and that is despite the fact that, for example, there is EUR 400 million in the budget for the reimbursement of expenditure to Member States because of foot and mouth disease and that a total of EUR 8 billion is available for the beef sector. The reform process, the mid-term review, not only has a financial dimension, it is also about setting objectives in agricultural policy, and the second pillar, the promotion of rural development, has an important role to play here.
However, with regard to the Sapard programme of pre-accession aid for agriculture, the Commission still considers that the proposal for a new programme is not the right way to go. Two thousand and two will also be a very important year for the enlargement of the European Union. Negotiations should be concluded for the countries that have made the greatest progress, and in concrete terms this means that budget-related negotiations on agricultural policy, structural policy and on the budget itself will be completed.
The Council intends to have determined its common negotiating position for the budget chapter by the end of next June. The budget chapter is, of course, the crowning achievement of the accession negotiations. The Commission has already agreed to present a proposal that will not go beyond the amounts set in Agenda 2000 for new Member States for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. That was also laid down in the interinstitutional agreement. The Commission accordingly expects to receive the support of the budgetary authority for no more and no less than these annual amounts being made available.
Two thousand and two is also the year in which the convention on the reform of the European treaties will start its work. We are now virtually on the eve of the Laeken Summit and of having to agree the programme of work for the convention. An important subject for the future to be dealt with by the convention will be the Parliament's budget rights. The outcome of the 2002 budget negotiations is evident and this outcome will once again enable the challenges to be met. Nevertheless, it should be clear for the future that the European Parliament finally deserves full budget rights. This is a touchstone for the democratic development of the European Union.
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We have succeeded, and this is thanks to the well-balanced and reconciliatory way in which you, Mr Costa Neves, have approached the negotiations, and we wish to thank you very sincerely for that. We have also succeeded because of the exacting approach of the chairman of the Committee on Budgets, Mr Wynn, who also demonstrates a willingness to compromise, and we have succeeded because of the skilful way in which the negotiations were conducted at the crucial point by the President-in-Office – by you, Mr Vande Lanotte – and I would like to sincerely thank all of you, together with the rapporteur, Mrs Buitenweg, Mr Colom i Naval, the entire committee, and also you, Mr Turchi, on behalf of the entire Commission, for this very fruitful cooperation.
I would also like to mention Mr Seppänen. He had the historic task of presenting the report on the last budget of the European Coal and Steel Community. And we can also describe the level of the EU budget as well-nigh historical, that is to say the EU budget share. The budget as a proportion of Europe's GNP is lower for next year than at any time during the 1990s. It will amount to only 1.03% of Europe's GNP. The EU budget is accordingly EUR 4.6 billion lower than the amount provided for next year in the financial perspective. EUR 4.6 billion is almost 5% of the entire budget, or to put it another way, it was envisaged in the financial perspective that the budget for 2002 might be 5% higher than is now actually being agreed.
I am stressing this point firstly because it reflects the budgetary discipline that prevails at European level, and, Mr President-in-Office, because the EU budget is therefore below the average growth rate for budgets in the Member States. That is also worth emphasising.
Secondly, this result also demonstrates that scope for action has been created to allow the EU to take on new financial tasks, and I am referring here, in particular, to the debate on the costs of enlargement. That therefore means that Europe, the European budget, is prepared to assume new tasks.
Aid to Afghanistan for peaceful future development of that country is a new task for which the European Union should, and will, assume responsibility. An initial provision has been made for this in the 2002 budget, with EUR 130 million in addition to the funds already earmarked for humanitarian aid. This is a positive result, particularly in view of the fact that it would be disastrous if we were to reduce our commitment to the Balkans. That cannot be allowed to happen, and for that reason the same amount is being made available for the Balkans as this year, with a part being brought forward to the end of the current budget year.
Further aid is also needed for Palestine. Together with other donors, we are making good some of the loss of income that the Palestinian Autonomy Authority has suffered because Israel is holding back tax and customs receipts because of the escalation of the conflict. The use of this money in Palestine is subject to strict controls. It is supervised by the International Monetary Fund, and there are no indications that this money is being misused to purchase arms. That would of course be totally unacceptable.
The European Union is supporting public health and it is supporting education. We want to use our contributions to give the peace process a chance. That is our aim, I am very glad that at yesterday's Council press conference the Minister, Mr Perez stressed that Israel, too, regards financial support for Palestine as being important.
The European Union is in the process of shouldering more responsibility on the world political scene, and that is a good thing. This involves a greater commitment to civil crisis management, which in turn requires financial means and, as you know, and as the chairman of the Committee on Budgets has stressed once again, the budgetary rules are such that funds released elsewhere cannot simply be used for additional expenditure on external policy. Of the EUR 4.6 billion that the 2002 budget will be below the amount provided for next year in the financial perspective, we cannot just use EUR 400 or 500 million for coping with external policy crises. Nor can we simply use money from the budget surplus to finance new requirements. That is why the Commission has proposed that by means of an agreement between the Council, Parliament and the Commission, an extra reserve should be created for additional external policy actions, and I believe that this is in fact the ideal way to avoid unravelling the financial perspective whilst still addressing the new challenges facing the Community in a Community-oriented way. It would be a good thing if the Laeken Council could also express its support for this approach."@en1
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