Catherine Bearder (ALDE). - Mr President, thankfully negotiations like these do not come along too often. When they do, we know they are important to all of us, especially to citizens who will feel the benefit of the hard work done by negotiators so that our Community funding streams reach every part of every Member State. When we hear terms like ‘macroeconomic conditionalities’, we know we are in for tough talks, but we now have compromises that we can all live with. Well done to everyone for that.

However, the work the ALDE Group has been doing to ensure a real focus on SMEs is being thwarted at the final hurdle. We are very disappointed that, at the direction of the President, voting on these amendments will not be taken in order, and split votes will not be allowed, which will mean the House will be denied the chance to make its views clear. Despite protests in the Conference of Presidents, we are left with voting that thwarts the efforts for SMEs and our ability to make a real choice about investing in them and supporting them. The recovery of the Union’s economy will be driven by small businesses, and we should be giving them our direct support, not changing voting rules to fit political agendas in the very Chamber that exists to speak on their behalf.