8
May
2023
Watch
Impact on the 2024 EU budget of increasing European Union Recovery Instrument borrowing costs - Own resources: a new start for EU finances, a new start for Europe (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have heard the debate and I have also heard the Commissioner's presentation. However, nothing has been said about the efficiency of spending money. Because, Commissioner, as a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control, I also discussed last week with the Court of Auditors. There are always, new instruments are being created, new programmes that are outside the budget and cannot even be controlled by the Court of Auditors. I would have liked to see how we can make spending this money more efficient. Of course we need more money, but I will never support an additional tax on citizens, an additional tax on SMEs, in order to be able to do what? The Commission did not predict how the interest rate would rise. When those contracts were concluded, the interest was not fixed, how much is the interest? This is what happens in a contract. That's what happened with spending money on vaccines. Again, we don't know how much was given, how it was given. Lack of transparency leads to mistrust, Commissioner, and I think that's where it starts: transparency and scrutiny of the European Parliament over all financial instruments.