Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-26-Speech-2-166"
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"en.20041026.12.2-166"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by expressing my high regard for the work done by the outgoing Commissioner. Over the past five years, I have been able, as spokesman of my group, to work closely with her, and I can say that I have the greatest respect for her and for the work she has done, for hers is not an easy portfolio, and she has not always had the steady support of those around her; on the contrary, she has often had to make a very great effort, and that is why we respect her so highly.
Let me also pay tribute to my two fellow-Members who are now this House’s rapporteurs – Mr Salvador Garriga Polledo, and Mrs Anne Jensen in particular, who took over the work of rapporteur only a month ago. Making such a good job of it without preparation is remarkable in itself, and so every respect to her.
The Budget before us is not some sort of abstract entity with nothing but figures floating around in it; on the contrary, it reflects the sort of policies we want to make and on which we have decided; it reflects how we want the European Union to further develop, and what we want it to be like. At the same time, we must always bear in mind that it is the taxpayer’s money that we are spending, and we are obliged to be very careful in what we do with it. It can, I think, be said that this House has, over recent years, been a very careful steward of the European taxpayers’ resources. If the impression is communicated every year during the Budget debate that Parliament wants more to be spent while the Council, representing the governments, always wants to cut outgoings, that amounts only to fake frugality on the part of the Council. This, I believe, is where we have to ensure that the funds we need to make the policies that we want to happen are actually available. Let me clarify that by using two or three examples. Over past years, we have again and again seen the categories narrowed down. It has just been said that Category 4 has become more and more restrictive. Commissioner Schreyer rightly pointed out that Category 4 used to include not only foreign policy, but also Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans as well. All these things were to be paid for using the same funds. The Council wanted more to be spent on its common foreign and security policy, but the things we wanted, it cut – such things, for example, as funds that would have been made available for democratisation or for conflict prevention. That is just not on! You cannot fund what you are promising for the future with money for promises made in the past; it merely baffles the public, who no longer have any clear idea of what the European Union actually stands for. This we will not go along with, and we will keep on telling uncomfortable truths.
In the other field, that of internal policy, which has also just been mentioned, we have created several extra agencies. These agencies exist to perform administrative tasks, but they are introduced into a portfolio with which we want to make internal policies, environmental policy, policies on research, development, and education. All these things are crammed in on top. Additional tasks are transferred and the whole thing is rubber-stamped by the Council, which then comes to us and tells us that we must be more careful with money! We will tighten our belts, even in this Budget procedure. We will look to see exactly what we need. In this Budget procedure, then, we will take up our positions, exert our influence successfully, and make it clear to the public that what we have announced in the past we will stick to and make happen. There will be no blank cheques handed out, neither in the 2005 Budget procedure, nor when it comes to the future funding of the European Union. You can expect this House to stand firm; we will tell people what is needed and also where we can make savings."@en1
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