Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-26-Speech-3-031-000"
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"en.20111026.3.3-031-000"2
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"Mr President, timing is everything. We are holding our debate on the budget when the leaders of Europe are trying to resolve the eurozone crisis in Brussels. They are using the intergovernmental method and are keen on maintaining their primacy and supremacy in shaping European affairs.
Is anybody paying attention to our debate here? The draft budget fails to take into consideration the hard political realities of Europe. There are two aspects to it. First, Parliament does not seem to have learned the lessons of the trialogue from last year. Despite stern warnings, there are futile attempts again to increase payment appropriations by almost 5%. Does Parliament wish to suffer another humiliating defeat at the hands of the European Council in late December?
Second, to insist on an increase of more than 4% in commitment and almost 5% in payment appropriations is flying in the face of European public opinion in times of severe austerity in most Member States and extreme austerity in some of them. It is a blatant disregard of the hardship suffered by the taxpayer when the countries in crisis need to cut back on spending and the donor countries are being asked to dole out ever-growing transfers. Can we live in an ivory tower when the European taxpayer is being asked in Brussels to cough up hundreds of billions of euros in order to save, not only the eurozone, but the whole European project?
The ECR supports investment in the future, but prudent budgeting would require commensurate cuts in other items whenever there is a significant increase in clearly-defined priority areas. While Parliament’s draft resolution blames the Council for cuts in several hundreds of budget lines, Parliament represents the other extreme, proposing increases without significant cuts elsewhere.
The only positive sign on the horizon is the Fernandes report, which is to be commended for foreseeing long-overdue cuts in spending on translation and interpretation, freezing general expenses, travel costs, etc. The ECR Group would support all these amendments and call for further savings in due course."@en1
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