Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-28-Speech-3-192"
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"en.20070328.17.3-192"2
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".
Madam President, there were many people present in this Chamber earlier on: we were talking about the Berlin Declaration. However, it is this evening, in a far emptier Chamber, that we are perhaps going to give substance to this declaration, for if we think that we can build Europe without providing ourselves with the resources to do so, then we are not going to get very far. The fact is that, until now, budgetary resources relied on structures that worked with six countries but, with twenty-seven countries, have totally worn out. The great virtue of Mr Lamassoure’s report is that it denounces this in no uncertain terms. Funding, when it is nationalised to this extent, where every time we hand over a euro, we wrap it in a national flag and try to get back more than we have given, does not work. That being said, this denunciation is the aspect of the report that appeals to the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance.
There are, on the other hand, things that are far less appealing to us. We do not understand why we are restricting ourselves when this is an own-initiative report. It is true that we would have liked to have found the term ‘European tax’. I am sure that we are in the majority, in this House, when we say that we must dare to use this term to replace this covert European tax: a pinch of VAT here, a small contribution there. We should have dared to include the term in this report. Moreover, why talk about a transitional period when we know very well what we should be aiming for? By going all out to cajole some people and to reassure others, we are taking all the strength out of this report, when the starting points were excellent.
I should like to make a final point, which is very important for our group: why handicap ourselves before the start of the race by setting the bar at 1.24%? Why this sacred cow before which Parliament, which has always denounced it, is meant to grovel? We know – and we are going to debate this next year, in 2008 – that this bar prevents European policies from being supported with genuine resources. Let us compare what our neighbours are doing: in the United States, they pool 20% of their GNP.
It is therefore clear that the Lamassoure report has unfortunately had to make pledges here and there, to the point of restricting itself. Our question is: how can we encourage Mr Lamassoure to move forward without having him fail? The best response that we have given, is to abstain."@en1
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