Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-17-Speech-3-097"
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"en.19991117.4.3-097"2
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"Mr President, Mrs Haug’s report on the European Union’s system of own resources seems rather contradictory to us, and that is why we are opposed to it.
On the one hand, it declares excellent principles of economy, particularly the idea that the Union’s own resources must be limited to 1.27% of the GNPs of the Member States, a ceiling which the Commission proposal rightly sought to circumvent surreptitiously. This position is perhaps due to the rapporteur’s German nationality and the special situation of Germany but, in any case, she is right on this point and we support her on this.
On the other hand, however, the self-same rapporteur contradicts her own desire for economy by calling, on the lines of the Berlin Council of March 1999, for the creation of new autonomous own resources, i.e. to put it plainly, European taxes. I recall that the Pasqua-de Villiers list, on which I stood as a candidate, deplored the Berlin conclusions during the election campaign, but that our rivals managed to cover it up. Thus, according to the Berlin Council, and today according to the Haug report, the resources of the European budget should henceforth be made up totally or partially not of State contributions but of direct taxes levied on citizens. At the same time, we must expect the power of decision regarding these taxes to be passed quickly from the Council to the European Parliament. This development would be in contradiction to our vision of a Union which is an association of states, to which the Members freely pay annual contributions.
But this is not just a matter of institutional philosophy, it is a practical matter, too. Every year we are witness to confrontation over the budget because the Council seeks to resist the extravagant overbidding of the Commission, often with the support of Parliament. If we create a European tax, the Council will gradually lose its capacity to resist, and we shall be giving the crucial advantage to those institutions which push to increase the budget. I must therefore appeal to our German friends. Please understand that, in arguing in favour of a European tax, in the long term you are betraying that very desire for economy which you defend so ferociously in the short term.
And since I heard it said in the debate, by Mr Bourlanges, that the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference was to decide upon the creation of a European tax, I would say, on the other hand, on behalf of the Union for a Europe of Nations Group, that if the IGC is to discuss this matter, it must decide upon the creation of a system that is clear, transparent, fair and, above all, closely supervised by national democracies, by which I mean an annual contribution from Member States based on a percentage of their GNP, which is identical for all Member States."@en1
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