Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-05-Speech-2-180"
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"en.20050705.26.2-180"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin my contribution to this joint debate on structural and cohesion policy with thanks to my colleagues, particularly to the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs, most especially to Mr Hutchinson, our own shadow rapporteur on the Hatzidakis report, who is prevented from being here today – something that he very much regrets – by the fact that he is acting as an election observer in Burundi.
We in the Committee have worked through hundreds of amendments to find compromises that I regard as constituting very positive input in response to the Commission proposals. We very much endorse the general approach of simplifying cohesion and structural policy and making them less bureaucratic. Aspects of importance to our group have been still further emphasised, among them the reinforcement of the partnership principle and of the urban dimension of cohesion and structural policy, involving among other things the possibility of projects to improve the environment through support for the building of social housing; the Committee also agreed that private-public partnerships should also be an option and decided on a joint approach to the situation of regions affected by the statistical effect. The Committee as a whole saw it as important that we should, in a spirit of solidarity, make policy for people in the poorest and most disadvantaged of the regions in an enlarged European Union.
Our group found the issue of the reimbursement of VAT by the Regional Funds a difficult one to discuss. While most of our group take the view that European structural policy should be used for investment in the regions and not to reimburse the public purse, we are aware of the problems faced by municipalities, especially in the new Member States, and so we have proposed a compromise amendment to the Hatzidakis report, which is intended to make it possible to resolve the problems in these Member States. I would be very glad if the majority in this House were to support this compromise amendment and urge them to do just that.
Last but not least, though, I would urge the Presidency of the Council to adopt the Financial Perspective with the minimum possible delay and to allocate sufficient funding to what I regard as the most successful of the European Union’s policies. Even the best regulations are no use without the funds they need.
I would ask you, Mr Michael, to carry to Mr Blair the message that, in your country too, there are outstanding examples of the good that European structural policy can do, and we want them to continue to operate even after 1 January 2007."@en1
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