Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-04-Speech-3-108"
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"en.20030604.3.3-108"2
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".
No, this statute is not perfect. Yes, this text is only a compromise. No, this project does not provide a complete response to the lengthy battle fought over the best part of the last five years by the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party; but yes, I voted in favour: in favour of reform, in favour of the future, and in favour of setting the truly European aspects of this House in stone.
For that is what is at stake: finding an end to the odyssey on which we embarked in 1979, in search of a common statute, a statute to do away with inequality and injustice. How on earth can we continue to justify the fact that German and Italian Members earn four times the wages of their Portuguese and Spanish colleagues?
That is why I congratulate myself on the agreement reached on Articles 16 and 18. The former establishes the principle of equal pay for all, and the latter confirms Community tax as the benchmark.
For all that, I regret the fact that this House did not, yesterday, state the rights and responsibilities of its honourable Members loud and clear. Neither did it adopt a totally transparent system for the refund of expenses, particularly travel expenses. The repeal of the effective compromise negotiated during the Belgian Presidency in October 2001 is also a bad sign. That compromise gave Member States the right to impose an additional national tax, should they desire to do so.
These are all highly controversial questions, which threaten to delay the adoption of the Statute for Members until the twelfth of never."@en1
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