Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-21-Speech-1-171"
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"en.20050221.17.1-171"2
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".
Mr President, many thanks for the clear explanation of Mrs in ‘t Veld’s report; the problems that are raised in it are extremely important, because certainly now that we will, based on the state aid review, examine the best way of achieving the most effective result, it is the observations that have been made here that matter and therefore very much apply here.
As I have said before further to the discussion on Mr Jonathan Evans’ report, I agree that we must cover all the angles in order to proceed in a more transparent and more effective way, thereby cutting down on bureaucracy and red tape, which does not benefit anybody, is too time-consuming, and, as Mrs in ‘t Veld put it very graphically, ultimately, what matters is the public, the consumers and taxpayers, who want to know what happens with their money and to what effect.
That is why, when talking about definitions, and particularly about how to define small services of general interest, it is appropriate in any event not to jump the gun and to say that we know what is to be understood by it for all eternity. This is an area in which we have to gain experience, to see how things pan out, what the turnover would be in which situations and where, and what level of state aid would be involved. What is ultimately the extent of state aid that you do not only entertain, but also must take into consideration?
In addition, Mrs in 't Veld stated very clearly that she favours evidence-based policy-making. We must finally put this into practice and ask ourselves whether it would not be a good idea – I, for one, think it is one, and it is one that I am glad to adopt – to submit a report in four years or so to demonstrate the impact of it all, and check whether it has the desired effect or whether there are maybe better methods for achieving our goal.
If we talk about state aid, then it is not the intention, certainly in our discussion, for that to be a permanent arrangement. The intention is to use state aid as a way of setting in motion a process that will, eventually, lead to self-sufficiency. To quote a well-known Chinese saying, it is the intention that, eventually, fish are caught with the fishing rod you give, rather than fish only being handed out to those who need them at the time.
I agree that this is a sound, experience-based report and explores whether state aid works, how it works and whether this is the best way of going about things. However, we do come up against the Court ruling in the Altmark case, which brings us to the fourth criterion. I assume that the first three criteria are clear, and with regard to the fourth criterion, we have to establish that tendering is possible in all situations. In those cases where tendering is possible, it is obvious that we need to apply the four criteria, but in other cases, people need to take the best possible decision under the given circumstances, and we have to conclude that we need to gain some experience in that area in order to formulate the best methodology.
I would therefore like to echo the rapporteur in this and say that we can indeed gain the experience together and submit it in a report. Four years are a good timeframe within which we can make some valid statements on this score and hopefully reach some conclusions again in a future debate. Thank you."@en1
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