madam president across europe governments and public institutions are facing up to the need for cuts but this parliament continues to live in a fairytale world
i hear fine words about the need for savings and efficiency but the budget of over eur one point seven billion in twenty eleven is an increase of nearly six
this is totally unacceptable
we should be talking about massive savings not increases
there are many ways in which this could be done
for a start we should be cutting unnecessary waste and expenditure
this house should demand that council end the strasbourg circus and save annual costs of over eur two hundred million
a further eur fifty million would be saved every year by closing the european parliament offices in each of our countries
we must streamline the bureaucracy the number of officials employed by parliament has increased by fourteen to six zero in just three years
any other organisation in straitened times would meet new priorities with compensating reductions elsewhere
we seem to think that we live in a different world
we need to take the necessary steps to bring about real changes and real cuts in parliament's budget
