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Conclusions
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The most important objective of the overhaul of the State aid regime is to help Europe's governments spend more wisely in these difficult times to prepare the ground for the recovery, keep the right priorities in times of fiscal consolidation and, of course, mitigate the social effects of the crisis.
I am perfectly aware that Member States' governments are ultimately responsible for how public funds are spent and on what; the role of the Commission is to make sure that these expenses do not distort competition in the internal market.
But, in doing so, I have no doubt that we can encourage smart spending; tighten coordination at EU level; and make sure that good practices travel smoothly from one country to another. This is the rationale of my initiative.
Learning from each other's success and increasing coordination are multipliers. The same levels of expenditure can have a larger impact; and this will bring benefits to the quality of public finances, to our economy, and to the people.
At the end of the day, this is what the Union is about; when we play as a team, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts."
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-12-424_en.htm?locale=en