Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-04-Speech-2-037"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060704.5.2-037"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioners, I, too, would like to begin by thanking, on behalf of my group, our fellow Members and in particular the rapporteurs for their close cooperation. I believe it was crucial that in the negotiations Parliament was united in defending the interests of the regions and the people who live there.
It was above all Parliament that ensured that cohesion is and remains the real objective of the Structural Funds, because anyone who puts economic and social cohesion at risk strikes at the very heart of the European Union’s ability to integrate. Enough people have tried.
The Group of Six from the Member States should be mentioned first in this connection. They ensured that there was a massive cut in the Structural Funds and were therefore the first to call economic and social cohesion into question.
Then the Commission also joined in in a big way. Commission President Barroso was looking for money to pay for the Lisbon Strategy, so he helped himself from the Structural Funds. Suddenly, at the end of the negotiations, a list appeared in the documents which tied the Member States down to using the Structural Funds to implement the Lisbon Strategy. The actual purpose of the Structural Funds, to bring about cohesion between the regions and pursue their sustainable development, suddenly became merely incidental. I think it is scandalous not only that Parliament was bypassed when the earmarking list was put in the documents without consultation, but also that the Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, should itself sacrifice economic and social cohesion in violation of those Treaties. It is therefore a quite particular success on Parliament’s part that at least the horizontal objective of sustainable development is enshrined in the regulation.
I would also like to draw attention once again to the partnership principle, because it is extremely important that civil society is involved alongside the social partners and that the Member States are required to consult environmental organisations and equal opportunities representatives. I expect the Commission to monitor that.
Finally, I would like to welcome Commissioner Kallas’ transparency initiative. He can count on our support. In future, every Member State will have to disclose who is receiving structural funds and how those decisions are taken."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples