Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-300"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000216.7.3-300"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"I welcome the quality and the ambition of this report on LIFE. I shall briefly remind you that LIFE is a financial instrument used to support environmental policies within the European Union and also in third countries, whether they be neighbouring countries around the Mediterranean, countries around the Baltic Sea or applicant countries.
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection has proposed many amendments which have, for the most part, been retained in the common position adopted by the Council.
As far as the third phase of LIFE (2000-2004) is concerned, the instrument is to be divided into three sections, LIFE-Nature (47% of the resources), LIFE-Environment (47%) and LIFE-Third Countries (6%). In my opinion, the most important amendments concern the following:
LIFE’s contribution to sustainable development within the Community and also to the development of Community policy in the field of the environment, particularly regarding the integration of the environment into other policies, as well as to the implementation and updating of legislation relating to the environment;
Improving the efficiency, transparency and methodology of procedures for the implementation of LIFE, procedures for information and the dissemination of such information to the public, and procedures for cooperation between recipients;
The objectives of LIFE: this must have as its main objective sustainable urban development, in close association with the pilot projects carried out under the URBAN initiative, on which I have had the opportunity to speak elsewhere;
The contribution that the projects supported by LIFE make to the sustainability of social and economic activities, and thus job creation.
I consider it crucial that the LIFE instrument should remain open to the participation of candidate countries from central and eastern Europe. The other candidate countries (e.g. Cyprus, Turkey, Malta) my also take part in LIFE when agreements permitting such participation are signed with these countries.
The stumbling block in the negotiations with the Council lies, of course, in the amount of the total appropriation allocated for the third phase of the LIFE programme (2000-2004). The Commission proposal, ratified by the Council, is for EUR 613 million, whilst the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection considers that the budget should be EUR 850 million. I support Mrs Lienemann’s firm stance. The financial allocation has not in fact been upgraded since the programme was created, even when the membership of the EC was increased to fifteen Member States following enlargement. If the report is adopted in plenary session, then conciliation proceedings will have to be opened, in accordance with the codecision procedure, in order to solve the problem of the amount of appropriations earmarked for the programme. This type of procedure is common practice since the programmes or legislative measures are too often allocated budgets which do not live up to their ambitions!"@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples