Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-04-Speech-2-025"
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"en.20060704.5.2-025"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, after more than a year, we are coming to the end of an intense piece of work carried out in close cooperation with many of my fellow Members and with representatives from the Council and the Commission, whom I should to thank. I should also like to thank the Austrian Presidency and I extend my special, heartfelt thanks to Commissioner Hübner, who has always shown herself to be sensitive to Parliament’s requests and willing to debate and to enter into constructive dialogue, which is the real driving force behind exchanges of opinions between the two institutions.
The European Parliament spoke with one voice at the negotiating table with the Council and the Commission, going beyond political affiliations and countries of origin, and thus succeeded in having a greater impact on the results of the negotiation, helping to significantly improve the initial structure of the provisions. Although the Council rejected some important suggestions put forward by Parliament, I personally believe that the texts adequately meet the needs of an enlarged Union. Thanks to the combined efforts of the three institutions, this morning’s vote will mean that Europe has access to new legal instruments that are vital for strengthening solidarity and economic and social cohesion.
With regard to the regulation establishing a Cohesion Fund, for which I am the lead rapporteur, I should like to highlight the importance of the increase in the budget, for which Parliament fought, from EUR 18 billion for the 2000-2006 period to slightly more than EUR 61.5 billion for the next programming period. This is in response to the recipient Member States’ great financial needs in the environmental and transport sectors, with special attention paid to sustainable development, through a form of balanced yet flexible distribution, that is to say, one that is capable of adapting the way in which the Fund is used to meet the needs of each Member State.
Aside from the trans-European networks, it will be possible to use the Cohesion Fund for projects in the transport field, including urban, rail, inland waterway and maritime transport, multimodal programmes and measures that promote sustainable development and that enhance the environmental dimension, with a special focus on the key sectors of energy efficiency and renewable sources.
Parliament’s incisive work has produced positive results on several points. I should like to mention just a few of them that concern both the regulation establishing a Cohesion Fund and the general regulation, for which Mr Hatzidakis is the rapporteur and I am the shadow rapporteur on behalf of my group. Article 14 of the general regulation includes a specific reference to access for the disabled, which from now on must characterise all of the work financed with Community funds. We have succeeded in gaining more recognition for environmental protection and sustainable development, as Mr Hatzidakis just highlighted. I am satisfied regarding these two points, although I would have liked a precise reference to have been made in the main body of the regulation on the Cohesion Fund too. In any case, the reference has been included in the general regulation, and that is already a significant and important result.
Next, with regard to the so-called partnership, there will be greater involvement of bodies representing civil society, non-governmental organisations and associations that campaign for equal rights between women and men, including in terms of cohesion policy.
Finally, as regards the regulation on the European Regional Development Fund, for which Mr Fava is the rapporteur and I am a shadow rapporteur, I look very positively on the inclusion of the reference to the issue of public security in the context of the convergence objective, as a guarantee against Structural Fund-related expenditure processes being infiltrated by organised crime. Furthermore, Parliament’s intervention has meant greater attention being paid to the urban dimension – a topic that Mr Beaupuy, myself and so many others among us hold dear – and has emphasised the way in which a sound programme of investment and management of the funds intended for cities can drive the economic and socio-cultural revival of the suburbs and surrounding rural areas, which are the real agents of sustainable and lasting development in the regions.
To conclude, I should like to add to what Mr Hatzidakis has said and call on Parliament to support the entire package of regulations under discussion today by voting in favour of it."@en1
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