Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-06-Speech-4-077"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000706.5.4-077"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to start by congratulating Mrs Damião on the magnificent job she has done on this report. We were happy to contribute to this in committee, not only by giving the report our total support, but also by adding some amendments that were accepted in the final version.
We consider the approval of this report to be a significant event as we approach the summer recess, for four fundamental reasons.
Firstly, we think it is unacceptable that women should suffer social prejudice or discrimination because of pregnancy or maternity issues;
Secondly, because we must more vigorously tackle risks to the health of mother and child associated with working conditions;
Thirdly, the idea of reconciling personal and professional lives, the family and work, in modern society is becoming increasingly important to those of us concerned about people’s day-to-day lives. This is precisely one of those key areas in which a responsible approach to reconciling these interests is called for;
Fourthly, because maternity policies must be consistent with family and childbirth policies generally, particularly at a time when the crisis resulting from Europe’s ageing population is increasingly drawing Member States’ attention to this issue.
We shall also be discussing some of the amendments and our position will be based on the balance that we feel has been struck in the report. Nevertheless, we will not support all of the amendments, because we feel that this balance is actually preferable to some of the steps suggested in the amendments. We shall support the amendments suggested by our British Conservative colleagues, such as Mr Bushill-Matthews, who drew our attention to the issue of small- and medium-sized enterprises, which we feel must be taken into account when legislation is adopted, whether at Community or national level.
On the other hand, however, we hope that the British Conservatives will back the report, because although it is true that some of the Portuguese Presidency’s conclusions highlight this issue, I must emphasise that paragraph 36 of the final Feira Summit text stresses the importance of companies’ sense of social responsibility. For us Portuguese Christian-Democrats and Conservatives, this is a very important idea. We believe that companies also have a certain social responsibility, which they should build upon.
I would just like to add that we wish certain votes to be held separately, as a means of improving the report, some points in which strike us as rather obscure. We do not view pregnancy as a social resource and there is one other point on which we would like to see a separate vote in order to improve the report. Lastly, I would urge all Christian-Democrat Members to endorse this report by my Socialist colleague."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples