madam president i welcome the initiative to talk about investment in low-carbon technology but more specifically about energy-saving and providing more secure and diversified energy supplies
i would like to look in particular at the use of eu funds
the region i represent already has an eu fund of over eur two hundred and fifty million for low-carbon economic growth
whilst its ambitions are worthy the performance of this fund in actually making meaningful investments has fallen well below expectations
the east of england including cambridge university is also home to leading research facilities and over two hundred and fifty contracts have been signed in my region for framework seven grants
i have seen some excellent innovative research but there are great questions about complexity especially for smes bureaucracy and inflexibility when adapting to developments and science
in some cases there are appalling stories of late payments by the eu itself
when considering how taxpayers money is invested in the future we should look at the lessons of what has already happened and make sure we spend it better in the future
