Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20081217.3.3-011"2
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"We have heard about the difficulties that had to be faced. I believe that, under the leadership of Jutta Haug, we have quite successfully resolved these difficulties. She deserves our thanks for her work and for the fact that each political group can feel that it has ownership of this budget.
Drawing up a budget is politics expressed in figures. What is the message, I wonder, that the European People’s Party sees in this budget? In our view, we need to give European citizens greater security, and the European Union is ready and able to do so. Around one third of the budget is devoted to items that increase the sense of security. The amendments made by the European People’s Party and European Democrats have increased the budget by around EUR 1 billion, thereby raising its profile; I am thinking of funds for supporting small businesses, preserving jobs and creating new ones where possible, developing underdeveloped regions, for energy security and for planning projects such as Nabucco. Food security is also very important, however, especially these days, not to mention defending the borders of the Schengen zone and preventing illegal immigration.
Naturally, no matter how good this budget is, it is far from perfect. Part of the reason for its flaws lies with the Member States. It is unacceptable for Member States not to use the resources which the EU makes available to them, for billions of euros to remain unused in the EU coffers. Certain Member States introduce artificial obstacles, making access to calls for tender even more difficult than we ourselves do. The efforts of the European Commission to simplify these processes are commendable, but we must not allow Member States to create effects or enact changes that run counter to these endeavours.
However, the fault does not lie exclusively with the Member States. The EU is incapable of responding rapidly to the challenges of a changing world. Of course, we have solved the problem of food aid, but at the cost of such vehement debates! And now, when we ought to be moving forward, we face difficulties in handling the economic crisis as well. I think that in the coming period, over the coming year, we will have to implement considerable simplifications both in the existing frameworks and in the interests of greater flexibility. Thank you for your attention and I hope that we will have a good budget."@en1
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