Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-13-Speech-1-154-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120213.19.1-154-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Madam President, Commissioner, I would like to make three brief points in response to this oral question.
First of all, I very much welcome the fact that the Commission wants to put tackling youth unemployment at the heart of its policy. Giving hope and a future to young people is part of our remit and it is very important to us. Secondly, I also welcome the fact that the Commission is increasingly realising that, in a time of economic crisis more than ever, cuts are not the only route to success: we also need investment. In that respect, SMEs should, of course, be our topmost priority, because they create the most jobs and are very important for economic development.
Thirdly, let me be very clear and open about this: it appears, from what is being said in the media, that Mr Barroso has been giving the impression that he is able to stump up EUR 82 billion for this European Union, with the throwaway comment afterwards that that money will no longer be spent as planned in the cohesion policy, anyway; we will, instead, be able to use that money right away to do precisely what we have just been talking about: namely, tackling youth unemployment and supporting SMEs.
EUR 82 billion – that is almost a quarter of the total cohesion policy budget up to 2013. As far as I am aware, that money is already tied up in programmes and projects. How exactly do you intend to go about this: that is, allowing all the regions, all of a sudden, to start doing something completely different with that money and, then, because the youth unemployment figures are not so high in your neck of the woods, making some of that money available to other countries?
The regions have responded to this with dismay. I have received a lot of calls from people asking me: what is going on? Is the money being taken away from us? What is the point of that? Let me give you a word of warning. The cohesion policy has really been a tremendously successful policy and one that has been extremely tangible and comprehensible to citizens. It creates trust. If we now start making vague statements like this, which create the impression that we have money left over, that our policy so far has not been adequate, or that we can rustle up a couple of billion just like that, that will not create any additional trust, but only uncertainty. Most importantly, when I consider the fact that the Council has failed to provide the full amount of funds considered necessary by the Commission and Parliament for this year’s budget negotiations and the fact that, according to the information I have received, some EUR 15 billion are needed this year for projects that have already been completed, but we only have EUR 5 billion, at the very most, at our disposal, then I really wonder how anyone can go around implying that Member States are prepared to fork out more money and allocate additional funds for the cohesion policy.
I think that we need to be careful that we actually pursue the right policy and that we offer support to countries with high youth unemployment. However, I would also like us to ensure that we do not create even more uncertainty for people in times that are difficult enough already."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples