Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-26-Speech-2-176"
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"en.20041026.12.2-176"2
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"Mr President, I too should like to start by thanking Mrs Schreyer for the work she has done, and I should like to thank her particularly for the open-minded attitude she has always adopted to this House. I have always enjoyed good relations with her, especially when I was rapporteur for this year’s budget. I should also like to thank Mr Garriga. I am very pleased that he has adopted for this year a number of initiatives that I took last year. In this connection, I should immediately add another comment about the Commission, because in the letter of amendment for next year’s agricultural budget, two initiatives have been included with regard to the quality of agricultural products and the future funding of infectious animal diseases. I think that we need to investigate at any rate how this will take shape.
Looking back on the past few years, my slogan has always been that we need to be careful with European money. When I consider the level of the European budget of the past few years, that is quite clearly what we have done. We should not break the financial perspectives if that proves unwarranted, but I should add immediately that the Council did make it particularly difficult for us. What is the use of creating new agencies every year if the necessary funding is not available? Moreover, the self-same Council has difficulty reaching a decision as to the location of those agencies. Sometimes they appear in the most bizarre places in Europe and are accommodated elsewhere temporarily. All of that costs money. Removal costs are to be covered and everything is to be funded from the programmes that appeal to Parliament. I do not believe that to be the right attitude, and so I welcome the fact that we are thrashing this issue out properly. It is unacceptable for one branch of the budgetary authority to take unilateral decisions that have financial implications, without indicating how these should be funded in future.
With regard to Heading 3, there is one component of which I am still strongly in favour, and that is investment support, provided by the European Investment Fund in Luxembourg, to fund small and medium-sized enterprises. I think that we should give as many opportunities as possible to SMEs, to private enterprise, particularly in the new Member States, because some of them still lack a sound and healthy banking sector. That is why it is a good thing that this year again, an amendment has been adopted in the budget at first reading in order to give back-up in areas such as these.
As for Heading 4, this year’s Budget is again a very tight one. Just as we did last year, I think it is inevitable that we will again have recourse to the flexibility reserve."@en1
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