Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-26-Speech-2-167"
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"en.20041026.12.2-167"2
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".
Mr President, I first of all wish to congratulate our rapporteurs for the budget, Mrs Jensen and Mr Garriga Polledo, for their excellent work in shaping this year’s draft budget.
It has been a weighty and onerous task, but both rapporteurs have carried it out extremely well. I also wish to thank the new Chairman of the Committee on Budgets, Mr Lewandowski, for his skilful leadership of the committee. I would like to say a special thank you, however, to Commissioner Schreyer for the outstanding degree of cooperation she has shown, not just this year, but across the whole five-year period of the last Parliamentary term. Under your leadership, the EU budgets have been produced and the legal basis for them revised. The structure of the budget has been amended, the Financial Regulation and the rules for its implementation have been revised, and the accounts system is being reformed as we speak. I would like to thank her warmly for her excellent level of cooperation and wish her every success for the future.
The EU budget for 2005 aims to foster economic growth. The special areas of focus in the committee’s proposal are the enhancement of economic cohesion and the creation of employment, and we believe they are the correct ones. One aim is to safeguard EU agriculture prior to the massive reform which will take place. Accordingly, the committee has restored approximately one billion euros of the cuts that the Council had made. It is particularly important to reduce transportation of livestock step by step, and to this end the committee has set aside 10% of the appropriations for further research. The committee has proposed an additional EUR 40 million for the prevention of animal diseases. This has been one of my group’s main areas of focus. The Structural Funds are an important instrument for job creation, and so it was right of the committee to endorse the sum of EUR 3.8 billion in payment appropriations. In this way, we can speed up the implementation of programmes, and at the same time reduce outstanding commitments, which have grown to a sum equivalent to approximately two years of appropriations. This is a threat to structural policy in the years to come.
The promotion of entrepreneurial activity has been a particular area of focus. It has been crucial to validate the relevant budget headings and to strengthen support for small and medium-sized businesses as well as research and training programmes. My group backs these proposals. Likewise, the areas of focus are in harmony with the new financial perspectives, as these also aim to enhance EU competitiveness by endorsing these items of expenditure. The proposal before us, possibly in amended form, will be Parliament’s first chance to present its view of next year’s budget. Hopefully, the budget will be approved, by December, in a positive spirit."@en1
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