Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-23-Speech-2-221"
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"en.20030923.5.2-221"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this is the second time that the justice and internal affairs sector has been invited to this budget debate, but when it comes to figures those for which I am responsible seem so small that I almost feel ashamed to be standing here alongside my colleagues from agriculture or cohesion.
I would also like to stress, as Mr Perry has said, that we attach great importance to the use of audiovisual systems. For this year 2003 we therefore have EUR 4 million for an audiovisual information strategy on enlargement, EUR 4 million for the Future of Europe and EUR 8.5 million for audiovisuals providing general information about the European Union, including the
channel. I agree with you entirely, Mr Perry, that we should meet
request as Parliament agreed.
What have we done? We have granted
EUR 1.5 million in accordance with the framework agreement signed with
in 2001 and we have taken into account the further sum of EUR 3 million voted by Parliament. Having said that, Parliament has clearly said that those three million euros were not to finance
administrative costs but to pay for its activities. We have therefore suggested to
that it submit to us programmes for information activities and we are perfectly willing to assess them and finance them by releasing the EUR 3 million by the end of the year.
You raised the question of the legal bases. This aspect is not my direct responsibility but I do know that the Commission has already put forward proposals for the creation of legal bases for a number of entities, including
. I think that will be the best way of proceeding and the best approach for giving stability to such funding. I will eagerly await Parliament’s position on this matter.
Nevertheless, from a statistical point of view the budget for justice and internal affairs has increased by 252% this year. In reality, however, much of that increase is the result of the decision taken in Copenhagen to create the Schengen facility, at a cost of EUR 317 million, to help the seven future Member States to adopt and incorporate the Schengen
. Another EUR 13 million are for transitional measures for Lithuania in connection with transit to and from Kaliningrad.
So far as justice and internal affairs are concerned, the most important changes from the budgetary point of view are therefore the enlargement-related increase in appropriations for programmes (EUR 16 million) and the increase in appropriations for control of the external frontiers, which has been a major European Union priority since the Seville and Thessaloniki summits. I would like to stress the importance of the ARGO programme in support of frontier control operations carried out jointly by the Member States; this is given an extra EUR 15 million. I would also like to highlight the creation of a new budget line for development of the VIS project, a visa information system, to which EUR 10 million will be allocated initially.
This year 2004 will be marked by a number of important factors affecting budget management. It will be the last year of operation for the European Refugee Fund. We therefore need to learn from experience in making a new allocation after 2004. Then there is the doubling of the amount allocated to the Daphne programme, which will be 10 million for 2004. In this connection, I want to stress the importance of reaching a conclusion concerning the legal basis as quickly as possible in the codecision procedure between Parliament and Council. Finally, as rapporteur Ceyhun points out, the budgets for Eurojust and the Drugs Monitoring Centre in Lisbon are increased in particular in order to enable those bodies to adapt to enlargement.
Regarding the proposed amendments voted unanimously by the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs – for which I want to thank Mr Ceyhun – I am particularly pleased about the increase in the budget for the European Refugee Fund. However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that doing so today will allow voluntary return actions to be paid for and that there is absolutely no question of using this money for forced returns. There is therefore a contradiction between the fact that capacity is being increased and the comment. I would like to draw your attention to that.
I am also pleased with the two amendments which the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs has proposed concerning the VIS system and the new generation Schengen information system, SIS II. Following the feasibility studies, it is in fact necessary to reprogramme expenditure for these two systems so as to spread the cost over the following three financial years 2004 to 2006, 2006 being the deadline for the SIS II system to become operational and therefore ready to fully integrate the countries that will join on 1 May 2004.
Finally, I would like to thank Parliament for its idea of creating an Erasmus programme for judges; the Commission will try to conduct a pilot project.
I turn now to the field of information and communication. Following the adoption of the Bayona de Perogordo report, 2003 was the first year in which we developed a new information and communication strategy for the general public. You will remember that the cornerstone of this strategy is cooperation with the Member States, the establishment of partnerships with the Member States. I am pleased to say that the interinstitutional group on information and communication has managed to reach broad agreement on what should be the priority subjects for such public information and communication campaigns. I am speaking not only of the euro, but also of enlargement, the future of Europe, the area of freedom, security and justice and, for next year 2004, the role of Europe in the world, including a specific line to support information campaigns in the field of defence.
Let us be clear, however, and in saying this I am trying to answer the comments made by Mr Ferber just now. This is in fact the second time I have tried to answer him today, but he is never there to hear me. I nevertheless hope that the message will get to him. When we are talking about partnership, we have to rely on the Member States being available to take part in such a partnership. For example, EUR 4 million were reserved for such partnerships with the Member States for the information campaign on the Future of Europe. Up until now, however, only three Member States have said they are willing to reach an agreement with us in order to develop the campaign on the future of Europe. Since partnership is built on a voluntary basis, what the Commission has done is to allocate those EUR 4 million that were not used by the partnership with the Member States to other funds. Until the end of this year, therefore, we are covering the expenditure for the entire budget for the Future of Europe programme, including an invitation to tender for an audiovisual campaign on the future of Europe, amounting to EUR 4 million, and the reallocation of EUR 3.7 million for the production of printed objective information material for distribution at the end of this year and early next year on the conclusions of the Convention."@en1
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