Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-14-Speech-2-161"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20041214.12.2-161"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
".
Mr President, I am very pleased to speak to you today, the first encounter for the new Commission in this very important exercise, starting on 22 November, which directly concerns the negotiations on the 2005 budget: a very important issue for Parliament and for Europe.
I will look again at your request for support for events and pilot actions. Not all of them are feasible, but the new political situation may provide new openings and I will communicate my thoughts on that to you in January.
The Commission thanks you once again for your fair and firm negotiations and for your willingness to seek a compromise. I congratulate you all on the great success that you have achieved. I take this opportunity to wish you the compliments of the season and look forward to the final vote on Thursday.
After fairly tough negotiations on 25 November, when both branches of the budgetary authority showed skill and flexibility, we reached a final agreement on a tight budget for 2005. Parliament's solidarity and determination allowed it to achieve all the important goals it had set itself. The Chairman of the Committee on Budgets, Mr Lewandowski; the budget rapporteur, Mr Garriga Polledo; Mrs Jensen, the rapporteur on the flexibility instrument; Mr Böge, and other members of the Committee on Budgets who participated very closely in all-day and all-night negotiations deserve thanks from all of us for the hard-won results. The President-in-Office of the Council, Mr Nicolaï, also deserves our praise for having encouraged Member States to accept the agreement: not an easy task.
In the final agreement there will, of course, be some risk that not all compulsory expenditure is covered in what was decided in the package. According to updated estimates from the Committee on Agriculture, for example, some expenditure was ignored by the Council: extra calls for payments for the structural funds or actions during the year could be necessary. But I am satisfied that we agreed a joint declaration on payment appropriations for structural actions that can allow a rapid single-reading decision on a possible amending budget for extra payments if the Commission identifies the need in mid-2005.
I call on both budgetary authorities to react quickly if there appears to be a need to propose this. The same will also apply to compulsory expenditure on agriculture. We also want to emphasise that, as mentioned before, for the first time the flexibility instrument is being used above the ceilings in three headings and we agreed to use the total amount of EUR 185 million for this instrument.
I am not going to emphasise the details of the overall package, which has been very well described, or the main agreements we reached. I would like to draw attention to what is important for us and is always important for Parliament, namely improving delivery.
Each year Parliament seeks to use the budget process to support the Commission's efforts to improve delivery, which we are happy to accept. The Commission's letter on implementability has the same intent. We have fulfilled the request made at first reading and you consequently released many of the reserves. I thank you for that.
Parliament is concerned about the way non-state actors and international organisations are using European Union funds. The Commission will produce a report by April 2005 examining these issues.
You have maintained a reserve for the financing of 50 new posts from the several hundred requested. I hope to introduce a transfer request in January to lift the reserve on these posts, since I believe the conditions have been fulfilled.
You ask for the rules to be changed on the financial regulation. I undertake that the Commission will bring forward proposals to modify the financial regulation by spring 2005, and the Commission has already introduced proposals to modify the implementing rules. The Council is ready to give its opinion. We await Parliament's views."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples