“Um, I mean, there is a lot of emphasis there on being able to target funding to, um, priorities. Uh, and crisis and preparedness is, is a theme which, uh, comes out strongly in, in that context uh, as well. Um, also in, in terms of flexibility, I mean, I think the health budget is, is interesting because of course, when we agreed the budget seven years ago, uh, I mean, the outturn for, for health in terms of real spending from the EU budget has been hugely different. So I think it's a classic example of why the case for flexibility is is a very strong one to enable you to to adapt as things, uh, as things change, but also to, to kind of keep focus on those priorities and, and keep focus on providing added value so that as we have the MFF debate, as, as everyone knows, the the money is tight, there is not um, there is for, for um, reasons both of legacy and and in terms of, uh, squeezes on public financing in general at the moment, it's not going to be easy. But if if we stick to those those ideas of, um, prioritization and retaining flexibility rather than trying to pin everything down in advance, uh, then then there would be, I'm sure, opportunities to ensure that that the future financing which would be called upon by Hera would be a substantial priority in the overall picture as well. Exactly.”
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“Thank goodness that we have had to trigger the crisis mode for all of this. And when you have the crisis mode, as we saw, of course, during the pandemic, there is a huge premium on. Being able to act quickly. And that means that that you need access to your tools. You need access to your decision making. That's not something where if you have a separate body, it would be a lot harder to to move an act, particularly in those in crisis situations. So that was something that that came into our mind as well in terms of I'm sure uh, that that is an issue. Um, again, uh, which, uh, will be looked at and you may well, um, talk about with, with the commissioner as well. I mean, uh, the commission at least has, has, um, horizontal rules. You may consider them to be imperfect, but, I mean, there are clear rules there, uh, that the commission has in place. And, uh, you know what? They are so, so, um, I think that there are some advantages, even in the transparency side as well. Um, and then on, on, on the budget, uh, and the future funding it, it is, of course, uh, as the committee knows very well, we're in the course of a debate on, on the future funding and the MFF. Uh, you may have had the opportunity to look at the communication which the commission adopted in March.”
Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Size of EU budget