Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-16-Speech-4-097-000"
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"en.20120216.7.4-097-000"2
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"Mr President, I heard Ms Sartori say earlier that I was in an unusual and somewhat uncomfortable position, but as a Commissioner, that is only to be expected because I have to express beliefs – and even do so both on behalf of my colleague, Mr Tajani, and on my own personal behalf – on the usefulness of this programme and also explain the budgetary difficulties we are experiencing, which have drawn your criticism and comments.
I have observed – without malice, simply to be objective – that of those eight Member States, some have also written to us to ask for the European budget to be contained within the strict ceiling of 1% of GDP, and even for it to be reduced. We are therefore in a difficult position in our dialogue, which explains why no agreement has yet been established between all the Member States within the Council. The Council was unable to reach a joint decision on competitiveness and we will be returning to this point soon.
In conclusion, I should also like to say to Mr Remek, Mr Marinescu and Mr Abad, who mentioned space policy as a whole, that we indeed need to take a different approach to the two questions that make up this major space issue: Galileo and GMES. Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) are owned by the European Union, and it was therefore only natural that we should continue to take general and collective responsibility for their funding. This is not so for GMES, because the development phase was cofinanced by the Commission and we do not have ownership of the infrastructure.
I am aware that these answers will not satisfy you. They are subject to the contradiction that exists between our continued industrial, spatial and economic ambitions and the budgetary constraints that we have to take into consideration.
In any case, honourable Members, on behalf of Vice-President Tajani, I shall inform my colleagues of your questions, your criticisms and your expectations on this major issue.
First of all, as regards the substance of this issue, it so happens that I was Minister for the Environment in my own Member State, as Ms Dati and Ms De Veyrac are well aware. These matters have been of interest to me for a long time, and I am very committed to issues of civil protection. Therefore, Ms Ţicău, Ms Hall, Ms Băsescu, Mr Luhan, Ms Foster and yourself, Mr Prodi, you are right to point out the major strategic importance of a programme like the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) for everything related to prevention, creating the right conditions for managing certain types of disasters, climate change management, and environmental management.
Mr Prodi, you were quite right to bring to mind the fact that some of the most fragile countries, including those of the vast African continent – for my part, I mentioned the question of Haiti, with which I am fairly familiar, and it is a country I am very attached to after the major natural disaster it suffered – are, of course, among the most favourable and opportune when it comes to using all the tools offered by GMES. There is no doubt about that. There is also no doubt that Vice-President Tajani, on whose behalf I am speaking, and the Commission are determined to make a commitment to major projects.
Ms De Veyrac, as regards everything related to the independence of Europe and industrial policy, I am very keen for us – I am speaking personally for the moment – to find together the same boldness in the area of industrial policy as that shown by the founders of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the Galileo project, which some have mentioned, and GMES. I believe that Europe should once again become a production centre and not simply a territory that consumes goods made in China or the United States, and I shall be saying as much again in other circumstances. Therefore, Mr Abad and Mr Tatarella, honourable Members, this is not a question of abandoning or suspending this programme, to which we should make – to use Ms De Veyrac’s words – a clear, strong, reasoned commitment. That is our approach.
Having mentioned the importance of this programme, its strategic nature and Vice-President Tajani’s commitment to it, the fact remains that we are experiencing budgetary problems. We should say things as they are. I say to Ms Dati, Mr Marinescu and Ms Swinburne: why has the Commission proposed to finance this programme outside the multiannual financial framework? Quite simply because of its cost.
In addition to the funding granted to Galileo, over which we have full ownership, this option cannot currently be supported by the EU budget alone, simply because of the budgetary constraints that we have to take into account. The time required to reach and maintain the operational level of this programme goes well beyond the period covered by the financial framework. That is why the scheduling and implementation of the GMES programme cannot follow the same logic as that of other EU programmes for which the rules and limits of the financial framework still have to be rigorously applied.
I certainly appreciated your appeal. As you requested, I shall inform President Barroso and Mr Tajani of your questions and wishes.
Ms Swinburne, I was very sensitive to your call for Community financing. I should like to remind us all that the proposal for GMES, and I say this to Ms Hall, is to follow a similar approach to that previously used for the European Development Fund (EDF), which our legal services have confirmed would be entirely legal. I would like to say to Ms Ţicău, and to Ms Hall, that the European Commission’s current proposal anticipates a fund that should be financed by all the EU Member States, given that GMES is of equal benefit to all 27 Member States.
I shall therefore pass on your message. I should like to say to Mr Prodi, who always takes great interest in such issues concerning the environment and GMES, that it is true that the eight Member States you listed have officially requested, in a letter to the Commission, that GMES be reintroduced into the financial framework."@en1
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