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TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION OF EUROPE |
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Taxpayers Association's of Europe Award 2002 Hanns-Seidel-Foundation, Rue de Pascale 45 - 47, Dear Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Taxpayers, a warm welcome to the fourth Taxpayers Association's Award in Brussels. First I would like to thank our host, the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation, for their warm friendship and help with the preparation of this event. Dear Markus Russ, we would like to thank you and your staff for your kind assistance. The Taxpayers’ Award, the “European Bull”, symbolises the never-ending struggle for survival, strength and the right of self-assertion. And it also symbolises "Europa" or Europe. In line with our objective Europe has to remain open to lofty visions, a Europe of the regions, of citizens and taxpayers, and not of bureaucracy and regulation. Today’s prize giving is intended to be a mean of conferring distinction, but also a pointer for the direction down which the continued development of a common Europe must go. I don’t want to pre-empt the ceremonial addresses, but the Award Committee of Taxpayers Association of Europe has in my view selected prize-winners for 2002 who are especially well suited to the symbolic meaning and intention of the prize. It is not about the assessments and the evaluation of political careers. The goals of Taxpayers Association of Europe, which was founded back in 1969 in Luxembourg, are to lighten the burden of tax of the citizens of Europe, prevent the introduction of new taxes and struggle for simpler and fairer tax laws and against the wasting of public funds. It is always pleasant and welcome to spread good news and compliments, to give events, celebrate awards like ours today. But that is only one part of our work. Statutory TAE is a taxpayers’ watchdog. That’s why we fight the proposed EU-tax. Experience showed us that new taxes never would be revenue neutral. Instead of to introduce new taxes to finance the European Union, TAE proposes reforms of the finances of the EU. Often people criticising European politics seem to be hostile to Europe. We become active, if taxpayers’ matters are concerned. We take the floor, more or less loud, if taxpayers’ interests are in danger. But we always try to criticise in a constructive way, never hostile to Europe. In this context I would like to mention EU-Commission positively. Exemplarily I want only to name some Commissioners. Commissioner Bolkestein stands for fair competition, Commissioner Monti is the natural born enemy of unfair competition and Commissioner Fischler is fighting since years for agricultural reforms. Franz Fischler currently has the difficult job of reforming the agricultural system and above all of making it cost-effective in view of the imminent eastern expansion. At the same time, he is being pressured by former beneficiaries and their lobbyists who wish to keep the „status quo“. Tomorrow, he will present his reform concept, and we will have to wait and see what will be introduced. The expansion to the east is imminent and the countdown has started. This expansion has resulted in EU institutional reform being finally started, as well as the establishment of an EU statutory convention, which has launched a wide and public discussion in Europe concerning the delimitation of jurisdictions. In order to safeguard the interests of the taxpayers, thanks to the financial support of the German Taxpayers’ Association, we have ordered a report on jurisdiction delimitation which we will present here in Brussels after the summer recess. Europe must come first. We are on the brink of legal incompetence. Yet all political decision-makers should be aware that the reforms must be finalised before the expansion. There is not much time left. Why don’t we have better European development and faster institutional reforms yet? National particular interests hinder necessary reforms. European Parliament and our guests present today from Commission, as well as the award winners are not the one who are responsible for this situation, they did a really good job. The concept of Europe is still strange and unknown to many citizens. Many felt as though they gave away a part of themselves when giving up their own currency and they thought the economy in Europe would crash. Thank God these disaster scenarios did not become reality. The Euro is a strong currency and its position towards the dollar has significantly improved. The introduction of the Euro has brought Europe a little bit closer together. We owe the fact that the Euro is stable not in the least to you, dear Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. Your country may be small in comparison to the other member states, but you are one of the great politicians of Europe. You are always striving for a consensus, without forgetting about the interests of the small member states, and you always want