Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-08-Speech-3-036-000"
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"en.20110608.3.3-036-000"2
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"Mr President, the EU is currently facing the biggest challenges that it has faced in a very long time. We must try to put an end to the economic crisis and, at the same time, avoid new crises. We need to deal with increased globalisation and competition. Major cross-border investments in research, for example, will be needed. We need to get to grips with the challenges posed by the environment and the climate and with the sustainable supply of energy.
We need to reverse the devastating trend towards permanently high unemployment and social exclusion that Europe is experiencing, and, in particular, we must try to help with regard to the crisis affecting our southern neighbours. Unfortunately, in a situation where we most need solidarity and well-functioning European cooperation, the threats to the European idea are also growing. Right now, these are directed at the EU budget, among other things.
In the Special committee on the policy challenges and budgetary resources for a sustainable European Union after 2013, we understand that it can seem strange that, at a time when many Member States are making cuts in their own budgets, we are demanding more money for the EU budget post 2013. However, at the same time, it would be completely unreasonable to ignore these challenges, to give in to euroscepticism and give up the political ambitions that the Member States have given us in the Treaty of Lisbon, for example. We must also remember that large cuts will not benefit the most vulnerable Member States, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, but, on the contrary, will reduce the EU’s ability to support them.
The UK Government is only speaking on behalf of the net contributors and no one else. Therefore, in the report by the Policy Challenges Committee, we have tried to find a reasonable balance between restraint, the ambitions that are needed and a future-oriented reform of policy areas such as agricultural policy. We arrived at a proposal of a 5% increase in appropriations for the next period compared with 2013.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Garriga Polledo, who succeeded in securing a broad majority in support of his report. The point is that this extra 5% is to be used precisely for investments within the key areas that are focused on the future, in particular, research, growth and employment. It is clear that there is a need for action in these areas, and without resources, we will not be able to meet these challenges. To do this, however, we also need to be able to change our view of the EU budget.
Remember that this EU budget is still lower in relation to the Member States’ economies than it was when Sweden joined in the 1990s, for example, despite enlargement from 15 to 27 Member States. The increase in the EU budget has also been significantly slower than the increase in the Member States’ national budgets, the UK budget for example, which is something else that is not mentioned when Her Majesty’s Government speaks. I, personally, am absolutely convinced that austerity measures are not the only way out of this crisis. We must find a way back to growth and jobs by finding resources for investments, and for that we need these joint actions."@en1
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