Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-14-Speech-2-164"
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"en.20041214.12.2-164"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking our three rapporteurs for the excellent work they have done, in which I also include the Chairman of our Committee and, of course, the staff of the Committee’s secretariat, who have provided us Members with the information we needed to stand our ground against a shrewd Council.
Our negotiations, Mr President-in-Office, have of course left an aftertaste, and about that I would like to speak in very plain terms. It goes without saying that the European Union needs to save money. We have to draw up a tight budget, and we have to be responsible in our handling of the money that the public have paid in tax, but the question forming itself in my mind is whether it is one of the tasks of the annual Budget procedure to put forward ever more recondite proposals for a Budget when you know already that there will be a supplementary Budget next year? Such is not a credible approach. In none of the 25 Member States – let me make this abundantly clear – would the national parliament tolerate such a way of going about things.
Secondly, I ask you to try to rein in your fellow ministers in the foreign affairs departments and in all the other specialisms. I am anticipating the negotiations to which Mr Böge has referred when I say that there is no pleasure in laying down upper limits by way of the Financial Perspective when it is apparent to everyone involved that the figures are notional and will never – it is to be hoped – be reached. There I would ask you to be more honest. Almost EUR 5 billion separates us from the upper limit of Agenda 2000 – in the wrong direction! So please let us, when considering agricultural policy, talk about how much money we really need, rather than – as the Commissioner has just said that she will need a supplementary and amending Budget – laying down the amounts via the Budget procedure.
Let us not promise ourselves anything where the ten new countries are concerned, and then, if we want the 1.0% Budget that we obsess about, we will be able to save. That is not only what I ask for, but also the lesson that I have learned from these negotiations. Although we have achieved much together, all these negotiations now need to be addressed with a bit more seriousness."@en1
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