Established 1999

VIEWPOINT

25 kwiecień 2008

TV`s democracy

The EU is at the moment very technocratic, there is no ethos of the founding fathers which characterized great individuals like de Gasperi, Schumann and Adenauer. It is the EU of technocrats and politicians who think in the categories of elections and therefore four years ahead only. In Germany and other countries they have enormous problems with convincing their own public opinion about tightening the belts and, at the same time, enlarging EU expenses on behalf of the poorer participants of the EU.


JANUSZ LEWANDOWSKI



Civic Platform


the Chairman of the European Union


Parliament Committee on Budgets



Paweł Makowski: Mister Eurodeputy, you are the Chairman of the Committee on Budgets, are you therefore our man holding the EU purse strings?


JANUSZ LEWANDOWSKI: In theory, I am not. In practice, in fundamental situations I can be. The deputy mandate is a free one, and requires representing the interests of the European Union, so therefore the Chairman should be an impartial manager of the very important parliamentary committee. But, my experience as an observer of the parliament shows that the French, in essential issues, regardless of their political fraction or option, turned out to be French, for example when the matter was about agriculture. The British turned out to be British regardless of them representing labour or conservative party when the issue was about taxes. Consequently, in fundamental situations it is the country of origin that will play major role.


Does the Chairman of the Committee have strong influence on the decisions of that committee?


According to my predecessor, the Chairman does have substantial influence on the budget exertion. What is more, through money, the Chairman has the influence on the legislative action of the European Parliament due to the fact that the majority of the acts of law have are echoed in the budget. The budget committee can interfere because it has the right to vote.


I would prefer not to provoke any unreasonable expectations, because this can also be a problem. Ms Hübner’s function of the Commissioner for Regional Policies as well as my position are both very interesting posts won by Poland right at the start. In theory those positions are connected with functioning of the whole European Community, but surely they are starting positions in Polish début, it was more than we could expect.


Did the Chairman of the Committee learn all the secrets of creating the EU budgets?


It is a great surprise for the people working in the EU institutions, that the Committee on Budgets is run by somebody without, so called, institutionalized memory, without knowledge of certain formal and, what is more, informal rules of the parliamentary game. This requires rapid course of learning, that is learning by doing. The most difficult is going to be the fall, because budget is in process and if signed by the President of the European Union Parliament in 2004 and there are not going to be any major mishaps, after that it is going to be easy.


Next year the 2007-2013 budget will be examined. Creating a budget is a philosophy. Can we talk about schools of budget philosophy which are going to be confronted in this occasion?


Polish experience is not very useful, because in the EU creating a budget happens in a specific triangle, which is untranslatable to our local experience. The triangle is created by the European Commission, which is the first to proposition a motion; the Council, which is an intergovernmental forum where usually the economizing tendency rules; and the Parliament, where voices of the countries which are net payers are combined with the voices of the countries interested in a large budget. For many reasons this fall is going to be a very interesting period. It is not only about the 2005 budget, but then we will start to discuss this new perspective for the years 2007-2013, which was already visible before summer holidays. What is noticeable are not two philosophies, but two approaches, and they will clash very strongly. There was never such strong tendency to economize from the part of the countries who are net payers, fist of all Germany and the Netherlands. For the first time we have to deal with the problem of economizing tendencies in such an extent from the part of the rich UE countries and at the same time growing demand from the part of the poorer countries. Another very crucial clash more connected with the philosophy and strategy of building the expenses for the years to come, is the clash of the countries which would prefer the Lisbon Strategy, that is the strategy of pursuit of the United States, treated as an excuse to spend money on research and development, at the expense of the EU solidarity mechanism, expressed by structural funds, the unity funds.


We believe that those aims are uncompetitive, our task is to protect the solidarity mechanism. There is one more issue, which for the first time will happen in such a scale, that is the reform of possible EU income. There are talks about unified EU tax and not write-offs and premiums.


Does EU solidarity in your opinion exists at the moment only as an accounting position or is there still an Idea in the European salons?


The EU is at the moment very technocratic, there is no ethos of the founding fathers which characterized great individuals like de Gasperi, Schumann and Adenauer. It is the EU of technocrats and politicians who think in the categories of elections and therefore four years ahead only. In Germany and other countries they have enormous problems with convincing their own public opinion about tightening the belts and, at the same time, enlarging EU expenses on behalf of the poorer participants of the EU. It is a different era in the history of the EU, more pragmatic, more shortsighted then the great vision of the founding fathers.


It is noticeable even in comparison with the nineties, when a unity funds were created especially for Spain and Portugal. Those funds were an additional tool for leveling the chances in the moment when Spain and Portugal, those two visibly disadvantaged countries, were joining the EU. Such gesture cannot be observed now. What can be observed however, is advancing tendency to economize and great need to succeed inside the mother country, were the motto of the budget on the behalf of the poorer and leveling the differences is not popular.


How would you comment awarding Helmut Kohl the Alcide de Gasperi: Builders of Europe Prize?


It is a event, because the generation of the people who were not really the founding fathers but the architects of the uniting Europe is fading away. It is a very well deserved prize for a man who is luckily appreciated in Poland, because he is one of the architects of uniting Europe. It is beautiful relay: de Gasperi prize for Helmut Kohl. Such politicians are gone. This is the problem of the EU that the technocrats, who have short term thinking in political success categories, are leading. And that is why the countries who need the vision, the farsighted vision of enriching the solidarity mechanism, just like Poland, are having problems.


Maybe it is a sign of the times…


The twenty first century is a characteristic normalization on the European continent, or in the Euro-Atlantic civilization. Television democracy of lover rank politicians is gaining control.


Did you watch the Olympics?


With much less interest, because it is so poisoned by the suspected doping. However they went back to the source, to Athens…


Two great sporting events this year were organized by the “disadvantaged countries”: The Euro 2004 football tournament by Portugal and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games by Greece. Maybe it is time for Poland? Is there a rubric in the EU budget which could help?


Dreams give wings, but then there is a pinch of realism in them. The Summer Olympic Games will someday come to Poland, maybe as an enterprise of few countries, but the number of barriers in our road, communication and sport infrastructure which would have to be overcame, is gigantic. In terms of material equipment, sports base, we are, just like in road-building, a Skansen museum of Europe.


Thank you.



 


 

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