Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-14-Speech-3-047"
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"en.20051214.6.3-047"2
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"Mr President, in June the United Kingdom blocked the Financial Perspective proposed by the Luxembourg Presidency. Prime Minister Blair told us that the EU needed a different kind of budget, in which less money was earmarked for traditional goals in the field of agricultural policy. Instead, more money should go towards furthering modern goals, such as the development of poor regions and of the new Member States. His words gave us hope that the EU would move beyond the era of national egotism, and that it might make some real progress in terms of modernisation.
Five months then passed in which nothing happened, and I regret to say that the proposal that was put before us after this five-month period was disappointing in the extreme. The United Kingdom has proved itself incapable of persuading its partners to reform the common agricultural policy, and it has also been unable to forego further increases in its rebate. The final result is that all the proposed cuts to the budget are unfair, since it will be the new Member States that are affected by most of them. It turns out that one quarter of the cuts proposed by the British Presidency will affect one country alone, namely Poland. This amounts to a figure of EUR 6 billion.
I should like to ask Mr Alexander whether he thinks that there is any chance that the Polish Prime Minister will return to his country and tell the Polish people that he intends to agree to a proposal along these lines. It would be entirely unrealistic to expect such a thing. The British Presidency’s proposal shows a lack of imagination, and it is based on a vision of Europe that this House finds unacceptable. The European Parliament cannot consent to such a vision.
Mr Alexander, never before in the history of Europe have the principles of solidarity and cohesion been at such risk, and never before have European countries been so caught up in defending their own selfish and short-term interests. I would ask you to tell the British Presidency that we expect it to rise to the occasion and to be able to achieve a compromise that upholds the principles underpinning the European Union."@en1
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