GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, as several people have said, this year is of course the first time that we are working with a budget designed to be activity-based, the idea being that the budget should be far better at reflecting the political priorities and that it should also be easier to see where we are investing our money. I think, however, that we are failing fully to notice the improvement this year, because, as has been seen from today’s debate, we still of course have the budget divided up into areas of expenditure and we still have to keep within the fixed limits for these areas of expenditure. This means that the budget work is still a very technical exercise in which it is easy to lose sight of the political choices. I hope that, as you, Commissioner, have suggested it will, the situation will improve in the future. It is of course important, among other things, that we see the agencies’ – the decentralised agencies’ – budgets in the context of the political priorities. It is of course true to say that we in the EU are acquiring more and more decentralised agencies, each individual one of which is to fulfil tasks with high political priorities, such as food safety or the approval of medicines. We must beware that establishing the decentralised agencies does not lead to unduly high expenditure for the EU, but we must of course also ensure that these agencies have the financial frameworks to enable the tasks in actual fact to be carried out. That is why it is important for us to have obtained the activity-based budget. I also very much agree with Mr Mulder’s demand that we acquire greater transparency and the ability on the part of Parliament to control the agencies’ budgets. I have a couple more individual points to make. I should like, where this year’s budget is concerned, to emphasise that, in connection with enlargement, we have appropriated more money to guarantees for loans. This may strengthen the European Investment Bank’s and the European Development Bank’s work on developing the banking sector in the new Member States, and I believe that, in return for very few resources, we shall obtain a very large dispersal effect and shall be able to obtain considerable economic growth, in the way we have heard about during the hearings in the Committee on Budgets on the work of the two banks. Last but not least, I hope we can find a solution to the problem of the information offices, or what are known as Info-Points and Carrefour centres, which, as from next year, have had their subsidies cut back because of problems with the Financial Regulation. I hope that we can find a solution and that the Commission will help us find a solution.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Mr Moscovici, very serious attacks have also taken place in Finland on one certain means of livelihood, namely fur farming. The principle of the freedom to pursue a trade is firmly upheld in the European Union. Now, however, one Member State, Great Britain, has just banned fur farming in its territory. Do you not think this might have harmful repercussions for the internal market in fur goods? I would ask you to reply now, as President-in-Office of the Council, and not so much as a representative of the French Government. The French Government has already expressed its own views on the matter in the Agricultural Council.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I too would like to begin by thanking the rapporteur for her work. This is no mere formality. The rapporteur has made it possible for the opinion of the Committee on Citizens’ Rights, Justice and Home Affairs to be largely incorporated into the work of the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism. This meant that there was some purpose to our work in the LIBE Committee. Mrs de Palacio endorsed the view expressed in the House previously. It was stated earlier that we are currently surrounded by terrorism and under constant threat from it. Consequently, measures designed to combat this scourge of the twenty-first century are now particularly important. I speak too as a citizen of the Basque country where terrorism is a daily event. Further, the International Diplomatic Conference of the contracting parties to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea is to be commended. It made it clear that any citizen and any form of transport could be attacked. They are all liable to become soft targets. It is also important to bear in mind that the Union is due to take in ten new Member States next year. As enlargement approaches it is imperative for us to strengthen all measures relevant to the fight against terrorism and to the protection of our vessels and ports. In this regard, the committee’s amendments aimed to provide a minor clarification to the Commission’s proposal. The amendments call for all unlawful acts to be covered. I have in mind terrorism, piracy and similar acts. They are especially threatening to the safety of vessels, their cargo, passengers and crew. In the light of recent environmental disasters, we have also endeavoured to strengthen security measures applicable to the transport of cargo containing dangerous substances. Illegal handling of such substances represents a particular hazard both for the environment and human beings. These substances must therefore be included in the scope of application of the agreement. I agree with the rapporteur that a focal monitoring centre for maritime security should be set up. Such a centre would be a point of contact between the Commission and Member States as regards monitoring the measures contained in this regulation. I also agree with the rapporteur on broadening the scope of the European Maritime Safety Agency, to allow it to fulfil its task of inspection and following up the present regulation. This is probably best achieved through a new legislative instrument. It is important for this regulation and the Commission’s communication to come into force at the earliest opportunity. The regulation ought to be in place on 1 July 2004.

