Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-14-Speech-2-392"

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". Mr President, I too should like to extend warm thanks to Mrs Gräßle for her work, for even sacrificing her Christmas break, as I understand, and for the many fruitful meetings we have had together. Reform of the Financial Regulation really is desperately needed. The dismissal of the Santer Commission brought about stricter rules and a review of the control mechanisms, something to which my group has always been committed. We have also had to conclude, though, that this clean-up process has overshot the mark somewhat. It has led to excessive bureaucracy for subsidy applications, and it is mainly the NGOs, the non-governmental organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises that have borne the brunt of this. There is now such fear of inappropriate spending that European officials, where possible, will pass the buck to the subsidy applicants. As a result, we still have not got what we set out to achieve, namely a Commission in which officials are really responsible and can also shoulder that responsibility. I am, then, very much in favour of the amendments that are before us, the majority of which aim to simplify procedures. The principle of proportionality is being mooted and I am also delighted with Amendments 110 and 101 which deal with the percentage rule. The situation at the moment is that when beneficiaries raise own resources, it is likely that they will need to pay back much of the grant, with the counterproductive effect of giving a disincentive to raise own resources in future. The Commission has pledged that it will adopt a number of basic points from those amendments, but, as ever, the devil is in the detail, of course. As you saw with the proposals that are before us, it is this House’s intention to simplify procedures. This is not only dependent on the Financial Regulation; much will also depend on the implementing provisions which the Commission will be drafting. I therefore hope that you will adopt the principle that simplification must be introduced, which will really lighten the load. There is much talk at present of reducing the pressure of rules imposed by Europe, and people immediately think of the large enterprises which would otherwise be obstructed in their competitiveness. It is also just as important, though, for the small enterprises and non-profit organisations to start to benefit from a reduction in administrative costs. While it is important that the Commission should bear this in mind when it drafts the implementing rules, I hope, too, that the Council will accept that this is not just about large enterprises, and that smaller businesses and NGOs should also benefit from a reduction in the administrative burden imposed by Europe."@en1

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