Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-02-Speech-1-066"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030602.6.1-066"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I hope we do not have to come here again to talk about our employment conditions. When I looked at the UK press over the weekend I could not recognise myself or indeed any of my colleagues in the lurid descriptions of our supposed lifestyles and endless perks. Many journalists have telephoned me with the opening line 'Oh, so you are about to vote yourself a 25% pay rise.' When I explain the whys and wherefores, they suddenly lose interest, it is not an interesting story any more. Surely this is the point. Our conditions of employment and our expenses should not be the story, they should be transparent, a matter of public record: proper recompense for a job well done and reimbursement for monies paid out in doing that.
Colleagues, I believe this is our last chance to reach the stage where we are no longer the story, but our work is. We have a package before us that in most ways represents a compromise for all of us. It is a package that should get through the Council if we are reasonable regarding items of primary law, but the Council too must compromise over tax.
Some Members of this House may be uncomfortable about the level of salary: for some it is too much, for some too little, but finally we seem to have a figure that we can all just about live with. Then the expenses: again at last we seem, thanks to your work, Mr President, to have a proposed system that is much more transparent than hitherto. For some it may not go far enough, but it is a vast improvement.
There will have to be some compromise and understanding on all sides. What we will have finally established, the big prize, is a single statute for MEPs. This is our last chance. It was hard enough to get here, and the circumstances will not arise again. We have a chance for interest in this House to focus on our work and not our pockets. I hope sufficient numbers of us will have the courage to bend a little and vote for this package and the amendments by the ELDR and other groups.
Quite frankly, colleagues, although I pay absolute tribute to the work of our rapporteur, I do not want to listen to him in committee meetings on this subject for another five years. His very considerable talents and our time could be much better employed on other legislative work which directly benefits all Europe's citizens."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples