Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-26-Speech-4-036"
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"en.20090326.2.4-036"2
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"− Mr President, I would like to thank everyone for all the comments. In general, I hear a very positive approach to the proposal for the most needy.
Mr President, could I just be allowed to focus on some of the comments that have been raised here today? First of all, I think that we have to keep in mind that poverty is not confined to certain areas or regions within the Member States. Unfortunately, it is an issue that all Member States have to face. It is true that the extent of the problem and the means available to remedy it are not identical throughout the whole European Community. The allocation of the budget to the Member States, as well as the differentiated rates for cofinancing for cohesion and non-cohesion countries, does of course already take into account the financial capacity of every country. This means that the bottom line will be that there will more money available for the so-called ‘new’ Member States than is the case today.
Regarding the budget, I would just remind you that we have actually increased the budget available for the programme for the most needy by two thirds – up to EUR 0.5 billion – and I think this, together with the newly introduced cofinancing, will help alleviate some of the problems. I think we also have to keep in mind that this scheme is a voluntary one. Member States that have a social system in place in their own country certainly need not use this scheme. We do not seek to replace social policies that are already implemented in Member States and, to a certain extent, also managed by NGOs. Our intention is to underpin them by the provision of food, which I still consider the central aim of the agricultural policy.
I believe that the changes that we have proposed go in the right direction. I think the provisions are reasonable and well balanced. The programme –when hopefully voted through this Parliament as well – will be able to meet the challenges of the future. It will be difficult to be against or to oppose this programme in a situation where unemployment is currently increasing dramatically all over Europe, thereby heavily increasing the number of people at risk of poverty. So I look forward to the votes of this extremely responsible Parliament."@en1
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