Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-19-Speech-2-383"
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"en.20101019.21.2-383"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the 2011 budget is the first budget that this Parliament is called on to negotiate and vote on using its new powers under the Treaty of Lisbon. It is the first in which we have desisted from calling for any increase in the global volume proposed by the Commission, instead preferring a realistic and political approach.
A realistic approach insofar as our Member States have been called upon to make unprecedented efforts in stabilising and reducing their public finances. The Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) is the first to call upon them to do so. The reduction in public expenditure is, effectively, the prerequisite if our economies are to become more competitive and face up to international competition under favourable conditions. It is therefore not a question of our asking of the twenty-seven, for this budgetary year, expenditure which does not fit within the efforts made by our fellow citizens within their own national framework.
However, our approach is also political insofar as we believe that the 2011 budget cannot be disassociated from the more general financial context of the years to come and, in particular, from the perspective of the next 2014-2020 financial cycle.
Ladies and gentlemen, if there is an objective that our Parliament must aim for in the course of this legislature, it is to ensure that European policies are funded in a manner commensurate with what is at stake. It is not necessarily a question of asking for more money but rather to ensure that the tasks assigned to the European Union can be achieved with adequate funding. Our States can even economise, reduce their contribution to the Community budget, if they are prepared for Europe to change its financial system, as it is now obsolete, and take advantage of own resources. A euro spent at European level is, indeed, more profitable, more productive than a euro spent at national level, because a European euro does not have a deficit to cover.
At national level, the euro is now worth only half or less in some countries. At national level too, this euro which has not already been reduced comes back in the shape of cohesion funds, funds for rural development and for promoting innovation. I request that the Council gives serious consideration to this new approach to European finance. I am grateful to Commissioner Lewandowski for already having opened this debate with our ministers of finance.
Europeans have the right to know what their public authorities spend, whether these be local, regional, national or European. Member States must be ready to lift this gauntlet. President of the Council, Ministers, you have in your own hands the key to unlocking these debates and negotiations so that all the Member States can move forward, so that the euro that is at the level of Brussels can return to the level of the citizens in the Member States and be much more productive and create new jobs at a European level. I beg you, the opportunity is still there. As a Christmas present, you must tell us that the own funds and own resources of Europe are starting to be the subject of serious discussion and serious negotiation under your Presidency. I assure you that we shall be talking of this matter for many years to come if we manage to achieve this."@en1
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