Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-478"
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"en.20100907.31.2-478"2
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"Mr President, Mr Wathelet, Commissioner Lewandowski, ladies and gentlemen, I am very well aware – as all European citizens probably are, and hopefully the politicians too – that we are living in times of austerity policies and that we cannot avoid the necessary debt reduction policies in the Member States.
I am of the opinion that it is essential to fight for balanced budgets. It is not least a question of intergenerational equity and the possibility of us still being able to make real policies in the coming years and decades. Otherwise, we would be forced to put all our money into paying interest and, as a result, we would choke ourselves politically.
Of course, the European Union is not outside the situation in the Member States. However, I would like to mention the following as food for thought as to why we, too, are not in an identical position. The European Union has not incurred any debts, because our rules do not allow for that to happen. Moreover, the European Union – and this is something that the Member States wanted – has gained new tasks as a result of the Treaty of Lisbon, in energy policy, foreign policy and other areas that also need to be carried out. We must, of course, put ourselves in a position to be able to duly carry out these new tasks that have been bestowed upon us by the treaty.
As rapporteur for the budget for Parliament and the other institutions, I have to say that we still have not found the right balance between the new tasks and a responsible budgetary policy, including an austerity policy. The Council has rejected all of the new administrative positions, although not for the European Council and Parliament, but for the other, mainly smaller institutions, the European Data Protection Supervisor, the Court of Auditors and the European Court of Justice. I consider that to be unfair and unjust. Smaller institutions in particular, like the European Data Protection Supervisor, which we want to be able to function, need to be in a position to do their job. If we want proper control by the Court of Auditors, its officials must be able to travel and to carry out checks. For this, they need more staff. I believe that finding the correct balance is a political task and it is also an important message to the Member States and to our citizens.
Something else that I am not certain about is the question of enlargement costs. The funding has been reduced by the Council. The date of accession has not changed, however. Please explain how this is supposed to work.
The next problem is the salary increase of 1.85%. It is true that we do not yet have the court ruling. However, if we want to produce a sound budget plan, we absolutely must be prepared, at least, for this eventuality. From an environmental point of view, there are definitely opportunities for savings, namely the massive ITER project involving the nuclear fusion reactor. Perhaps we ought to have the political courage to fight over this sort of expenditure."@en1
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