Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-21-Speech-2-129"
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"en.20031021.5.2-129"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen – I cannot address the Council since it is represented only by very worthy officials, but I hope the absence of the Presidency is a good sign, meaning that the Council agrees with the provisions which Parliament is about to adopt and that we shall have an uncontroversial and therefore very simple second reading.
I, too, should like to thank both rapporteurs for their work and acknowledge all those who have taken part in this collective effort. Mr Mulder deserves thanks for having, in particular, pointed out that this yearly exercise of ours is in danger of being reduced to political fiction, a string of good intentions and good proposals. We have become merely an expensive NGO, allowing ourselves to amend and comment on the budget and make recommendations which are then invariably not implemented. One just has to look at the billions of euro that we return to the Member States every year; regrettably, one just has to look at the total outstanding commitments. I have taken note of Commissioner Schreyer’s commitment to give us a practical answer right away, so that the 2004 financial year may be an historic one in this respect too, in other words so that there may, at last, be some similarity between what the budgetary authorities decide and what is then actually implemented with regard to the 2004 budget.
Out of the great many positive and negative points to underline, I should like to focus on the question of the amendment on Iraq. Mr Walter has told us that his group, and he himself, do not intend to support this amendment. In addition, we have read in the newspapers that the German Government will not even be represented in Madrid, as, indeed, it was not at the European Council meeting. This is starting to become a habit; I do not know whether it will be represented by France there too.
There is, however, no doubt that, in view of the Security Council resolution and the new phase that is beginning, we now have the problem that Europe’s response is still the same as before the Security Council resolution, which – I repeat – is ushering in a new phase in which all the political groupings, or many of them at least, even the hostile ones, have modified their positions. I believe that we cannot stand still and send Commissioner Schreyer to the Conference with this tiny and, quite frankly, laughable sum for what I consider an important proposal, which, although it will wreck the Financial Perspective, is, at least, an attempt to achieve unity and a common policy, requiring support from the budget. That is why we shall support that amendment.
Lastly, on the Gill report, I should like to underline what the rapporteur has said about the need to provide the citizens with more information, an area on which we are delighted to agree. I thank the rapporteur for having accepted this amendment aimed at strengthening the on-line information policy and arranging for all our debates to be transmitted to the citizens over the Internet from next year."@en1
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