Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-26-Speech-2-367"
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"en.20060926.29.2-367"2
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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, firstly, I will join my fellow Members in thanking Mrs Krehl for the work she has done and in thanking you, Mrs Hübner, for the quality of the relations we have had with you and with all of your services throughout the months that have led us to tomorrow’s vote. No one will be surprised as to how my group votes because, of course, we shall adopt this text, and we shall do so for at least two reasons. Firstly, it takes account not only of the majority of the requests from our group, but also, I believe, of the requests from the majority of us. Secondly, this matter has gone on for far longer than was scheduled, and it is therefore important that we adopt this text.
I should like to make four comments. Firstly, I should like to point out to you – as my fellow Members have already done on several occasions – that, in Article 1 of the text that was adopted on 18 August by the Council, the words ‘to act as an indicative framework for the Member States’ are written in black and white, Commissioner. I am aware that, as things currently stand, it is considered bad form to want to impose on the 25 Heads of State or Government directives that come from the Commission or Parliament. I should, however, like to stress that we would have liked to have found some slightly more binding elements in this text. As some of my fellow Members, such as Mrs Krehl, have said, we will make sure, at mid-term, that we formulate the points of view that will be needed to change the wayward paths that may have been taken.
Second point: I must emphasise the motivation for these strategic guidelines. The contacts that I currently have refer me to a Brussels ‘technostructure’ and to a Parliament that decides on strategic guidelines. All of that is very complicated. People forget too quickly, far too quickly, that it is in fact thanks to these Structural Funds and to these guidelines that, in previous years – with Portugal, Spain and Ireland – we have achieved important results, and this for the benefit of human beings who experience unfavourable circumstances in disadvantaged regions. They forget that our commitment to solidarity, which is being expressed today in this cohesion policy, is designed to allow all the communities and each and every inhabitant of the disadvantaged regions to have access to the same benefits as people in the more well-off regions.
I should like briefly to say how much I welcome the flexible approach announced at the very start of this text. It is an approach that, in taking account of the strengths and weaknesses of each region, should enable priority to be given to transport, to the environment and to energy, in particular.
Finally, like our fellow Members from the intergroup, who have already highlighted this point, we welcome the fact that this text emphasises the importance of cities. Having been in Germany myself a few days ago, I am in a position to say – and my German fellow Members will correct me if I am wrong – that 90% of the German population live in towns or cities with more than 2 000 inhabitants. In the text submitted to us, the importance of cities is emphasised. What I should like to say is that, aside from the words, aside from the financial amounts that are going to be dedicated to the Cohesion Fund, there will be the means to use the fund.
Commissioner, in your communication on cohesion policy and the cities, you have reserved a special place for the integrated approach. I should like to say, at this stage in the debate, that we must remain extremely vigilant and ensure, above all, that the implementation of the integrated approaches does not only affect the cities in the strictest sense of the word, but also the communities surrounding the cities. We were talking about this matter with my fellow Member, Mrs Bourzai, who is present in this House, at lunch. It is not just the city that counts, it is all of the land that surrounds it, within a radius of 10, 20, 50 or 100 km, in which people live together on a daily basis. If people are to live together harmoniously, the various topics concerning transport, society and education must be linked together effectively.
I shall conclude by saying that the actors must also have good links with each other: actors at national, regional, local and other levels. Just as an orchestra, with its violins and its pianos, needs a conductor in order to play well, we will ensure that there is a good conductor for all of these arrangements, one who is capable of making a success of this Cohesion Fund."@en1
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