Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-23-Speech-2-018-000"
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"en.20121023.4.2-018-000"2
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"Mr President, firstly we would like to thank you for the opportunity to respond to the European Parliament’s interim report on the next financial framework.
Finally, the issue of timing. I know that most of us in this Chamber are convinced that we need a decision before the end of the year so that we can continue with efficient spending after 1 January 2014.
We all agree that this proposal is probably the most important item on the agenda of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. Through the decision on the MFF we are clearly sending a message to the outside world on whether we are able to deliver on Europe 2020, have enough resources to fund our common policies and can play our important role on the international stage.
We are also all aware that, for the first time, the multiannual financial framework is being negotiated under the new treaties. Both Janusz Lewandowski and myself have been strong supporters of the clear will of Parliament to exercise its right fully. I would like to thank the Cyprus and Danish Presidencies for having established a very good framework and excellent cooperation with Parliament’s negotiating team and with the Commission. I would say, in particular, that the informal exchange of views before the last General Affairs Council was very important in this respect.
As you know, the General Affairs Council is the place where the discussions on the MFF are taking place. It is where Janusz and I have been defending the Commission’s proposals and where there is also active involvement of the European Parliament in the whole process.
We have studied your interim report in great detail and we very much support your starting point that this is an investment budget. We have to repeat this message again and again, because this is the message we have sometimes lost in the negotiations and in the Europe-wide discussions. We have a very strong argument on our side, because even the European Council recognised the catalysing role of the EU budget when it adopted the Compact for growth and jobs in June.
If you allow me, I shall make a couple of comments on the more horizontal issues before I hand over to my colleague Janusz Lewandowski, who handles all budget questions for the Commission.
First, on the question of the volume of the budget, we are convinced that our proposal of 1.08 % of GNI represents a credible budget and is a balanced figure which would enable us to stabilise the financing of the CAP and the cohesion policy and allow for a noticeable increase in the EU 2020 strategy priorities. We very much appreciate the focus Parliament has put on the improved quality of the spending of the EU budget, because we would like to achieve a qualitative leap in terms of EU funding and European added value. We would like to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and simplification of their delivery.
On the issue of the application of macro-economic conditionality, I take note of the report’s opposition to the Commission’s proposal, and I would just like to underline that the Commission’s proposal has been conceived not as coercive measures but rather to incentivise structural reforms and thus optimise effectiveness and absorption capacity. They are not meant to penalise the Member States or regions that need financial support most urgently, but rather to ensure that precious capital will actually help address the very deficiencies identified in country-specific recommendations.
On specific points raised in the report on administrative expenditure, I can confirm that the 5 % staff reduction over a period of five years is a major effort in the face of the crisis. It is an effort to which all institutions and agencies should contribute."@en1
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