Political group: PPE-DE
Commissioner, the people whom the European Union calls human rights activists are nothing more than agents of the United States of America, as proven in the Cuban courts. In addition, the Americans themselves have admitted that they are offering them several tens of millions of dollars to set up internal opposition in Cuba. Indeed, which country would not protect itself from outside plotting? In all events, I should like your comments, Commissioner, on the action by Mr Cason in Cuba and by his office. I should also like your comments on Mr Bush's message on 20 May, promising freedom to Cuba, and your comment on the fact that the United States have not punished the hijackers who forced aeroplanes to go to Cuba. And, finally, what do you think about the detention by the United States of five Cuban patriots who have barely seen 80% of the bill of indictment, because it is supposed to be confidential?

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we too would like to express some concerns regarding the preliminary draft budget, some of which relate to issues which have already been raised during this debate. I would like to focus, in particular, on two issues. Firstly, security and enlargement. It has already been stated that we need to be more aggressive with these active policies, but clearly, considering that we have not increased appropriations despite the fact that the concerns linked to terrorism and enlargement – including the extension of our borders with all the problems that will bring – are known to and in the minds of all, greater awareness and greater political aggressiveness should have been demonstrated with regard to these issues and a commitment should have been made to increase the budget. Secondly, as regards information policy, I agree with Mr Perry, who pointed out that 30 cents per citizen is an absolutely ridiculous proposal if we are to achieve an effective European policy in this field.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, we on the Committee on Budgets have been drawing people’s attention to how the use of the Guarantee Fund mechanism is a very cheap way for the EU to provide external financial assistance. The guarantees allow countries in difficulties to acquire credit on the international markets more cheaply than they would at normal market rates. As the guarantee has meant that the EU has not suffered any losses owing to defaults in recent years, it shows the criteria for assistance have been working. The forms of financial assistance provided under the Guarantee Fund have in recent years been macro-financial assistance and blanket loan guarantees given to the European Investment Bank. A ceiling is set for their use, the Guarantee Fund ceiling, which is provided for in the financial perspective. The Committee on Budgets has been surprised to note that the Commission and the EIB did not take full advantage of the potential of the Guarantee Fund last year. The resources used were wasted and poor countries were not helped. The use of this aid instrument could be added to the guarantee clauses with small technical amendments that will not in practice cause any problems for the Union’s budget. All the institutions are prepared to reduce the provisioning rate of credit from the present level of 9% to 8%. That way we could lower the amount that has to be covered by a corresponding Guarantee Fund transfer for each credit transaction. We could likewise reduce the blanket guarantee given for EIB loans from 65% to 50% of the amount of the loan. This measure would have the same impact on the use of the Guarantee Fund as reducing the provisioning rate. These changes would mean there would be more to distribute out of the same allocation of funds defined in terms of its ceiling. The Commission should promptly propose such measures.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, I have voted against the Watson report for the following reasons. I fully support the measures against terrorism and in my view, it is possible and necessary for the EU Member States to work closely together in this field. The European arrest warrant can make a major contribution towards the efficiency of the fight against terrorism within European territory. I am of the opinion that the European arrest warrant is desirable. However, this should be thought through and considered more carefully, so that it is not implemented at the expense of other important matters. The present draft offers too little in the way of guarantees and may sound the death knell of Dutch liberal criminal policy. In order to strike a compromise, I have tried to table an amendment via the rapporteur which prescribes the following condition for the European arrest warrant: a European arrest warrant may only be issued for offences committed on the territory of the requesting State. However, this amendment has been vetoed by the Socialists in the working party. I have also voted against the report because the Council is expected to adopt a different draft. I am therefore in favour of anti-terrorist measures as well as the European arrest warrant, but not at the expense of the liberal criminal policy in the Netherlands.

Political group: ELDR
Madam President, I have noticed that in a number of reports, my name has been consistently mixed up with that of Frank Vanhecke. I would point out that this gentleman, like myself, is Flemish but that this is where the similarity ends. I would appreciate it if, in future, the correct Christian name were mentioned after the surname.

