Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-13-Speech-2-027"
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"en.20051213.6.2-027"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to pay tribute to Mr Pittella, the rapporteur, and to Mr Lewandowski, the Chairman of the Committee on Budgets.
Mr President, the 2006 budget is a poor budget, and it should be rejected. A justified proposal to this effect has been tabled by members of the Independence and Democracy Group and of other political groups, and we would call on all Members of the House to lend it their support.
The facts are as follows. In 2004 10 new Member States joined the EU, which meant a rise of 20% in the number of EU citizens. A constantly increasing number of these Member States are in need of assistance, solidarity and subsidies because they are not sufficiently advanced. The European Union will gain another two Member States in 2007 when Bulgaria and Romania join, and the number of citizens will increase by 6%.
The second point I wish to make is that the European Union has been experiencing falling growth rates of below 2% for many years now, whereas the growth rate of the US and South-East Asian economies is many times faster. The competitiveness of EU businesses is declining. Yet the 2006 budget fails to take account of these factors. The budget will increase by around 2% after inflation, which means that there will be less and less money for each EU citizen. What is more, no changes have been made to the way in which budgetary expenditure is structured, so as to provide more money for backward countries and regions, and for sectors that are highly effective in economic terms. The budget keeps the old mechanisms in place, and rewards economic sectors that are both costly and inefficient. A budget of this kind will turn backward countries into net payers.
In addition, there are special reasons why the 2006 budget should be rejected. It is being used as a threat to force the less advanced countries to consent to the adoption of the British proposal for a reduced 2007-2013 Financial Perspective. If they do not adopt this Financial Perspective, they face the prospect of having to agree to an interim annual budget based on the 2006 figures, which would mean even less money.
If the 2006 budget is a forerunner of the 2007-2013 Financial Perspective, then it should also be rejected, because Parliament proposed expenditure of around EUR 1 000 billion for this period, whereas the current proposal refers to a figure of around EUR 850 billion. Given a difference of this magnitude, it is hard to believe that any Member of this House could fail to see that Parliament’s opinion counts for very little and that it is being treated with contempt, or that the interests of individual countries are being given precedence over common interests.
I think I can safely say that I speak for all the Members proposing that the budget be rejected when I say we believe that the declarations and slogans proclaimed by EU leaders and the actual policies they implement stand in fundamental contradiction to each other. Their policies are in fact simply an expression of the selfishness of the rich."@en1
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