Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-02-Speech-1-068"
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"en.20030602.6.1-068"2
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"Mr President, I only partly agree with Mr Krarup. I agree with him in the sense that there is a democratic crisis. This Parliament is in a crisis because we come under permanent attack by many of the public media in all the Member States for the indefensible state in which we are made to work at the moment. We all know that people in this House doing exactly the same job are paid a huge range of different salaries for it. There is only one thing which has made this tolerable. That has been an expenses regime which would otherwise be totally indefensible because it is absolutely untransparent.
We are greatly indebted to Mr Rothley for bringing us so far down the road. We must take the step that will make it possible for this Parliament to stand tall and stand legitimate with a proper scheme on a common salary and a common, defensible and transparent expenses regime.
Putting it quite simply, I would like to see to it that we have a system that can be understood, that pays people the costs they incur and that pays us all a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. It should be slightly smaller but it would just have been gesture politics to retable the amendment we put in the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market since it was obviously not going to be carried.
I respectfully disagree with Mr Rothley on the issue of privileges and immunities. I would like to see it in the Statute in something like the way he suggests, but frankly the provisions there strike me as much too sweeping, covering far too much. Immunity in these Berlusconi days is a difficult concept and we should not challenge our electorate. It is better to stick with the regime that we have, with the primary law that we currently have. Most of the amendments that we, the liberals and others have put forward seek to keep that basis for immunities. With these crucial amendments, the resolution can be carried.
Finally, with great respect to everybody here, I do not regard myself here as an employee of the European Union: I am a representative of my constituents. I do not ever wish to pay tax on my income at a different level or on a different basis from my constituents. The permissive Belgian compromise that would let Member States bring a Member's taxation liability to the level of his constituents is a good one. I hope that we can find a way of making it legally valid."@en1
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