Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-195"
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"en.20071023.23.2-195"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, first of all I would like to thank the whole of the budget team for the work they have done, especially our two rapporteurs, Mr Virrankoski and Mr Itälä. This budget procedure confirms the narrowness of the multiannual financial framework. The amount of payments, at less than EUR 130 billion, or 0.99% of GDP, is very skimpy and cannot support hopes for the development of European policy.
The teamwork in the Committee on Budgets means that the budgetary priorities of the political groups can be maintained, but the financial framework prevents the revival of the growth policies promised to European citizens. Our committee took particular care over the choices made by all the parliamentary committees, but the proliferation of pilot projects is evidence of the frustration with the niggardly nature of this financial framework. Once again, we have had to fight drastic cuts by the Council and I am happy with the compromise secured. The Commission still needs to execute this budget correctly. We will no longer put up with this draft budget being denatured through failures to execute and transfers of appropriations back to the Member States.
Firstly, in the 2008 budget, we do not accept the failure to use the cohesion funds. In the Socialist Party, we have restored the Council’s dreadful cuts that affected programmes such as Culture 2007, Media 2007 and Youth in Action. I do not need to remind you here of the importance of these lines as the new Treaty is being put to the people of Europe. I invite the Council to think about this; for example, giving research or Frontex the resources they need to operate, and improving the lines of information correspond to the current concerns of European citizens. We are also proposing additional appropriations for certain new projects to improve the capacity to accommodate refugees or for NGOs fighting discrimination. The European budget absolutely must continue to help those fighting the scourges afflicting European society.
For the EU’s external relations, we are reducing the expenditure of the CFSP by 40 million because we have to honour our commitments and the EU’s commitments: to preserve the emergency aid reserve, help the most disadvantaged countries, support the Global Fund to fight AIDS, the World Health Fund and maintain development aid. For Kosovo and Palestine, the flexibility instrument will need to be mobilised to provide EUR 87 million. It is still to be deplored that heading 4 is systematically underfunded. World poverty is growing and our budget is shrinking.
For the European Commission, I recognise that the reserve of EUR 40 million is harsh but it reflects our doubts over the effectiveness of implementing ABM. Allow me to give you a few examples: first of all, the failure to spend the cohesion funds, the impossibility of executing the pilot projects we hold dear, such as the Erasmus-style programme for apprentices, the lack of transparency in the choices of research firms, the poor implementation of selection competitions for new officials. The list is long and Parliament is asking to be convinced of the goodwill of the European executive.
Finally, the main one, the asterisk amendment demands that Galileo and the EIT are funded beyond the ceilings of the financial perspective. This necessitates, forces even, a mini-revision of the financial perspective. Parliament cannot accept the endangering of Galileo, a major challenge from a technological, economic and political point of view, and an essential strategic tool for the political powers and independence of the EU, but I am convinced of the value of Mrs Merkel’s comments in our chamber. On 29 June, Chancellor Merkel used this African proverb to close her Presidency: ‘If you want to go quickly, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.’"@en1
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