Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-12-Speech-2-039"
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"en.20001212.3.2-039"2
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"Mr President, firstly I would like to thank the budget rapporteurs, Mrs Haug and Mr Ferber, for their excellent work. The same goes for Mr Wynn, the Chairman of the Committee on Budgets, for the splendidly accomplished conciliatory work he has done and for his constructive leadership of the committee.
Next year’s budget will be very much based on strict budgetary discipline. Although agricultural expenditure, which accounts for almost half the entire budget, will increase by more than 5%, when the Letter of Amendment has been taken into account, the overall increase in the budget is just 3.5%. This means that great restraint has been shown in the use of funds in the other categories. This makes just 1.056% of GNP, which must be considered very low as the ceiling for the financial perspective is 1.11%. This means a saving of more than EUR 2 billion. This, however, conceals a danger. The budget will be seeing a structural distortion, as money spent on payment commitments comes to over EUR 3.6 billion more than that for appropriations for payments. This means that there will be an increase in arrears. For that reason, Parliament’s concern that the problem of arrears will have to be dealt with is a justified one, and that is why there has been a very real need for a joint declaration by Parliament and the Council.
Furthermore, the fact that the Council and Parliament reached agreement regarding the EU’s budget for next year is to be greeted with satisfaction. It shows that both budgetary authorities are taking responsibility for the administration of the EU in an appropriate manner. However, it is unfortunate that Parliament once again had to fight with regard to funds for the West Balkans. Regarding other matters, I would say that for my group it is a positive move that a 450 million euro multiannual programme was agreed for the employment initiative; and, moreover, that it was agreed that funds remaining unspent from Community initiatives – totalling EUR 1 600 million– would be budgeted in the years to come. We failed to fill a considerable number of parliamentary posts throughout this year. This shows that in future there must be better use of personnel resources. With these observations, my group is prepared to adopt the draft budget."@en1
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