New general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019 (debate)
Siegfried Mureşan (PPE). – Mr President, Commissioner, representatives of the Council, welcome back to the European Parliament. I would like to start by congratulating the two rapporteurs, my colleague Daniele Viotti, Paul Rübig, the Commissioner and the Austrian Presidency, for having delivered again a budget for the European Union on time before the beginning of next year.
I know how difficult it is to agree on a budget because we want to do good, we want to finance the priorities, we have limited resources, we want to fulfil the expectations of the people. Therefore, one very important element in order also to avoid difficult situations like this in the years to come, is to agree on what the European Union should deliver in the upcoming years, and the next negotiations for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021—2027 should provide a good opportunity for this.
We should firstly agree on what we expect the European Union should deliver and then equip it with the right tools in order to avoid situations like this, where Parliament on the one side, and the Council on the other side, are trying to either reduce or increase the amount for certain areas.
The second thing I would like to see is research and innovation. This is essential if we want to stay competitive in the global area. I would just like to draw your attention to the much lower success rate in this MFF with regards to Horizon 2020 projects compared to the past MFF, which means that we can finance fewer projects than in the past MFF. Many good projects demand financing. This is why I strongly call upon the Council to apply Article 15.3, which allows for the reuse of resources allocated to Horizon 2020 in the next year.