Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-314"
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"en.20030701.12.2-314"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission adopted the preliminary draft budget for 2004 – a historic budget that will, for the first time, cover an EU of 25 Member States – on 30 April and I presented the preliminary draft here in plenary session on 13 May.
Let me finally speak about the question of the number of posts at the Commission. I think it is clear that the Commission can cope with the work involved with ten new Member States only if it has more staff. It is in all our interests, and especially of course in the interests of the new Member States, that the work is done and that it is done well. Since all the institutions are making successful enlargement a matter of the highest priority, I am confident that a good solution will be found here, too.
Tomorrow we will begin the trilogue, that is to say, the actual negotiations. This trilogue traditionally concentrates on expenditure for the agricultural, fisheries and common foreign and security policies, the compulsory expenditure. I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Mulder, for his comments. I will not discuss all the points in the report right now – for reasons of time and because talks are continuing today and tomorrow.
I would like to begin by noting an important point of agreement; this is that we want to reach agreement on the budget for 25 Member States by December 2003. Although the budget resolution can for the time being only be adopted formally for the budget for the EU of the 15, there should be complete agreement on the amending and supplementary budget for the 10 new states in December.
Adjustment of the multi-annual programmes is also important in the light of enlargement. The Commission has made a proposal for the adjustment of the amounts, and this is now the subject of intensive discussions in the various parliamentary committees. It is, however, important that we settle the procedural questions now so that agreement can then be reached on the amounts and the legislative changes can be made as quickly as possible. With regard to the pending legislative procedures, I would like to return briefly to the legal basis for granting support to various institutions – the A-30 lines. This is also extremely urgent and I am hoping that the Council will deal with it quickly.
Now a brief word on the various areas of expenditure that will be the subject of the trilogue and which Mr Mulder raised. In October, the Commission will as usual be presenting the adjusted expenditure estimates for agriculture, which will of course take into account the outcome of the Luxembourg agricultural compromise, which contains higher expenditure for 2004 than that suggested by the Commission. So far as the proposal for insurance for farmers against various risks is concerned, the Commission has commissioned a study of the matter and I am informed that the findings will probably be available this summer. The Commission will then make the conclusions known and I hope I will be able to tell you more at Parliament’s first reading.
If I may turn to expenditure for fisheries, cuts have been made here only in the area of research, and this was the outcome of the negotiations on the Sixth Framework Research Programme, in which Parliament was involved. EUR 55 million are now available for fisheries research. Regarding the fisheries agreements themselves, the Commission has informed Parliament about renegotiations and the estimated costs and here, too, we shall be looking at how far the amounts provided will need to be modified in a letter of amendment in October.
The Commission has proposed an increase of 8.4% in the budget line for the common foreign and security policy, in order, among other things, to again fund the expenditure for the special envoys from this budget line.
A brief word about pilot projects and preparatory actions; you say in your report, Mr Mulder, that the margin of EUR 80 million is not very great. I am actually proud to have been able to rescue the EUR 80 million margin, given the various things my colleagues wanted in this category. If we make good use of this area for pilot projects and preparatory actions and cooperate as closely as we did last year, I think it will be possible to agree on good projects here.
I would also like to say something about the Structural Funds, which you mentioned, and the Member States’ predictions of how much money they will require next year. We are faced here with the usual situation that the Member States estimate a very much higher amount than we have provided for in the proposal. The Member States say they will need EUR 6.2 billion more. But I would like to point out that last year, 2002, the Member States’ estimates were 70% higher than the amount that was actually taken up."@en1
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