Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-12-Speech-2-012"
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"en.20050412.6.2-012"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first I would like to thank you for entrusting me to express an opinion on behalf of the Committee on Budgetary Control about a matter which is very important to us all.
Today with our vote on the approval of the European Parliament's 2003 budget we shall give our position. A position as to whether our institution, the European Parliament, is using funds, money given by all the citizens of Europe, our electors, correctly and transparently. I would also like to thank my colleagues who have actively contributed to the preparation of this report with their advice and efforts. They presented their proposals and amendments and participated in discussions. There were discussions in the Committee on Budgetary Control and lively debate in my own political group, the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Liberals and democrats have always defended and will continue to defend people's right to truthful information, to openness and transparency, as this is the basis of democracy. We know that openness and transparency are not ends in themselves. They are means of ensuring the efficiency of the institution and, most importantly, its accountability to the people. To those people for whom this institution works. The citizens of Europe are becoming increasingly intolerant of ignorance and a lack of information, and are becoming more demanding of those who they entrusted with their votes, those who they elected to this House. They want the money they have paid to bring surplus value, that is to be used purposefully and effectively.
Let me briefly present my report that is the report approved by the Committee on Budgetary Control. This report differs from previous reports in that 2003 saw the introduction of a new finance management system together with the establishment in the European Parliament of an internal audit system. This is a giant step towards more sound and more transparent budget planning and utilisation.
Thus we would like to congratulate you, Mr President, and the services of the Bureau. Another new development is that from this year onwards the task of approving budget implementation shall be given to the President of the European Parliament, not the Secretariat of the Bureau, as was done previously. In the report attention is mainly devoted to four topics.
Firstly, management, how the main decision makers report, that is the Bureau and Quaestors. Here the rotation principle is proposed.
The second topic is the utilisation of money allocated to political groups. It should be pointed out that certain progress has been achieved in this regard, that is transparency in the utilisation of funds, by publishing information on the web. Areas for improvement, however, are also indicated: in the report it is proposed that political groups should draw up standard annual accounts and declare the utilisation of funds publicly.
Thirdly, payments to Members of Parliament. This is a long-standing debate. Then there are the arguments between institutions and, most importantly, various interpretations and suspicions as regards the non-transparent system. The news that following the accession of the new countries, some Members' salaries are 12 times higher than others’ is an unpleasant fact. I believe this is unfair – we all work in the same European institution and we should be paid the same for doing the same job.
I believe that it is wrong not to account for funds used for general expenditure. Those funds must also be calculated.
Another sensitive topic is our working place in Brussels and Strasbourg. This and how you will vote are matters for your wisdom. I believe that the Constitution is right to state that there are two places for the European Parliament to work. As early as 1952 Jean Monnet said that we want to unite people, not states. The European Parliament is the House in which we work and through which the citizens of Europe may be united. They will only be united if we are open to one another, if we work transparently and ensure the correct utilisation and planning of the European budget."@en1
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