Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-22-Speech-1-042-000"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2012-10-22"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2013 - all sections (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20121022.19.1-042-000"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2012-10-22-Speech-1-043-0002
lpv:speaker	lp:Jan Mulder2
lpv:spokenAs	member; ALDE (2010-06-22--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with the United States (2010-07-01--2014-06-30)3 member; CONT (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (2010-07-01--2014-06-30)3 unknown; Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (2010-06-22--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with Belarus (2010-07-01--2014-06-30)3 substitute; CRIM (2012-03-28--2013-10-23)3 member; BUDG (2012-07-05--2014-06-30)3 substitute; LIBE (2012-07-05--2014-06-30)3
lpv:translated text	". – ( Mr President, a 6.8 % increase in the European Union budget will be difficult to justify to the public when savings are having to be made everywhere in Europe. However, the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe sees it as a consequence of commitments entered into earlier. Contracts simply have to be fulfilled. If payments really need to be reduced, there is one very simple solution: to cut back on commitments. That is what the ALDE Group has tried to do in this budget procedure. We have said that it should be possible to reduce commitments by 5 % for the countries that do not make good use of their Structural Funds. Unfortunately, that proposal could not count on a majority, and we did not present it again. But we firmly believe that commitments have to be met. If the budget authority – the Council and Parliament – initially voted to implement certain projects and the contracts were signed, then you can’t say later, ‘I’m afraid we need to economise now’ and ‘we don’t have the money’. That’s not on! A self-respecting government has to honour its contracts. Furthermore, every year, money is refunded to the Member States because the accounts that are now presented to us are not submitted early enough. In the opinion of the ALDE Group, if those accounts are submitted too late, that does not mean that they no longer need to be paid. We therefore find this 6.8 % increase in the budget very hard to justify. We are fully prepared to listen to the Council, we are always willing to let ourselves be convinced, but, at the moment, we find the Commission’s arguments stronger than the Council’s. I should also like to ask the Council whether it is true that the original estimates that were submitted by the Member States were even higher than the 6.8 % that the Council is now asking for? I should be grateful for an official answer from the Council. Were the original estimates by the Member States, where the Member States were asking individually and not collectively, higher than 6.8 % or not? As things stand at the moment, we shall support the position of the Committee on Budgets."@en1
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Jan Mulder,"1 "NL)"1 "on behalf of the ALDE Group"1
lpv:videoURI	<go to Events_and_structure europarl>2

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