Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-11-Speech-2-053"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2003-03-11"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Reform of the budgetary procedure2
dcterms:Language	"es"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20030311.4.2-053"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2003-03-11-Speech-2-0542
lpv:speaker	lp:Joan Colom i Naval2
lpv:spokenAs	unknown; Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (1999-07-20--2004-02-25)3 substitute; ECON (2002-01-17--2004-02-25)3 member; BUDG (2002-01-17--2004-02-25)3 vice-president; European Parliament (2002-01-15--2004-02-25)3 vice-president; Parliament's Bureau (2002-01-15--2004-02-25)3 member_of_the_bureau; PES (2002-01-17--2004-02-25)3 member; Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China (2002-02-07--2004-02-25)3
lpv:translated text	"Madam President, only a few stalwarts are in the House at present. Nonetheless, history has shown that the budget is the cornerstone of representative democracies. They can only flourish if Parliament controls the sovereign’s expenditure. We are on the point of adopting the first European constitution. The Union has been in existence for 46 years and budgetary powers have remained unchanged for the last 30. I therefore believe updating is imperative. Several points are now obsolete. In addition, if the treaty were applied to the letter it would not be in line with the reality of present day budgets. Mr Garriga Polledo referred to budgetary perspectives a moment ago. There is no provision for these in the treaty, though the Council often seems to be unaware of that fact. Ladies and gentlemen, the constitution must encompass the budgetary process and own resources. The mantra of seventeenth century revolutions was ‘ ’. Precisely the opposite applies in the European Union. There is strong democratic representation in the form of this House, but taxation is not approved democratically. Essentially, the own resources system amounts to national contributions by another name, even though these are legally the Union’s own resources. This cannot be allowed to continue. Resources should henceforth come directly from the citizen. The citizen would then understand that taxes are destined to the Union’s budget. This is a basic feature of democratic responsibility. Otherwise, Finance Ministers will go on collecting the money and the Community will go on spending it and the reasons will remain unclear. This is bad for democratic control. It is therefore necessary to move towards a system enabling this connection to be made without increasing the total tax burden on the citizens. Personal and possibly progressive taxation should be introduced. It would then no longer be possible to allege, as is often the case, that unemployed citizens in eastern Germany are subsidising large landowners in Andalusia. Please excuse this crude simplification. The result is unhealthy populism. It is essential to ensure that it will no longer be possible to distinguish between the various countries’ contributions under any future financial system. A citizen’s contribution should be based on his or her personal resources. It should not depend on his or her place of residence. In my view, this must be a key feature of the new approach, that is, of the new way of tackling the system of resources. Madam President, this is the main point the Socialist Group wishes to make. Other honourable Members will speak on further aspects of our stance."@en1
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"no taxation without representation"1

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