Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-042"
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"en.20010131.3.3-042"2
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".
Mr Izquierdo Collado, I do not have all the answers at this stage, and if I did, you would be justified in criticising me. We are only launching the debate. The budgets have been determined; the regulations have been defined. All these EU regions have received guarantees until 2006. I have endeavoured to tell the truth, because we cannot make speeches on enlargement and the enlarged European Union, integrating the closely related peoples of Eastern Europe, without looking at the figures as they stand. This is a truthful report. Yet I did not want to wait until 2005 before telling the truth and asking the questions which have to be asked of the Commission proposals, when the time comes, by the Heads of State and Government and by Parliament. So there is a problem, but there is no need to panic. I should also like to say, in answer to your specific question with regard to specific regions, Extremadura, southern Italy or the
of eastern Germany, that it will depend on the level of income achieved by around 2005-2006. What I do know, however, is that if we retain the criterion of per capita income – which I hope we do, since it is an objective criterion – then the average Community GDP is going to drop as a result of enlargement. The rate is going to drop to a greater or lesser extent, Mr Izquierdo Collado, according to whether the twelve candidate countries join at the same time or not. Once again, then, there is no need to panic. The drop will perhaps not be as much as the 18 points I mentioned earlier. The fact remains, however, that some regions currently covered by Objective 1, which are currently enjoying a good level of development even though this is still below average, are liable to find that they are above average following enlargement. We are going to have to find a solution to this. As I have said myself, these regions are not suddenly going to become rich just because Eastern European countries are joining the European Union. We are going to have to find a substantial solution for these regions and continue to support them, and I have outlined a few possible approaches. One of these, for example, would be to have a total budget allowance, similar to the system we set up for Ireland and other regions, to cover phasing out and a transitional period, particularly for those regions which were closest to the average. Even then, even with the new average, there will still most probably be, even looking at the maps provided in the report, which I urge you to examine carefully, extremely poor regions such as still exist in Spain, Portugal and Greece, and even in Italy, within the European Union of today. A solution, a largely financial solution, will have to be found for the band of intermediate regions, and what I am seeking to do is to ask the questions to obtain the help I need in order to find appropriate solutions when the time comes."@en1
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