Political group: PPE-DE
The enlargement of the European Union is creating a new actuality in the regional policy of the Union, which is why there is a need, among other things, to: - continue to distribute resources to regions in danger of exclusion not as a result of their actual progress, but as a result of the change in statistical conditions following the integration of the 10 new Member States of the ΕU; - continue to provide transitional support to regions which have exceeded 75% on an actual, not just a statistical basis; - reject the development of the nationalisation of regional policy as a result of the freezing of the budget at pre-enlargement levels; - concentrate on underdeveloped and other acutely structurally disadvantaged regions; - strengthen inter-regional cooperation; - include the regional dimension in all EU policies. Finally, the Mastorakis report includes worthwhile special proposals.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, Commissioner, the Commission’s proposal on fruit and vegetable policy is full of shortcomings and quite inadequate and I should like to highlight four aspects to demonstrate this. Firstly, the guarantee thresholds for different types of fruit and vegetable need to be raised with a view to harmonising the real production of the European Union and responding better to levels of demand. This is why I would particularly highlight the need for guarantee thresholds to be raised for tomatoes grown for processing in Portugal, which should at least approach the figure of 953 000 tonnes set at the Berlin Summit. Secondly, I wish to point out that the level of aid per tonne proposed by the Commission is quite inadequate. I think that what is needed is an increase of the kind proposed by the rapporteur. The truth is that the abolition of the minimum price, which is about to end, will result in a considerable reduction in prices paid for produce and we need to ensure that farmers’ incomes do not suffer as a result. Thirdly, the level of operational funds is also completely inadequate. In fact, as the rapporteur proposes, unless the level of financing the funds improves, we will not be able to improve the way in which producer groups work. Finally, I wish to say that the Commission has wasted a superb opportunity to make the CAP a little fairer. As the Commissioner knows, a sector that accounts for 16% of agricultural production only receives 4%, in fact less than 4%, of the budget. The European Union’s fruit and vegetable producers are at the moment basically living from their income from the market, in other words, from what they sell on the market. They suffer the risks and uncertainties inherent in the market and are pitted against fellow farmers in other countries, who produce other products such as cereals, oilseed, beef, milk and so forth, and whose income is guaranteed by the CAP, with no risk to themselves. Commissioner, we must put an end to this inconsistency within the CAP as soon as possible.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, it is very significant that Parliament is devoting a large part of its agenda today to a debate on the future of the Union with three reports – the Hulthén, Blokland and Myller reports – dealing with three complementary aspects of the same strategy. The Hulthén report is a contribution to a more definite strategy for sustainable development, the Blokland report explores the relationships between economic policy and environmental issues in greater depth and, finally, the Myller report seeks to provide a series of consistent objectives and effective instruments for pursuing those objectives in terms of environmental policy. Tomorrow’s vote on the sixth programme only represents a stage in this important project we have undertaken, but it is no less important for that. The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy has sought to strengthen the text and make it more binding as a crystal clear demonstration of our determination to take concrete steps to safeguard and improve the environment around us, especially in view of the limited achievements of the fifth action programme. In that context, I would like to thank our rapporteur and briefly comment on two points which seem to me particularly important. The first relates to the need to consolidate the involvement of local authorities in the action programme. While it is indeed important to set objectives at continent level, we must not forget that only committed, continuous action on the ground can actually secure a profound change in habits and customs, instilling a new culture of eco-compatible planning into every level of our local institutions. In that connection, I venture to draw your attention to Amendments Nos 52 and 53, already endorsed by the Committee on the Environment. We must succeed in ensuring that all the instruments provided by the programme – legislative, fiscal, financial, scientific, cultural and informative – can actually be used. For this – and here I come to my second point – it is fundamentally important to strengthen training in environmental policy for all the players operating on the ground. I am not just talking about administrators, but also about economic and social players and individual citizens, whom we must succeed in involving in this collective effort so that we can indeed make a qualitative leap in the protection of our environment, hence putting on greater pressure for the achievement of ambitious objectives at global level.