Ioannis Kasoulides, on behalf of the rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on International Trade. − Mr President, on behalf of Mr Šťastný and the Committee on International Trade, I would like to start by highlighting that my committee’s budgetary amendments were very limited and reasonable in terms of their financial demands. There was no request for any new budget line, except for a project on monitoring trade negotiations for civil society.

How do we reconcile a dozen negotiations for trade and investment – where trade is considered a major source of growth – with cuts in this area? The INTA Committee has proposed slight increases in the funding for macro-financial assistance, external trade relations, aid for trade and the DCI. It proposes that the ICI and cooperation with developing countries not be affected by budgetary cuts, and it proposes expansion of the internationalisation of European SMEs and of the ‘Euromed – innovative entrepreneurs for change’ initiative.