Mr President, we are now at the end of a comprehensive process of producing a budget for future budgetary years, and I should like to thank everyone who has contributed to this work. That applies, of course, to the Committee on Budgets and, especially, to its chairman, Mr Wynn, and to my Swedish co-rapporteur, Mr Färm, but it applies above all to the Committee on Budgets’ very competent secretariat. I also wish to extend a big thank you to both the Commission and the Council for their constructive cooperation, with special thanks also going to the Danish Presidency for having actively helped the EU’s two budgetary authorities jointly to arrive at the framework for category 5 at a conciliation on 19 July of this year, something I believe to have been very important. Throughout the current year, the EU’s administrative budget, otherwise known as category 5, has been one of those areas that has posed genuine problems for the budget. We began the year with significant anticipated deficits for the 2003 budget. By various stages, these were subsequently reduced, giving us a manageable surplus and what I deem to be a wholly acceptable margin for the next budgetary year. Within this budget, we have also managed to implement those priorities we set as early as when the guidelines were drawn up at the beginning of the year. The obvious top priority of all at that time was enlargement. Through the decisions subsequently made, we know that the Member States, notably through the positive decision taken at the Copenhagen Summit, are complying with their commitments regarding ten new Member States. If the agreement is signed in March, we shall be able to have 147 observers from all these countries in place by no later than April. The necessary decisions will have been taken and implemented by then. What we have also been concerned with is giving each institution the opportunity to complete its preparations for enlargement. This issue acquires further significance when we now consider the fortunate decision from Copenhagen. Allow me to extend my thanks to all the institutions for having actively participated in this work and, especially, for the great loyalty they have all shown towards enlargement and the European project within the framework of the frontloading operation we have conducted together. The second priority was to implement necessary reforms. These were necessary with or without enlargement, especially for the European Parliament. The main concern was with those key areas on which every parliament, be it national or European, must stand firm. For the European Parliament, it was a question of strengthening the budgetary structure, meaning, in the main, not the Committee on Budgets but, rather, the other committees in the extraordinarily important budgetary work they do. Parliament’s legislative function must also be strengthened. In a very short time, Parliament has been given significant legislative power, meaning that the basic conditions under which Parliament operates within this area must also be strengthened. These are key areas for the European Parliament, and it is precisely in these areas that we must stand especially firm. The third priority is to tackle all this successfully. It is a question of coping both with the preparations prior to enlargement and with the commitment to the necessary reforms and of doing these things within the stated budgetary framework. We have succeeded in doing this. It means that we are now entering a new budget year with a fairly broad margin which will hopefully amount to slightly more than EUR 20 million. That applies on condition that Parliament approve the oral amendment which I know my fellow MEP, Mr Färm will table and to which I would in this way like to give my support. Allow me to point out that I am conscious of the fact that the Council wishes to see a still greater margin. I fully understand why that is so, and I promised at a conciliation to see what I could do to bring about a still greater margin. I subsequently went through the whole budget again, and we have now got this far but, unfortunately, no farther. Allow me to conclude by observing that this is the last budget the European Parliament will adopt before enlargement to include ten new Member States. It has been important to implement all this in a way that means that the preparations for enlargement can be made in all the institutions. In my judgment, this is possible. It has also been important to make a number of decisions during the year to cope with long-term problems in category 5. It is my judgment that we have done this, moreover, but it is important for this work to be followed up. Further decisions along these lines will be necessary during the forthcoming budget year. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE