Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-20-Speech-2-374"
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"en.20100420.14.2-374"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mrs Krehl, thank you very much for your report. I would also like to ask you to pass on my thanks to Mr Kirilov. He has worked very hard to ensure that we are able to discuss these proposed amendments to the general regulation today, after they have passed so quickly through all the institutional stages, and also, I hope, to enable us adopt them shortly in Parliament with a broad majority, so that the relevant items can be implemented quickly. This is a good indication of the positive dialogue between the Council, Parliament and the Commission and a good example of the fact that the interaction between the institutions is working effectively.
What is the aim of these amendments? In the long term, we want to simplify the regulations, but in the short term, we also want to help those Member States which have been hit hardest by the current economic crisis. We accept the Council’s compromise proposal, which has gained broad agreement in Parliament, because it is important for us to provide rapid and targeted help and to get the programme under way.
The common overall objective of this initiative is to accelerate the implementation of the programmes. We have recently presented the first strategy report and have identified those things which did not work particularly well and those areas where there were positive developments during the first few years of the current programme period. We must be self-critical and take a look at the rules which, in some places, are complex. In my opinion, the current third series of amendments to the ongoing programme has succeeded in resolving this problem. In addition, we want to help to overcome the crisis.
What can be done? To give you a few isolated examples: standardising the thresholds for large projects at EUR 50 million, simpler regulations for modifying operational programmes if – and this is a very important point – this is necessary to overcome the crisis, making it possible to subsidise energy efficiency measures in the construction and renovation of housing, which will not only result in energy savings, but will also have a positive impact on the sectors associated with the building industry.
The current regulation is aimed in particular at the existing liquidity problems of the five countries affected – Romania, Hungary and the three Baltic states – and is intended, as has already been said, to speed up the absorption of the funds as a result of increased flexibility. It will be possible to implement many projects more quickly using the promised funding of EUR 775 million which can be made available earlier than planned.
Finally, against this background, I would like to refer to the EUR 6.2 billion that has already been paid out in advance in 2009. It shows that, although the Structural Funds were not originally intended as emergency funding and should not, in future, be regarded as such, if necessary, they can be sufficiently flexible to make a suitable contribution in times of crisis.
I would like to thank everyone and I am looking forward to the discussion."@en1
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