Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-27-Speech-3-024"
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"en.20020227.4.3-024"2
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".
Here is a brief response to a brief question. Thank you, Mr Barón Crespo, for your positive comments on our progress; moreover, I said in a previous debate that my rhythm was like that of a diesel engine, and diesel engines take a while to get going but then run at full speed and keep going for years!
The issue of flexibility in the budget is of paramount importance. We cannot confuse the need for rigour and your supervisory obligation and the Commission’s obligation to be subject to your supervision – which is the fundamental basis for democratic legitimacy – with the failure
to be flexible and take
major new events
and
changes
into account. This is a question of adapting to change that we must address together. We must succeed in genuinely taking control of the budgetary changes
which prove to be necessary and which are discussed and agreed on. This is the line we are taking.
With regard to the joint effort and the comments in the Italian press, I did not say that I was alone but that I was alone the morning of the press conference, and I can assure you that I certainly was alone, for I had Mr Chirac on one side and Mr Jospin on the other, with the journalists facing me, and I can assure you that nobody dreamed of suggesting the Convention then. Of course, Parliament had already proposed it – that is clear; it was fiercely debated but it seemed a totally unfeasible project. It was only the negative events which made it a clear possibility, and we were able to move forward. It is my opinion that, if that crisis had not happened, we would not have the Convention now. Of that I am convinced, for even crises can be learning experiences.
With regard to the right of initiative, it is, of course, the great distinguishing feature of the Community institutions, marking them out from other bodies, and we are committed to it. It is vital that we defend it, as you said, and strengthen it, but we must also adapt it, modernise it and bring it into line with Parliament’s work, for the right of initiative is not a weapon: the right of initiative is the driving force behind the institutions. We must be totally responsible in our use of it, and that is our aim."@en1
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