Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-145"

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"Mr President, I should, in turn, like to congratulate Mr Mulder on the result of all his efforts: a well-balanced budget which reflects the largest possible consensus in our Parliament. Nevertheless, as rapporteur for the budget of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, I am left with a somewhat unpleasant feeling. After all, it has become a constant during the annual budget negotiations that in terms of foreign policy, all kinds of new pledges are made, as a result of which cuts have to be made elsewhere, which I regret. Indeed, how can the European Union be a credible and effective player on the world stage if we get Latin America and Africa to pay for Iraq’s reconstruction? EU Member States often tend to make big promises, but then forget them when it comes to putting their money where their mouths are. This is why I am pleased that the Committee on Budgets has backed my main amendment, in which it is clearly stipulated that new future commitments can only be funded if these are met by new additional financial resources. Commissioner Schreyer was right to note that the actual extent of expenses still remains under the statutory ceiling of 1.24% of the EU’s GDP, so I see it as extremely significant that the Committee on Budgets accepted the proposal to set aside a substantial part of the EU budget’s margin, namely EUR 16.5 billion for external EU policy. After all, anyone who has ambitions on the world stage not only requires one voice but also more funding. If we fail to succeed in this, we will be excluded from the negotiating table through nobody’s fault but our own – which is often the case as it is – and will afterwards be presented with the bill for international crises without being able to influence the decisions made."@en1

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