Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-05-Speech-2-576-000"
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"en.20110705.37.2-576-000"2
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"Mr President, let me first of all say a word to Mr Verhofstadt. He talks about a PR campaign to convince people of the necessity of a rise in the budget. I think he wants to start on his own political family. The two largest components of his Group, the German Liberals and the British Liberal Democrats, are both part of governments – the last time I looked – that were calling for a freeze in the European budget. So perhaps he wants to talk to his own Group before he tries to convince the rest of us.
Listening to Mr Schulz, Mr Verhofstadt and others, it is sometimes hard to imagine that the supporters of the so-called European project actually want it to succeed because they seem to me, by their proposals, to be doing their very best to discredit the whole idea of the EU in public opinion. Because how can the EU justify a substantial, real increase in its budget of something like 5% to 7% at a time when every national exchequer across the whole of the EU is cutting back on their budgets?
Mr Verhofstadt, more Europe is not the answer to every one of our problems. The public have long since stopped believing that more Europe is the answer to all of our problems. In no country in Europe that I am aware of, do they want more Europe, Perhaps they want a better Europe, perhaps they want a more efficient Europe, but nowhere – not even in Belgium – are people calling for more Europe.
In none of our Member States are the public calling for more European taxes and, frankly, nobody believes you when you say that more European taxes will result in fewer contributions from Member States. People believe that they will be paying more money towards Europe and, frankly, with some of the speeches that you make, it comes as no surprise to any of us that that is what they believe.
This MMF proposal is yet another wish list by a European elite that everyday becomes more and more distant from the concerns of ordinary people. And it is not just David Cameron calling for a budget freeze; the leader of the Netherlands, the leader of France and the leader of Germany are also calling for a budget freeze, Mr Verhofstadt. We believe that a freeze is the right way to go; it should have been proposed in the first place. That is the proper response of the European Union looking at times of austerity across the whole of Europe: to say to people that we share your pain, we realise that times are hard in public expenditure.
Mr Barroso, you should be looking for cuts, for reductions in the European budget and this should not be too hard to find. Your own Court of Auditors has refused to approve the EU’s accounts for the last 16 years in a row. A thousand of your civil servants earn more than the British Prime Minister.
Mr Barroso, there are plenty of opportunities for savings in the European budget. That is where you should be looking for cuts, rather than coming back to Member States and asking for more austerity to pay for higher public spending."@en1
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