Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-11-23
Debate: 2022 budgetary procedure: joint text (debate)

  Damian Boeselager,  rapporteur. – Mr President, for the third year in a row now, I was locked away on a rainy November weekend with my colleagues and with the national diplomats to battle over the annual budget, while surviving on very bad sandwiches and bad coffee. For the third year in a row, I have left these negotiations with a curious realisation. Some EU capitals fundamentally reduce these negotiations to how much they have to pay and seem very often to disregard what they actually get for it, their return on investment.
In light of this, it may be worth going back to why we actually have a European Union budget. We have it because, some time ago, Presidents and Prime Ministers made a confession, collectively, rationally and out of political self-interest. They made the confession that, in the past, conflicting national interests have led us to radicalisation and, ultimately, war. They made the confession that every nation, however grand and historically powerful, is too small to tackle the issues of our time alone. I would say they made the confession that all our individual nations lost part of their sovereignty exactly because, alone, they cannot safeguard or represent their citizens’ rights when it comes to climate change, healthcare, rising energy prices, leadership and research, global trade, national security and so many other fields which we see represented in our budget. This is why we have a common European budget, and this is why we have a common European institution that helps us thrive and regain some of the sovereignty that our individual nation states have lost.
But let’s get back to the content of next year’s budget. From Parliament’s side, the final outcome, as Karlo Ressler has said, is a success. We have barely ever seen such a focused budget underlining our priorities, be it in the fight against climate change, in our solidarity via vaccination campaigns and in supporting our research excellence, just to name a couple of examples. So big congratulations to Karlo and all his colleagues and shadow rapporteurs for the great work. 
On my side of the table, when it comes to strengthening the institutions of the European Union, I believe we have also achieved quite a lot. First of all, this is true for the European Court of Justice. Justice is always on the side of the weak and the persecuted. Strengthening the Court with additional staff and funds therefore means safeguarding the weakest in our societies against those abusing positions of power, and that is always worth it. Second, we were able to reinforce the Court of Auditors to scrutinise the correct spending of the billions flowing by the European Recovery Instrument. A common responsibility requires hard checks and balances, and the Court is crucial in this regard. Third, I’m also very happy that we were able to reinforce the capacities of Parliament, of this House. After years of increased workload, we have finally managed to strengthen our core legislative capacities, which will improve the quality of legislation for all European citizens. 
Let me close by thanking the Council Presidency for their fair negotiations and the Commissioner for very creative solutions, Karlo for the great collaboration, Johan for the calm advice, and my shadows for the continuous support throughout the negotiations, but also to my team – Caroline, Zita and Johannes – for their hard work over the last year.