Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-28-Speech-3-198"
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"en.20070328.17.3-198"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we are once again debating the future of the own resources. At present we are actually only doing so for the record. The Commissioner responsible is not here, the Council benches are completely empty and the only people that I can see here are the Members with whom I have already spent many hours in the Committee on Budgets discussing Mr Lamassoure’s interim report. We have once again rehearsed all of the arguments that we put forward in 1990, 1994, 2001 and 2005 as the essential points to be considered in a reform of the own resources system. We want a simpler system than the one that we have at present. We want more justice, more equality amongst the Member States, including on the revenue side – no more exceptions please – and we want greater transparency on the revenue side of the budget: transparency for all of Parliament’s Members, for the Members of the Council and above all for all of our citizens. Surely it cannot be so difficult for the Council to endorse these demands itself. We cannot keep getting up on our infamous soapboxes but not move a step closer to our citizens. In addition, of course, this does not make it any easier for the public to understand the European Union’s budget. This is also about being more democratic.
The European Parliament, which represents the peoples of Europe, can only help to determine the European Union’s expenditure, but not its revenue. This leads to the rather abstruse situation of the Council denying us our share of responsibility, but at the same time defaming Parliament as a spendthrift parliament, saying that it can only be in favour of increasing expenditure because it is not responsible for revenue and therefore does not have to justify it either. That is not true, some of you will say, but it is! I have experienced it firsthand. Within the space of half an hour both statements came out of one and the same mouth of one and the same finance minister.
Parliament is always willing to negotiate on this. We have never been bent on getting our own way regardless. Mr Lamassoure has proved this once again now in his charming way with his very moderate proposal for a two-stage reform of the own resources system. We support him in almost every respect, including in his desire not to encroach on national fiscal sovereignty at present by calling for a European tax. He also – I am happy to admit – has my own personal support, I who have repeatedly said ever since I have been in Parliament: no representation without taxation. As you can see, the European Parliament has already given ground, even before negotiations with the Council have begun. We now expect to see some movement from the Council in the run-up to the jointly agreed revision. The Council should at long last show some cooperation."@en1
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