Voorzitter Europarlement Buzek over Meerjarig Financieel Kader (en)

Met dank overgenomen van M. (Martin) Schulz i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 8 juni 2011.

Following today's plenary vote on the future Multiannual Financial Framework, EP President Jerzy Buzek i said:

"For the first time the European Parliament is expressing its official position on the Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Union's long-term budget, ahead of the proposals from the European Commission.

The strong majority which supported today's resolution in the European Parliament cannot and should not be ignored. A strong multiannual EU budget is a question of common sense on how to better invest to create jobs and growth. The budget should match our political ambitions. The Multiannual Financial Framework will have to be approved by the European Parliament.

We call for an increase in the budget from 2014 which will allow the EU to achieve the agreed objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. Such a budget would help stimulate economic growth across the EU, create jobs, foster innovation and develop poorer regions.

The EU budget is an investment vehicle, not a redistributive mechanism. Nearly 95 % of the EU budget is spent on various kinds of investment, only 5% accounts for administrative costs.

Reducing the EU budget would cripple our ability to invest in areas such as research and development or efforts to tackle climate change or harm our energy security.

The EU budget allows every EU Member State to save money at the national level. The EU budget allows for pooling resources, provides leverage for investment from other sources and creates synergies and economies of scale. Many areas, such as transport, energy and environmental protection are better financed at the European level.

The Parliament is also strongly in favour of a new system of own resources which would make the EU budget European while helping to avoid quarrels in negotiations among Member States.

A bigger budget would also be a clear message to those who bet against the EU's political resolve: it would show that we are united and committed to common European growth and prosperity. In this globalised world, we will either advance united, or we will lag behind separately."

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