Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, compared with those we had to handle in previous years, the budget procedure for 2003 was indeed a very pleasant one, for which I would like to express warm thanks to both the rapporteurs, Mr Färm and Mr Stenmarck. It has thus become established practice for us to favour Scandinavian earnestness in the budget procedure, and the fact that we additionally had the Danes presiding over the Council, meant that we could find our way around many cliffs at an early stage and make the procedure very harmonious, especially at second reading stage. I believe that to be deserving of particular mention. In the Group, we are very proud of the way we were able to join with our colleagues from the other groups in putting across a multitude of our concerns, and it goes without saying that we are asking you, Commissioner, to support us accordingly. I will say, very clearly, here and now, that there is little point in this Parliament, with the Council, laboriously drawing up a budget, only for many things of particular importance to both parts of the budgetary authority not to be reflected in daily life when the budget ends up being passed into law. If you are talking about the budget figures for 2003, with the minimal increase that we all greatly welcome and support, then honesty requires of us that we add that it took a large number of measures on our part in order for these slight growth rates to be made possible, as the 2002 Budget was not passed in the form in which it was drawn up. Here I am thinking of what our technical jargon so splendidly terms frontloading measures, that is, the use of funds from 2002 to discharge commitments which will be incumbent on us only in the coming year, hence the transfer of resources allocated by way of the Solidarity Fund, from the 2002 Budget to 2003. Add all that together, plus the expected supplementary budget, and it all amounts to a tidy few billions. Honesty demands that we say that. What helps to finance next year's low level of increase is the fact that we are transferring funds from the 2002 Budget that were used either wrongly or irregularly. We in the Group would like to expressly call upon the Commission not to let up in the area of its own reform. We look forward with eager anticipation to the reports we have been promised by Commissioner Neil Kinnock, who is responsible for these matters, which we will examine in very great depth in order, of course, to consider what further measures we can derive from them. One thing I consider to have been a great success – something that the played a part in initiating, and which, thankfully, was taken up by other Members of this House – is the marked improvement on the question of cooperation between the Council and Parliament in defining foreign policy measures. I think that the procedure we came up with here is suited to overcoming the democratic deficit that we find in the Council's intergovernmental relations due to the national parliaments no longer being responsible and the European Parliament not yet being involved. The dialogue procedure that we have agreed on with the Council builds a bridge leading to greater democracy in the definition of Europe's foreign policy objectives. I consider it a great success on our part to have succeeded in securing the promises of aid for Afghanistan for 2003 as well, but I do think – and this has been discussed here on many occasions – that it is not acceptable for Europe's foreign ministers to keep on coming up with new things to focus on, so that the old priorities suddenly become redundant, and we have the laborious task of setting it all out in figures. We have had a quite respectable success in combining new challenges and old commitments in a good compromise for 2003, for which a heartfelt thank-you to all who helped to make that possible! I do think that this is, as a whole, a respectable Budget, and I again ask the Commission to see to it that what was decided by the Council and Parliament is also implemented in 2003. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE