Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-07-Speech-2-190"
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"en.20050607.25.2-190"2
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"Mr President, the way things stand it would be naïve to expect the new Financial Perspective to be based on the same principle as the EU’s previous spending plans. The latter had nothing in common with the old Soviet five-year plans, as their guiding principle was that we should have a growing budget to meet our growing needs. One could be forgiven for expecting the same to apply today, given that relatively poor countries have joined the EU. There has also been a sharp increase in the number of farmers eligible for direct payments, even though such payments were not their idea. Finally, our tasks have multiplied, which also has a measurable impact on the budget. If this principle were indeed expected to apply again, it would undoubtedly act as another driving force behind the far-reaching political reforms currently under way in Central and Eastern Europe. I am quite sure that the political classes of the ‘old’ EU Member States would be hard pushed to carry out even some of these reforms.
At the same time, however, we must face the facts, which are as follows. The proposed compromise bequeathed to us by the Prodi Commission is indefensible. Mr Böge has put an enormous amount of effort and good will into a proposal amending this compromise, and the relative weight it accords to the various budget headings is appropriate.
No one would dispute the fact that we should use public funds to promote research and development and a knowledge-based economy, but there is not yet any evidence that this is an effective way of spending money. It follows that such funding should not be provided at the expense of regional and cohesion policy, which is both visible and of proven benefit, and which does not pit the old and the new cohesion countries against each other. This House must make it abundantly clear tomorrow that we are expecting agreement to be reached at government level.
Europe needs evidence that it still functions. The European summit will be an opportunity to furnish such evidence in the form of a sensible compromise."@en1
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