Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-24-Speech-2-242"
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"en.20001024.7.2-242"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, budget debates ought really to be highlights of parliamentary life. I think that is still a long way from being the case, however. The Berlin Council has proceeded on the basis of an upper limit for the Budget of 1.135%. The Commission is now quoting a figure of 1.07, and the Council wants a figure of 1.05. 1.27 is really the Agenda figure. This is happening at a time when, as is well known, expenditure on the Balkans is increasing. The total quoted so far of EUR 200 million for Serbia hardly even begins to meet the real needs. Almost the same sum has already been donated to the election campaign. The NATO war destroyed too much and left too much suffering in its wake. The new political forces, which meet with this Chamber’s approval, have the task of engaging not only in political work but also in construction work and of removing the debris from the NATO war in the form of ruined factories, schools, hospitals, bridges and other structures. I would particularly emphasise that we must accept responsibility for the fate of everyone in the country, including more than 500 000 refugees in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. No other country has accepted so many refugees.
Parliament is now being called upon to ensure that restraint is exercised in areas of social policy and to restrict funds for development policy at a time of increasing world poverty. This already shows that the European Union’s ability to acquire the States of Central and Eastern Europe as new members not only depends upon reforming the institutions but also – and, I think, to a very much greater extent – challenges the European Union’s ability to deliver. Unless a different budget policy is pursued, the very accession of these States will cause the poverty line to run still more deeply in Europe. What is needed are neither speeches nor explanations, but practical and social action on the part of a European Union now acting as a single unit and in which Parliament is required to make its own contribution."@en1
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