Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me first thank the rapporteur, Mr Costa Neves, for his proposal and for such good cooperation. We on the Committee on Budgets have reached agreement on most areas. It is my guess that, this year, it will be issues of principle which dominate the budget debate more than individual budget items, issues which will feature increasingly in the debate in the coming years. I am thinking particularly about enlargement and the development of a common foreign and security policy and its budgetary effects. I am thinking of the reform of the agricultural and fisheries policies. In addition, I am thinking of internal reform, especially the Commission’s ability to actually implement the decisions of the budgetary authority. The basic conditions are quite worrying. Popular faith in the EU is waning in many Member States. At the same time, we are on the threshold of perhaps the most important change ever – eastward enlargement. In the face of this challenge, the EU’s ability to carry out its priorities must be strengthened considerably. It is therefore worrying, even if some finance ministers are rubbing their hands with glee, that the level of budgetary implementation is so low that we now have to pay back EUR 11 billion to Member States. The problem of promises of aid and assistance being delayed or not being carried out is an obstacle to the whole Union. It is therefore good that the Commission now wants to increase payments and reform the work in the direction of more modern, efficient and open management. This is something that the Council must not change. With regard to the points at issue, I want first to raise the subject of the Common Agricultural Policy. Although this is a large and complicated issue, we must now increase the pace of change. Before we adopt the budget for 2002 and, above all, before we fully conclude negotiations with the prospective Member States, we absolutely must be clearer about the future Common Agricultural Policy. In this context, I would like to point out the view of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. This committee is seeking, in its proposals for amendments, to confirm that agricultural expenditure is to be kept within the framework of the budget, but although there are technical difficulties, especially in the light of enlargement, they are also seeking to redistribute funds in the interest of comprehensive development of the countryside, category 1B. This is to be welcomed, and I believe that we should continue on this path. Otherwise, we are currently mostly concerned with the reason for the Commission wanting such large reserves for BSE and foot and mouth disease when they still have the opportunity of adjusting the proposed budget themselves. In this respect, we would like to postpone any further decision on our position until we have received more answers to our questions. Let me also briefly comment on the breakdown of the fisheries agreement with Morocco. The fact that this cannot now be implemented will have consequences for the fishing fleets of several countries. I, for one, am sceptical about the EU’s major subsidies within the agricultural and fisheries policies, but we must still, of course, take into account the problems of the fishermen who have been counting on new opportunities for earning a living. We must support proactive restructuring and test the possibility of creating funds for this under budget headings other than category 4. In addition, there is a need for developed proposals from the Commission. Although the conciliation into which we are currently entering primarily concerns headings 1, 2 and 5, we would like to take the opportunity to highlight a few other points. Last year, Parliament promoted an extra focus on employment and small businesses. Following the development of the Lisbon Process at the Stockholm Summit, there is every reason to keep to this set of priorities. As such, we must also clear up a number of the problems about which Mr Pronk, for example, spoke earlier. In addition, we would now also like to focus on the area of e-learning, which we believe must receive resources in order for it to be developed into the key area it must become if we are to be able to increase growth and ensure that this growth is more evenly distributed across Europe. Finally: we are also concerned about the external undertakings. They have presented the greatest difficulty in 2000 and 2001. These problems have not, of course, gone away. We have made considerable commitments to Kosovo and Yugoslavia, at the same time as having major and neglected needs to meet in other, even poorer areas of the world. This is one of our most vital tasks, but we have huge problems which we must be able to solve in order to implement everything we have promised. Although there are major challenges ahead of us, I nonetheless believe that, with good will, we will be able to solve them together.

Political group: PSE