Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-24-Speech-2-387"
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"en.20090324.31.2-387"2
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".
Mr President, I had actually wanted, today, to address the Council, but I understand that no one from the Council is present and that somewhat less importance is therefore being attached to this debate. This surprises me a little, as necessary undertakings in relation to the budget were made last weekend and then, when it comes to debating the specific funding of those undertakings, the Council cries off.
I stand here, in any case, with the requisite sense of irony. Officially, we are here to debate the mid-term review, but in reality everything required has already been said about the economic stimulus package about which a deal was reached last weekend. That package sets out where the mid-term review and the multiannual budget fall short as, since the beginning of the current multiannual framework, we have on three occasions in a row tampered with our own deals. Galileo, the food aid for Africa and the way that that is funded were no things of beauty.
Now, once again, we have the debate about the economic stimulus package. The Council has given undertakings but does not seem to know yet where the money is going to come from. In the field of energy, for instance, just 2 billion or so has to be found for energy projects, not only from this year’s budget, but also from next year’s budget and possibly the one from the year after that. That means that we will already be groping around in the margins of the agricultural budget. In doing so, people will say, well, it is not agricultural money, it is the margin, but there only has to be one animal disease outbreak and that money actually will be needed within the agricultural budget. Maybe you remember the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease? Or what happens if the poor prices on the dairy market continue and intervention is required? Furthermore, the margin on the agricultural budget is only going to get smaller over the next few years. The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development’s report for the mid-term review quite rightly points that out.
I would therefore like the Commission and the Council – should the latter put in an appearance, or, failing that, in writing – to confirm that we will first be looking into the existing obligations in relation to agriculture before moving on to looking at what the margin is, and only then seeing whether that margin can indeed be put to use for other purposes. These are the rules that we have agreed with one another. If we do not stick to them, I think we would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater."@en1
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