Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-08-Speech-3-018-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110608.3.3-018-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, it is always interesting to see that, as soon as we start talking about a forward-looking budget, the debate is only ever about ‘how much exactly?’. This debate should actually be about three issues, three priorities which for us, the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, are crucial.
Firstly, we need a vision for Europe and we need to decide what added value the European budget brings to that vision for Europe? Secondly, yes, Mr Ashworth, the budget should be renewed and made greener, it should be a forward-looking budget. However, a forward-looking budget also means shifts in priorities and still more European money. The third priority concerns the EU’s own resources. Make the system fairer and more transparent, and then we can talk about own resources.
Let me run through these three priorities, the added value, to begin with. Here, too, the tone of the debate is as if the money which goes to Brussels is disappearing into a black hole. What nonsense, complete and utter nonsense! If you start looking at what can be done at the European level, there are many reasons for spending money at the European level and specifically not at the national level. Take, for example, our diplomatic services, our embassies abroad. Do we want to have 27 of those in all kinds of countries in Africa, or do we want to have a single EU one? The latter means that more money will have to go to the EU for that EU embassy, but it also means that 27 times less money is spent in the 27 Member States. That is dealing with money efficiently.
Look also at infrastructure. If we, as countries, build infrastructure, how do we then ensure that this also works across borders, in the field of energy networks? There, too, you need European money. Or take innovation and research. Ensure that they are consolidated so that you see it through together, so that you have economies of scale. Now, that is clever investing. That is a vision of the added value of Europe and that is why we need a European budget.
Secondly, the budget must be forward-looking. The current budget is too much ‘business as usual’. We have the 2020 objectives for a smart economy, a sustainable economy. We must therefore invest in that. The challenge for the EU is dealing with scarcity, the scarcity of natural resources, but also of labour. The EU must invest in this so that we can deal with it. The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development must be renewed and made greener, so that agriculture can become an example of proper and efficient dealing with natural resources. The Structural Funds, too, must respond to new challenges, such as energy. Ensure that the Structural Funds contribute to the objectives we have set for 2020. That is the innovation we should be talking about.
What are the new challenges? Sustainable energy – that means infrastructure and we need money for that; foreign policy – the Arab Spring: what has been the European response? For that, too, we need European money. Poverty reduction within and outside the EU, climate change, innovation, all good reasons for us to act at the EU level.
The third priority concerns the EU’s own resources. The current system is bankrupt. The rebates which the British have, and which the Dutch and the Danes want, that is a bankrupt system. Make it fairer, make it more transparent, or secure own resources for the EU. Consider a financial transaction tax. Then you have a fair system where the money goes to the EU and where we can achieve our own objectives. This is a clever policy. Things do have to change but they must change at the European level, surely?
Finally, I would like to put the following question to those Member States which are saying that less and less money should go to the EU, but which, at the same time, are giving all kinds of new priorities to the EU: if you want less money to go to the EU, what are the priorities that we as the EU should work on? Because if you want the EU to receive less money, you also have to make choices. So far, we have heard that there are more and more priorities, with less money. This simply does not add up. Now, that is the question the British and Dutch governments should be thinking about."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples