Ms Kata Tütt:

I am grateful for the floor, dear Cathaoirleach, Deputies, councillors and colleagues from the European Committee of the Regions. I am glad that they are all familiar with the European Committee of the Regions. I will still say a few words to reflect on where and who we are now. It is called a committee, but it is a parliament of European local leaders from different realities. We have councillors and mayors from small towns, middle-sized cities, capital cities and metropolitan areas. We have presidents of regions. We have representatives from islands and mountainous areas. We have representatives from rural and industrial areas. We have all the local experience from all across Europe.

What we do is to digest European legislation. Most European legislation is implemented by the local municipalities. What we bring to European decision-making is our realities. We try to make European legislation better. We try to connect European decision-making, all the abstract policies, to the everyday realities of our citizens.

Why am I here today? I am connecting with our members of the European Committee of the Regions. There is an amazing Irish delegation in the European Committee of the Regions. They are very active members who bring to the table all the things that are important to their communities. We across Europe have one thing in common. It is the most important issue of the new European budget proposal. It will define how we will work after 2028. Ireland had its budget day yesterday. We know that a budget is about more than just numbers. It is about principles, how we work and when we give a number to priorities. This is when reality comes.

I would like to call attention to what is new in the European budget. I am gathering allies. The new European proposal puts all core European policies into one bag, including cohesion and agricultural policies, which are the core policies of the European Union, and gives them to the member states, thereby nationalising them. This proposal disconnects Brussels from the local realities in the cities and regions. It also defunds. Why is that important? The European budget seems big but in reality is very small. It is approximately 1% of European GDP. I always say that the two core policies, the seven-year agricultural policy and the seven-year cohesion policy, which binds and glues the cities and regions together to make the Common Market work, is less than the GDP of Bavaria in Germany. It seems a big budget but in reality, it is a small budget. The main function of the budget is to keep the Union functioning, and to connect its people, businesses and territories. Under the new budget, this cohesion policy is disappearing or dissolving in a bag, and competing with agricultural policy. It is disconnected from Brussels and responsibility is being given to the national governments. There is a wave of centralisation. Cohesion and agricultural policies are competing with each other in the national governments' budgets and competitiveness on the other side is disconnected from cohesion, from the cities and regions, and centralised to the European Commission.

Why are we here? We think that cohesion and competitiveness must go together. We talked about cohesion policy a lot yesterday.

Ireland knows exactly what cohesion policy means and how important it is to keep the European Union functioning. If we talk about enlargement, it is not imaginable without a stand-alone regionally and locally managed cohesion policy. This is why I am here.

I am waiting for the discussion and I thank the committee for the opportunity.