what’s best for Europe as a whole. You are not one of those people who would prefer to see the failure of unification in favour of national interest. Your country is the model example where economic development and national debt are concerned. Many a larger country should follow the example of your clearly thought-out policies. I am happy to be able to welcome you today and I would like to thank you for all the work you have done. The Court of Auditors is the natural ally of the taxpayers’ organizations. I am happy to say that at both national and European level we are able to look back on good relations here over many years, and the annual reports from the Court of Auditors in the Member States and from the European Court of Auditors confirm us in our demands for the recognition of a legally defined crime of embezzlement and for an official prosecutor. The Commission’s Green Paper on the protection of the financial interests of the European Communities and on the appointment of a European Public Prosecutor is a clear step in the right direction. We were asked for our opinion, which we will be glad to give. The wasting of public funds knows no frontiers, making it all the more important that we find comrades-in-arms throughout Europe. In the eye of the Taxpayers Association of Europe, public waste is as damaging to society as tax evasion. In both cases, damage is inflicted upon society and the nation. Both activities should be punished. I welcome the representatives from the European Court of Auditors Jean François Bernicot and Erich Haenelt. I also welcome from OLAF Harald Spitzer and Fritz Schöder. The battle against the misuse of public funds, while at the same time striving for a more efficient use of such funding leads me to our second award winner. I would like to welcome Bodo Hombach, former Stability Treaty Co-ordinator for South East Europe. Dear Mr. Hombach, in a short period of time you have made an extraordinary and successful achievement. You introduced a concept for development which is at the same time also a concept for self-help, serving the promise of peace through cross-border co-operation. You also introduced the conditions to guarantee support when the Balkan nation in question subscribed to the battle against crime and corruption, along with adjusting it’s tax and toll legislation to those of European standards. That was the key to and a milestone for achieving a more efficient use of public funding. I would like to extend my special welcome to our speakers at the award ceremony today, Dr. Ingo Friedrich, the Vice-President of European Parliament and We are delighted that you are willing to give the ceremonial addresses for our award-winning guests. We would also like to welcome a former „European Award Winner“, the CEO of Consumer Electronic Stock Corporation, Erich Lejeune. An organization with more than one million members in Europe, which lays claim to be one of the biggest public movements, to speak and to act in the name of all taxpayers, also for the future generation, could not work successfully beside all efforts without comrades-in-arms to influence public decision-makers and to guarantee public control. I am therefore delighted to welcome following Members of European Parliament Jens-Peter Bonde, Elmar Brok, Astrid Lullung, I welcome the representatives of the EU Commission and EU Institutions Wolfgang Bärwinkel, from the Stability Pact Robert Adams, Fabienne Barbier, Roland Bless, Muriel Cottave-Claudet, Martine Dell and Guy van der Perren. We welcome - in alphabetic order - Thorsten Augustin, of the consular corps, the embassies and consulates. For the world of economy and associations, we also would like to welcome Prof. Dr. Hartmut Mohr, Guido Schmidt und Werner Bohrer, Economic Council of the Union Bavaria, I am delighted that a large number of representatives of our European Taxpayers’ organizations have joined us today. A warm welcome to Dr. Karl Heinz Däke, German Taxpayers Association, and my colleagues and comrades-in-arms in the Bavarian Taxpayers Association Dr. Paul Stefan, Finally, I really want to thank all the people who helped us with the preparation of this event Renate Amm, from the office of Dr. Friedrich, Finally, I should also express my deep gratitude to our Secretary General, Michael Jäger and the head of the Brussels office of the TAE, Walter Grupp and to Rainer Hilterman, for preparing this award ceremony in Brussels and for their effective work. Of course, my dear guests, you are all very welcome here, and we appreciate that you honour us today with your presence. In the enclosed list of participants, you can see all the people who registered until 5th of July. And last but not least I would like to greet the representatives from Press, TV and Radio and I would like to ask them to report this occasion critically but objectively, as we have come to expect. Thank you for your attentiveness. I will now hand over first to you, Dr. Friedrich. We await with interest your commendation. Speech vH/MJ 2002-7-5 |
Welcome speech