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a proposal for reform, however comprehensive, will never be able to satisfy the many different farming systems in Europe. It was therefore inevitable that the debate would become heated and even change in tone according to the different viewpoints of the Members. To get straight to the point which interests me, I would like to say that I come from the mountains, and in this debate I want to express the opinion of those who live and work in mountain regions. We endorse the transition from market, in other words from production, to farm, and we also endorse the proposal to transfer the savings made through modulation to rural development. Despite the many instances of reluctance to address mountain concerns, despite the fact that the mountains are not mentioned anywhere in this reform, we can say that there is hope on the horizon. At last, for the first time, multifunctionality, which is indispensable for some disadvantaged peripheral areas, is treated quite seriously. Multifunctionality has always been practised in mountain areas where, together with their primary activity, farmers are required to control forestry development, channel watercourses, concern themselves with animal welfare and look after the environment for the benefit of farm and other tourism. This also means taking the greatest possible care to ensure the quality of typical products and niche products, which have for some time been highly successful and not unprofitable on the market. This too could help to convince a young farmer or two not to abandon the mountains. It is not enough, however: multifunctional farming brings added value to the community and it is therefore right that there should be appropriate remuneration. The ridiculous premiums for meadow mowing are not enough: a decent, fixed, supplementary income should be provided for those who work in the mountains and perform these services for the benefit of all. Otherwise, the exodus already taking place will continue and depopulation of the mountains will be the inevitable result.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, as a pan-European, I have had the good fortune to have been able to work towards this day since the 1970s and to assist Otto von Habsburg in ensuring that an empty chair was placed here in 1979 in protest against the exclusion of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe from the European Communities and as a signal for the process of reunification, the final stage of which we are initiating today. I had the good fortune not only to help prepare the pan-European picnic which was mentioned a few moments ago but also to play a part in the democratic revolutions in almost all of the applicant countries and in the declarations of Estonian and Slovenian independence. For this reason, let me state quite clearly that if we – a whole group of fellow Members and myself – deliver a critical vote on the Schröder report today, we are neither rejecting enlargement nor spurning the Czech people but are protesting, as people protested at the time, against injustice, against an injustice that still persists, against a serious infringement of human rights and its perpetuation through the continuing discriminatory effects of unjust decrees. For this reason, my friends, we say categorically that the European Union must continue to aspire to a common system of law. As a community rooted in the rule of law, we must ensure that unjust decrees are not brought into our legal system in the same way that viruses are introduced into computer systems. The virus endangers the entire system, which is why we, together with the countries that are about to accede to the Union, must fight in the period following today’s complex vote and after the accession of the new Member States to identify injustices where they still exist and to ensure that crime is recognised as crime and injustice as injustice. At the same time, we must cooperate in a spirit of partnership to create a Europe, a pan-European entity, that is built on the foundations of justice, peace and freedom. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE
I congratulate Mr Bowis on his excellent report on the proposal for a Parliament and Council regulation establishing a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which has my support, especially as it is designed to improve communication, coordination and cooperation with the Dedicated Surveillance Networks. Establishing a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control will enable the EU to draw up a long-term plan for Public Health, to respond quickly to epidemics and to react effectively to any potential outbreak or other incident, without teams in different Member States duplicating work.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, speaking on behalf of our committee, I too would like to express our congratulations to Mr Annan, and to all those who, in the United Nations, work for democracy, peace and freedom, and our appreciation for all those who have made such great sacrifices for them. I also regret the fact that domestic political circumstances prevent the laureates from Cuba, Burma and Turkey from being with us today. What we have to do, I believe, is to advance democracy and freedom throughout the world, for human rights on the one hand, and peace on the other, are dependent on them. Democracy and freedom are the pillars without which no improvement is sustainable. In the brief conversation that the Bureau of the Foreign Affairs Committee was able to have with you earlier, it became even clearer to us that the European Parliament and the European Union really can work together on joint projects, and that we can cooperate very closely where policy matters and budgetary resources are concerned, as well as in many other areas – be it on issues connected with the supply of water, with education in the developing world, infrastructure measures or the fight against epidemics. I believe that, if we succeed in this way in raising standards in the world’s less-favoured areas, we will also be creating the right conditions for peace, freedom and human rights, and it is for that reason that we need to cooperate in this area. The same is the case with political objectives and problem-solving, whether this be in the Middle East or in Cyprus. While I have to say that I listened to what you had to say about migration with a great deal of admiration, I would also like to point out at the same time that migration is an admission of failure, for we should deal with problems where people actually live; that is where we have to start. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE