Madam President, Commissioner, our debate is being conducted under the heading of ‘reform of the budgetary procedure’, which is a modest title for an ambitious enterprise. It would probably be more appropriate to speak in terms of a reform of the financial constitution, for we want the Convention to produce a coherent draft for a constitution that will advance European integration. We want the Treaty to be underpinned by democratic legitimacy, to be transparent and effective, and to give the public unambiguous answers to their questions as to what the federation of states and peoples called Europe can – and must – achieve in the interests of its citizens. The European Union's Budget must enjoy the very same democratic legitimacy in its function of financing European policy. What we urgently need, then, is not just changes to the Budget procedure, but a reform of our public finances, and what this will require is plain for all to see, encapsulated in our demand for all Budget areas to be subject to the codecision procedure – even decisions on the own-resources system, the structure of which is in need of fundamental change. Whilst it has to be admitted that the present system of finance works, it meets with criticism quite apart from its undemocratic nature. Neither what we receive from VAT or out of gross domestic income can really be described as the European Union's own resources. The fact is that they are transfers from the Member States, and that is precisely the argument used by the Member States when the positions of net contributors are under discussion. It is not immediately evident to the public which taxes go towards financing the EU's outgoings. The proportion of what are termed traditional own resources is decreasing all the time, and the whole system is mutating from genuine self-financing into the transfer of lump sums. Nor does what we call the British rebate have any rationale behind it any more, Madam President, Commissioner, Mr Wynn, and, wearing only my one hat – in my capacity as rapporteur for the on own resources – I can tell you that, in that area too, the British rebate makes no sense any longer, any more than does its being funded in different ways by the other Member States. It should be abolished! (Applause) The structure of the Budget has ceased to provide any justification for it. Changes have had to be made in the structure of the European Budget's expenditure over the past fifteen years. Policies already in existence, such the agriculture policy, were reformed, and other policy areas were added, such as structural policy and pre-accession aid, and this renders obsolete the imposition of an unfair burden on everyone else by preferential treatment for Great Britain. All this leads to the logical conclusion that we should introduce a tax to replace the former own resources, and that this should be done without imposing additional burdens on European taxpayers, who would, though, be able to see, at last, how they are funding the European Union. Let us in this Parliament, then, not demand less than the Commission has already done, but, rather, join together in taking a great step towards greater transparency and democracy. (Applause)

Political group: PSE