Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-02-Speech-2-021"
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"en.20020702.1.2-021"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Färm, for his work. We are all aware of the difficulties involved in the management of the budgetary procedure and the pressure on those who are responsible for it each year. If I might venture an opinion, however, the situation this year appears to be much more complex and problematic. In theory, it is two years until enlargement actually takes place but, in reality, the machine has already been set in motion and funds will have to be set aside from the 2003 budget to finance the changes necessary, especially at administrative level. We all know that we are not ready, that our budget is inadequate to deal with the current situation, that it is inadequate for the financial perspective for the current period and will leave us at the mercy of any unforeseen developments. That is why I feel that we Members must be bold and demand a political response to the current impasse during the conciliation procedure, not accounting tricks or half promises, which are unworthy of our responsibility.
It is tedious to go over the same ground again and again but, at the risk of seeming extremely boring, I would stress once again my position, which is based on one major assumption: we Members of Parliament and our institution have exactly the same dignity, as a branch of the Budgetary Authority, as the Council, and this means that we are by no means bound to bow to the decisions of the Council without making our mark. There is no law saying that our role is merely to limit the damage done by a short-sighted political structure which is only more powerful in its own opinion: we are politically and morally accountable to millions of the European electorate for our financial management of the Union, and we are certainly not going to say to our citizens ‘We knew all along and we said so at the time but the Council would not listen’. This is why I would stress that, even now and especially considering the heading 5 problems facing us and more long-standing problems such as the RAL, we must force the Council to find a political solution and follow it through as necessary. It is better to be bold now than to be sorry later."@en1
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