Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-26-Speech-3-009-000"
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"en.20111026.3.3-009-000"2
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"Mr President, we are experiencing a financial, economic and social crisis which requires and obliges all of the institutions to make an effort. At the same time, the crisis requires these institutions to have sufficient means at their disposal to address the concerns of the public. At present, this crisis is also proving an opportune moment for eurosceptics; extremists on the left and right who are finding fertile ground for populism and demagoguery. At such times these opportunists always find new ways of taking advantage of the difficulties.
However, even they cannot hide the massive efforts in terms of real cuts that all the EU institutions are making in the 2012 budget. It should be noted that total administrative and operational expenditure for all of the institutions represents only 5.59% of the total EU budget. It should also be stressed that we have surpassed expectations for the Council, the Commission and Parliament, as shown by the margin of approximately EUR 500 million in Heading 5, which covers all the expenditure of all the EU institutions. This was managed in spite of new tasks, new Members of this House, the costs of Croatia’s accession, and the establishment of new institutions, such as the European External Action Service.
The overall increase in the 2012 budget for all the institutions is about 1%: far below inflation, meaning that there is negative growth, in real terms, in their budgets.
I would like to say to the Council that it cannot ignore the efforts and cuts made by all of the institutions, and that it has the opportunity to show that the institutions have already made as many cuts as they can in order to ensure greater rigour, and it is clear that commitments they have made cannot be delayed and must be met. Amongst other things, basic spending on electricity, security and maintenance must be ensured.
With regard to the European Parliament budget, I welcome the efforts made by the political groups and the Bureau of the European Parliament, which have led to real cuts, yet also to cuts that I deem damaging. Since the start of negotiations with the Bureau, we have cut more than EUR 74 million and have reached a comprehensive agreement with the Bureau, following several conciliation meetings, which led to the increase in the 2012 budget being the lowest since 1999, even though it includes the costs of Croatia’s accession and the 18 new Members. Once we include, in conciliation with the Council, the costs of Croatia’s accession, we forecast only a 1.9% increase in Parliament’s 2012 budget; in other words, well below inflation. It should be noted that the estimates that this House approved in April for the 2012 budget corresponded to a 2.3% increase, which did not include the costs arising from Croatia’s accession and the 18 new Members. In order to reduce these estimates, we reopened discussions with the Bureau and cut more than EUR 25.1 million.
If we are to be thorough and make a comparison with 2011, we have to remove these two new expenses arising from Croatia’s accession and the entry of the 18 new Members, which results in one of the lowest increases in the history of this Parliament: only 0.8%. However, despite these cuts, we will remain up to the job, and will still have the minimum enabling us to carry on with the European project, in order to live up to the European public’s expectations."@en1
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