Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-20-Speech-2-284"
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"en.20040420.11.2-284"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this is the start of the final budgetary procedure in plenary in the current legislature. The composition of the House due to vote on this report tomorrow will not be the same as that of the House that will vote on final adoption of the 2005 budget in December, assuming that stage is reached. I trust that at least my colleagues on the Committee on Budgets and I will be able to vote in December along with our new colleagues from the new Member States.
We shall also respond appropriately to the challenge posed by terrorism, particularly in the wake of the terrible attacks perpetrated in Madrid on 11 March. All our efforts to ensure no such outrage can ever take place in Europe again will be dedicated to the victims.
This is why we shall endorse the pilot project for aid to the victims of terrorism. We shall also support strengthening Europol and Eurojust. In addition, we are in favour of your directive on compensation for victims of crime. We shall support similar initiatives brought before the House also. To summarise, in the case of the fight against terrorism, the House will go beyond supporting the Council and the Commission. It will actually try to take the lead.
With regard to external affairs, Parliament will become ever more involved in the reconstruction of Iraq and the consolidation of democracy in Afghanistan. The traditional priority areas for the House will not be neglected either.
New additions for this year are the neighbourhood policy, the creation of a European diplomatic service and of a European external action service. The general principle applied throughout will be that new external needs must be financed with new resources so as not to detract from our traditional priorities.
Lastly, we have taken note of the 700 posts you request from us, Commissioner. We very much hope that you will in any case try to arrange some redeployment.
I shall conclude by saying that we will be very vigilant as far as the various agencies are concerned. We shall ask them to provide a mid-term programme. The Commission should be able to include this in the draft preliminary budget in May on the development of these agencies.
I would like to thank all colleagues and officials for the spirit of cooperation they have demonstrated towards me thus far.
An innovative step forward has been taken with regard to modernising the budgetary procedure. Further to the debate on stock taking and the change to activity based budgeting, the European Parliament is doing away with the former budgetary guidelines. These are replaced by a resolution on the Annual Policy Strategy Report. One objective is to render the legislative procedures more appropriate. It is also hoped to influence the drafting of the Commission’s preliminary draft budget. We therefore urge the Commission to take account of our political and budgetary priorities when negotiating with the various Directorates-General.
We set out to draft a shorter resolution this year. Unfortunately, I fear we have failed in our endeavour, as we did in previous years. Nonetheless, I am delighted with my colleagues’ contributions. I should like to take this opportunity of emphasising that the opinions of the other parliamentary committees will be taken into account at first reading of the budget.
Commissioner, this draft 2005 budget is characterised from the outset by a special feature. I refer to the budgetary restriction affecting categories 3, 4, and 5. This budgetary limit will affect many programmes and will call for a particular effort to improve the distribution of appropriations between ongoing functions and new priorities. We believe that the new needs will require additional resources.
Concerning agriculture, we call on the Commission to make a statement on the pilot projects and on the initiatives launched in the 2004 budget. With regard to the Structural Funds, we point to the improved implementation of appropriations in 2003, despite retaining a very high RAL. Your rapporteur intends to set the final figure for appropriations by reference to Member States’ forecasts.
Turning to internal policies, the European Parliament is concerned about meeting the mid-term objectives set at Lisbon. We therefore request that budgetary resources be focused on the key actions in 2005. Special attention will be paid to small- and medium-sized enterprises, as they are the drivers of growth and employment.
Parliament is also concerned about implementation of communication and information policy. The new Financial Regulation must not hinder the development of the latter.
This budget’s main aim will be the consolidation of the European area of freedom, security and justice. It will pay particular attention to the common immigration policy and to speeding up implementation of the integrated Schengen and VIS Project systems. Substantial budgetary resources will be required in both cases. Parliament must deal quickly with these priorities, however, if it is to be seen to respond to concerns expressed by European citizens. We shall stand shoulder to shoulder with you on this, Commissioner."@en1
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