Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-11-Speech-3-238"
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"en.20050511.19.3-238"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, Mr Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by extending the warmest of thanks to our rapporteur, Mr Dombrovskis, for having taken on – and continuing to perform – the thankless task of dealing with the House’s budget, for which he can expect more than just praise and rejoicing on the part of his fellow MEPs, and to which he is devoting himself with a great deal of passion. So, first of all, a very warm ‘thank you’ for doing that, from the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats.
There is just one issue I want to raise, and it is one that matters a great deal to me. How much money does the European Parliament need? The figure of ‘20% of administration costs’ is being both whispered in the corridors of the House and held up as incontrovertible truth. In this year alone, in 2005, Mr Secretary-General, some EUR 50 million will be surplus to requirements, quite simply because we have to keep to this magic figure of 20%, but without having anything to spend it on.
In 2006, we will be having more of the same thing. Even now, in your preliminary draft budget, as adopted by the Bureau, there is reference to EUR 90 million in unused funds. I really do wonder what it is doing there. Do we really have to take money out of the European public’s pockets and allow it to be added to an over-expanded budget, knowing perfectly well that cannot even spend it? As I see it, that really does raise the question of whether this is the right way to go about things in the long term.
What I recommend is that, as there is money that we do not need, that – as we can already see – we will not need next year, we should not even include it in the budget!
I would have been very glad if Mr Onesta, who has drafted amendments on this topic, were present here today to take responsibility for the proposals he has made. One reason, though, why these funds are not going to be used – and not spent on other things either – is that we are well aware that we will need these amounts of money if we get a Statute. I really would ask that we draft an austerity budget for this House!"@en1
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