Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-10-Speech-2-058-000"
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"en.20110510.6.2-058-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank all the rapporteurs: they have done an important job for us.
In my contribution I would like to comment on a few reports, and firstly on the discharge for the Committee of the Regions. The CoR is, of course, the voice of regions but it also delivers many EU programmes. It would therefore be wrong to suggest, as some have done, that it should fund itself.
On the Commission’s discharge, I support the granting of a discharge. Although more needs to be done, as outlined in the report, I believe that reducing the error rate for regional policy from 11% to 5% is real progress. Structural funds are extremely important for places like Wales – where I come from – where they are implemented very well. We therefore need to ensure that structural funds are not discredited or undermined.
On the Council discharge, I would support postponement. We are often lectured by certain Council members on the need for transparency, so they themselves should be open to providing information on their expenditure. Unfortunately, some seem reluctant to do so.
Finally, I would like to say a few words on Parliament’s discharge. It is always controversial to consider one’s own spending, and our budget certainly receives a lot of attention, which is perhaps understandable in times of economic and financial difficulties. Therefore I am pleased with many of the suggestions made in the report, including on issues concerning buildings policy and prizes – which need to be reviewed and made more transparent – as well as allowances and the important issue of the need for a savings strategy for Parliament’s budget.
It could be argued that many of these points concern future budgets rather than the 2009 budget, but I believe that, when we consider any budget and any discharge, we should also look to the future to ensure that we learn lessons from the past."@en1
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