Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-07-Speech-2-233"
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"en.20050607.25.2-233"2
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"Madam President, this is an important debate with major consequences for the future of the Union, and I also want to pay tribute to the rapporteur for the impressive way in which he has carried out what is undoubtedly a very onerous task in producing his report.
There are, however, one or two areas where I have difficulty with his conclusions. First of all, I think it obviously is crucial that EU spending be kept under tight control and that expenditure should be used as efficiently as possible. No national government, I would suggest, could contemplate some of the spending increases that have been suggested for the 2007-2013 period. Taxpayers across the EU have a right to expect politicians to spend wisely and given the recent referendum results, it is clear that many in Europe and not just in Britain share concerns that vast quantities of their money are being spent on major projects of which they do not seem to know enough.
In terms of the overall budget, I can support the current position of the British Government, as well as a number of other governments, and believe that it should be capped at 1% of the total national income of the Union.
On the question of the United Kingdom rebate, I believe that it is justified and certainly I am going to look carefully at the position taken up by our Prime Minister, Mr Blair, at the European Council next week. My one plea, without going back over old ground, is that I hope that the issue of the United Kingdom rebate does not find itself becoming part of a separate set of negotiations about the future of Europe following the results of the referenda in France and the Netherlands this week. It is a serious matter and it needs to be dealt with in a serious way and I am sure there are views on both sides on this, but to tie it into a general set of negotiations and discussions, when critical issues have to be decided for the future of our continent, would seem to me totally inappropriate."@en1
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