Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-146"
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"en.20021217.5.2-146"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the EU's budget for 2003 is indeed a presentable one. It is a shining example of how a budget can be successfully drawn up in such a way as to make the greatest possible savings whilst at the same time allocating sufficient funds to priority areas and to new tasks. This frugal and forward-looking budget has resulted from good cooperation such as one can only dream of – with Parliament, and with the rapporteurs. I can do no other than express my utmost appreciation to Mr Färm and Mr Stenmarck. My warm thanks, on behalf of the Commission, for this terrific cooperation go also to Mr Colom i Naval and of course to Mr Wynn, the committee's chairman, as well as to the Committee on Budgets as a whole. I am, naturally, also grateful to the Council. In saying this, I want to highlight the purposeful way in which negotiations were handled, preventing us from being bogged down in any single area, or even in what might have been matters of merely secondary importance, so that, on the contrary, we always proceeded with negotiations with their ultimate purpose in mind.
This year, ladies and gentlemen, we have set up the new Solidarity Fund for aid in cases of major natural catastrophes in the Member States and in the candidate countries. In future, it will be funded to the tune of EUR 1 billion every year, and that includes 2003.
As a whole, the balance sheet for work on budget policy in 2002 is an extremely favourable one. A completely new Financial Regulation covers the EU's Budget, as also the European Development Fund and the other facilities. Today, the Commission adopted in its entirety the rules for implementing this Financial Regulation. This means that the reform of financial management exists not only on paper; it governs the activities of all those who work with European resources, so that the 2003 Budget will be the first to be implemented according to the new rules of the new Financial Regulation.
As I have already emphasised, the 2003 Budget is the last for an EU of 15 Member States. We now have to adapt the Financial Perspective to the Copenhagen conclusions, in order to draw up the 2004 Budget for an EU of 25 Member States. As early as February, we will be holding a trialogue to discuss the ongoing adaptations, and by then, it is to be hoped that there will be greater clarity about the future of Northern Cyprus. Pre-accession aid for Bulgaria and Romania is then to be replenished, and the budget for pre-accession aid is then to include Turkey. That is what the Copenhagen Council decided. So it is that the budget reflects the dynamics of European development. I look forward to cooperating on these issues for the future, being sure that we will find good solutions to them, as we found the right solutions for the budget for 2003.
The appropriations for commitments in the 2003 Budget amount to EUR 99.69 billion, which can be used in entering into new commitments on the EU's behalf. That adds up to an increase of only 0.26% over against this year. I would like to see anyone else do the same! EUR 97.5 billion have been allocated to payments for the coming year, representing an increase of 1.9% over the current year, and thus below the rate of inflation. Expressed as a percentage of the EU's gross domestic product, only 1.02% is being spent on the EU Budget for 2003 – the lowest it has been for ten years. The financial planning voted in 1999 provided EUR 103 billion for 2003, that being EUR 5 billion more than the 2003 Budget has now actually required.
It is now a matter of certainty, ladies and gentlemen, that the 2003 Budget will be the last EU Budget for an EU of 15 Member States. I would like to congratulate the Danish Presidency of the Council on the result achieved at Copenhagen, but I must also take this opportunity to thank Mr Böge, Parliament's rapporteur on the financing of enlargement, for his support over the past year and a half. The financial package did indeed take a long time to prepare, and, as Commissioner for the Budget, I am proud and, of course, glad that what was concluded at Copenhagen is so close to what the Commission proposed in January.
Copenhagen really has now sent out the message that it is time for all the EU's institutions to roll their sleeves up. Now is the time to reach all the interinstitutional agreements, so that our institutions can make these changes effectively.
Of the new posts, 236 will be allocated to the Council for the purpose of this preparation, whilst 500 will be allocated to the Commission. On the Commission's behalf, I want to thank the budgetary authority for this decision. As regards where the Commission will be allocating these posts, 59 of them will be in the area of competition, 53 in agriculture, 56 in the Structural Funds, 10 in OLAF, 69 in the languages service and 60 in the Publications Office. All of these are areas in which it is clear that the
must be applied from day one, and preparations must be made for this.
It has also finally been decided how much by way of funds will be allocated to the new States in the years from 2004 to 2006; these will amount to EUR 10 billion for agricultural policy and EUR 21 billion for structural aid. These are large sums of money, and their implementation must of course be well prepared.
Parliament and the Council have welcomed the further policy priorities for the 2003 Budget, which are ‘stability and security’ and ‘sustainable and inclusive economic development’. These priorities are reflected in the 2003 Budget, in that the budget for DG Environment increases by 14%, and resources are allocated specifically to enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in border regions. The budget for DG Research and the Joint Research Centre totals EUR 3 billion for 2003, which underlines the importance of sustainable and inclusive economic development.
The ‘stability and security’ priority has to do with measures in the area of justice and home affairs – my fellow-Commissioner Mr Vitorino's budget is increasing by 11% – and in the area of foreign policy. The EU Budget will, in the coming year, bear the joint costs of the Police Mission in Bosnia. This is an important step towards a common foreign and security policy.
We are continuing to stand by our promises and by the policy commitments we have made in the Balkan region. I believe it has to be emphasised that a large budget has been proposed, standing at over EUR 680 million in 2003, and this is for the fourth time running. Afghanistan can count on a high level of support from the EU, and the Global Health Fund will again receive substantial resources for its fight against Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. In these areas, Europe is indeed the largest donor."@en1
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