Toespraak voorzitter van de Europese Commissie Barroso over begrotingsherziening in breder verband (en)

SPEECH/07/525

José Manuel Durao Barosso

President of the European Commission

"Making the right choices for Europe"

Press conference on budget review

Brussels, 12 September 2007

Good afternoon, and thank you for coming.

I frequently talk to you about the next months or next years of our work. Today is different.

The budget review is unique. A once in a generation opportunity to make a reform of the budget and also a reform of the way we work. So the budget review we are launching will look not just years but decades ahead.

Our ambition is to change the Europe of today but also to do more. Ambition to address new issues. Ambition to shape a prospective agenda for the future.

I will leave a detailed explanation of what we are doing to Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite.

But first, I want to explain why this is about much more than money. This is about vision for Europe.

Because before we decide how to spend money in the European Union, we need to decide on the results we want. To decide on what the EU should achieve for its citizens.

It is an open debate. At this stage it is not a proposal for the future financial perspectives. The overall size of the budget, a detailed breakdown, will naturally be presented by the next Commission before 2014.

What we are doing now is to open a "no-taboos" debate on the EU's spending priorities. This also means a "no-taboos" debate on future policy.

We also need to look again at the ways money is raised. At the relationship between EU citizens and the money spent in their name.

This Commission, as you know, has put the Europe of Results at the heart of its policies. With this review, we want to ask stakeholders and citizens. "What will a Europe of Results mean for you in the future? How should we pay for it?"

I would like to give you some figures.

In 1988, expenditure on the Common Agricultural Policy was nearly 61% of the budget. In 2013, it will be 32%.

Funding for competitiveness, external actions and rural development was originally very limited - they represented around 7% twenty years ago. In 2013 they will be 26%.

So the budget is changing. But Europe and the world are changing even faster.

So the review we are launching today aims to help the EU to change with them. To make hard choices in a globalised era. The right choices for a prosperous, low-carbon Europe. For a Europe that protects its citizens and acts as a force for good in the world.

Tomorrow the Commission will be talking about some of these things at our annual seminar. I am greatly looking forward to it.

Of course, our seminar tomorrow will also look at shorter-term issues. As for many, this is our first meeting since the rentrée, here in the "Salle de Presse", I would like very briefly to share some of our short-term priorities with you.

We have a programme, a very heavy programme, for this autumn and of course for the rest of the mandate of our Commission.

Some examples. Next week I will stand here again to present our energy internal market package. In December we will come forward with a proposed Directive on how Europe will meet the emissions and renewables targets agreed at the June European Council. In other words, how Europe can continue to show the world a clear lead on climate change.

In October we will present an interim report at the halfway stage of the renewed Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy, looking ahead to the period to 2010. The question we will be aiming to answer is: "How can we do even more to make sure Lisbon delivers real benefits for citizens?"

In November, and in fact we have started this discussion today in the collège, we will present in November the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy.

In December as usual, we will submit for debate at the Spring European Council a comprehensive Lisbon progress report, including detailed assessments of economic reform in each individual Member State.

Of course, the internal market drives growth and jobs in Europe. It has given us huge benefits. But we can get still more from it. The Single Market Review that we will bring forward in November aims to show how.

Migration is one of the great issues of our age. The Commission has a clear twin-track strategy. Encourage legal migration that is beneficial to migrants, to their countries of origin and to Europe. Clamp down on illegal migration. We will bring forward two proposed Directives on labour immigration in October, complementing the proposal already put forward on sanctions against those who employ illegal migrants.

As a budget reflects a set of political priorities, it must also take into account our ambitions as a key international player.

Our ambitions to contribute to peace, stability, social justice and prosperity beyond our borders. And this, of course, is also important for the budget review.

You will have noticed that I have not yet mentioned the Reform Treaty. That is because I wanted to focus today on changing Europe, not on changing Institutions.

But of course, the two go together.

And it is not a coincidence that we are discussing the Reform Treaty and a reform of the budget. And that we keep this emphasis on reform in Europe, if we want to shape globalisation and not just react to it.

I believe that we in Europe are achieving a great deal with existing instruments.

But if we want to deliver the kind of vision I have been describing for the longer-term, we will need the right tools.

That is why we want to see the Reform Treaty signed this autumn and ratified rapidly. It is also why I believe this budget review is a great opportunity.

Both are means, not ends. Means for Europe, with ambition, to deliver concrete results for our citizens.

Thank you. I will now hand over the floor to Mrs Grybauskaite.