Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-16-Speech-3-359"
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"en.20010516.14.3-359"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank the rapporteur for her hard work on behalf of the members in the run up to the preparation of Parliament's budget. Nonetheless, I should like to take this opportunity to pick out one or two points and examine them more closely.
Enlargement: of course we must prepare for enlargement. But anyone who thinks that preparing for enlargement merely means creating new posts has failed to recognise the problem. Everything has to be tested against what we have learned to appreciate and love about the
of the European Parliament over the last twenty years. We face a huge challenge if we want to master all that. Nor is it a question of creating new posts and manning them with officials from applicant countries. Why are there no other options
? For example, the Commission intends to work with satellites in applicant countries in the translation area.
We need to create information offices because we have a problem as regards the acceptance of accession to the European Union. That is our job as representatives of the people. It is not a question of taking a few people to the fleshpots of Europe here in Strasbourg or in Brussels or Luxembourg, it is a question of bringing people to the European Union. That is best done locally. That is why I ask you to consider carefully what really needs to be done and what is better done through activities in the candidate countries, in order to save money. The Commission is on the right track here.
Buildings policy: I agree with the rapporteur that, as things stand, the cheapest solution here in Strasbourg is to pay off the outstanding amounts as quickly as possible. But that is only the second cheapest solution. We must be clear about that. The cheapest solution would be to build ourselves. Then we can decide on the layout and fittings, without having to admit in the end that someone has done well out of us and that now we must somehow take over. We went through that in Brussels and we have been through it here. We could show a bit more intelligence here. That would be the cheapest solution. What we are doing is the second cheapest and I should like to make that clear.
Staff policy: I am surprised at the administration, which is calling for numerous new posts on the one hand, while at the same time making increasing concessions in the so-called non-occupancy quota. This means that more posts are saved than new posts requested. We still need an in-depth discussion of how this can be reconciled. In other words, there is a great deal of room for manoeuvre by transferring staff between the services of the European Parliament without always needing to create new posts straight away. I can tell you now that the PPE group will be looking at this issue very closely in the autumn, once we have the actual figures to work with.
I am delighted that the rapporteur has also taken up our transport options. I hope that we shall not have to cycle around Brussels. I consider that far too dangerous. I think the initiative by the town of Strasbourg following the change in the mayor's office is real progress. We too can take the tram now. Perhaps we can take the metro in Brussels. That would take us one stage further. But, as I say, bicycles in general are too dangerous in my book. I hope that we can find a reasonable solution here.
We in the PPE shall carry out a strict and close examination of the budget line by line in the autumn, once the figures are available. But let me make one thing clear: if the report is adopted tomorrow, this does not mean free passage for the reading which we shall have to hold in September or October."@en1
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