Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-20-Speech-3-712"
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"en.20101020.26.3-712"2
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"Two questions, two answers. Regarding the first question: of course, there have been, and still are, a number of disparities in the accounting standards. These standards are, of course, being harmonised, because if, in the future, we want to be fair to all 27 Member States’ economies, we need to have the same calculation methods. Therefore, this harmonisation is ongoing and under way.
As for flexibility regarding the 3% limit, as you know, we really are being flexible; we have been flexible since 2009, we have been flexible in 2010, and we will continue to be flexible in 2011 and 2012 so that our various Member States can return to healthy budgets, because if we wanted to apply this 3% limit rigidly, with absolutely no margin for error, then this year for instance, practically every one of us would have failed to comply with this budgetary restraint plan, and that is not the case.
I think that the European institutions realised that returning to stable and balanced budgets by 2013 would take time, particularly in view of the recession and the Member States’ situation.
Now to the North-South imbalance. Whether the imbalance is between the North and the South or between Member States which have capitalised to some degree on aid provided by the European Union in order to boost their economy, productive fabric and labour market, and other Member States which have done so to a lesser extent, I think that the European Union is actually there to safeguard this coherence, this cohesion. In particular, the funds available in the European budget for cohesion – the first heading in the Union’s budget – should indeed be used to reduce these imbalances. You mention the North-South imbalance, but I am not sure that that is the only imbalance that exists within the European Union."@en1
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