Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-15-Speech-3-516-000"
Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
---|---|
rdf:type | |
dcterms:Date | |
dcterms:Is Part Of | |
dcterms:Language | |
lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120215.24.3-516-000"2
|
lpv:hasSubsequent | |
lpv:speaker | |
lpv:spokenAs | |
lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I, too, would like to thank rapporteur Derek Vaughan for his excellent work and the pleasant way in which he involved all the shadow rapporteurs in his project. Thank you very much for that. The previous two speakers, who spoke on behalf of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), have already shown that something is indeed changing in this House with respect to its own budget. Where last year it was really hard to get cuts through the House, I now notice, across the board, a willingness to look much more critically at our own housekeeping.
That makes sense. The economic crisis is hitting hard, and Member States are having to contend with huge budget cuts. We have only one good answer to that and that is increasing transparency. Our budget is still not completely transparent. Therefore, that is one issue where we still need to do some work.
One element of that work also forms part of Mr Vaughan’s report, which calls for an analysis of our own budget, so that we can identify where potential cuts can still be made in our House. Last year, this plenary embraced that same request on two occasions, both in the discharge report and in the very report we are discussing now, but they were both last year. Unfortunately, up to now, the Bureau has not yet given a positive response to this. My political leader, Guy Verhofstadt, sent a letter to President Buzek in December asking when we, as a plenary, as the Committee on Budgets, would receive that analysis of the budget.
I would, therefore, through you, Mr President, personally urge the current President, Mr Schulz, to get involved in this issue. The Secretary-General, together with the Bureau, has analysed all the budget lines and we are to receive a selection of the points that have come out of that analysis as a proposal for the 2013 budget. Let them give that analysis to the Committee on Budgets and, then, we can do the political work of making choices. We do not always need to leave that to the Bureau.
To conclude, I would like to say that I strongly agree with the general line that we should start with a budget freeze and I hope that, during the remainder of this year, we will actually be able to agree on a much leaner budget for our own House."@en1
|
lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples