Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-03-Speech-1-080"
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"en.20000703.6.1-080"2
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"Mr President, it is not possible in a mere 240 seconds to give a full report of the positive work which President Guterres and all his team have done on behalf of the European Union. I am consequently obliged to confine myself to a few brief and far from comprehensive comments.
Portugal, quite rightly, focussed the European debate on growth and employment. If we are to gain the full benefit of the internal market, we must, in my opinion, intensify the economic aspects of the European Union. I am not referring to an economic government. Such a term only leads to confusion, and indeed who would wish to be governed solely by a government of Finance Ministers? Europe does, however, need more effective coordination of national economic policies, given also that we now have an independent single monetary policy.
It is not that we Socialists wish to see a policy of economic coordination against the central bank, but we do wish to see constructive dialogue between the decision makers in monetary policy and the decision makers in national economic policy, with each party, obviously, having to retain its own autonomy of action and decision making. This essential coordination is aimed at maximising the advantages to the Community of a common economic policy action. A few simple rules must be set within the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, but more especially within the Euro-11, requiring every Finance Minister to justify to his fellows the broad outlines of his draft budget or tax reform or any other national action likely to affect the European Union as a whole. This sort of coordination between national economic policies, which I would term ‘discretionary’, would make it possible to gradually direct national schemes towards jointly defined objectives.
The development of the internal market also necessitates new regulations in order to guarantee workers’ rights in the event of business mergers or buyouts, in order to avoid relocations for reasons of fiscal or social dumping and in order to guarantee basic public services for all sectors of the population, especially the most vulnerable.
Another major priority, as Portugal understood, is to strengthen the social rights of European citizens. A more open and more flexible economy requires new guarantees of security for workers, for example, the right to lifelong training. Any request for increased mobility or adaptability should necessarily be matched by seamless social cover throughout the territory of the European Union, as regards the transferability of pension rights, for example.
The Socialists expect the upcoming French Presidency to ensure that the draft social agenda makes rapid progress and is substantial in content.
Portugal has helped e-Europe to make progress. At the moment, information and communication technologies are crowned with all the virtues. The possibilities are apparently endless – communication without frontiers, democratic access to information, trade and communication – but the dream quickly comes up against the realities of the sociological and economic world. The phenomenal development of the Internet within our societies must not blind us to the fact that there is a digital divide and that the gap between info-rich and info-poor is increasing in developed countries and, more especially, in the third world.
Mr President, I would have so many more things to say but, unfortunately, my speaking time is running out: 240 seconds is really not very much at all. I should like to emphasise that Portugal and President Guterres’ entire team have deserved well of the European Union and that France now has the opportunity to prove that even a large country can complete a successful presidency."@en1
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