Carl Lang (NI). – (FR) Madam President, between 2007 and 2013, cohesion policy will be the main item of expenditure for the Europe of Brussels, but far from benefiting the French regions, this development actually penalises them. The increase in regional expenditure is in fact made at the expense of the common agricultural policy, and therefore at the expense of France. We can see that the share allocated to the French regions is continually shrinking. The vast majority of the EUR 347 billion in Structural Funds is to be given to Eastern Europe, destroyed by more than 40 years of communism.

Already in the year 2000, Brussels withdrew the Structural Funds granted under the former Objective I from the cantons of France’s Hainaut region. Today France, which contributes 16% of European budget revenue, is giving more and more but receiving less and less.

What is more, this regional aid has not protected those affected by the world economic crisis because it forms part of the ultra-liberal philosophy of the Lisbon Strategy. Now more than ever, we need to build a new Europe that will at last provide economic protection for our regions and our nations through an active policy of reassuming control of our internal market.