Philip Claeys (NI). – (NL) Mr President, the Lisbon Strategy is meant to turn Europe into the world’s strongest economy, and I believe that there is in this House a broad consensus about that goal, although I would question the way in which this is being achieved. I cannot avoid the conclusion that Europe today is still far too much preoccupied with subsidies to the detriment of investment and innovation.

Not only the various Member States, but also the Commission, bear the burden of responsibility in this. Whilst the Commission had proposed to double spending for science and development to EUR 10 billion per annum from 2007, the Council rejected this proposal on the grounds that that would have necessitated considerable cuts in agricultural subsidies, regional subsidies and also structural funds.

When I think of the European structural funds, I am automatically reminded of the bottomless pit of Wallonia, for example, to which annually, millions of euros are being siphoned, without this ever effecting any structural change, because this is being prevented by an all-pervading and corrupt Parti Socialiste. This is now also being corroborated by various Wallonian politicians and prominent economists.

Now, along comes Mrs Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, claiming that Wallonia manages to use the structural funds effectively and that the Wallonian projects are typical of the so-called remarkable structural changes that take place in that region. Well, given that this is coming from someone who is partly responsible for the follow-up of the Lisbon Strategy, this puts a question mark over the whole thing.