Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-15-Speech-3-257"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001115.11.3-257"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, combating social exclusion is a political desideratum we can all support, but what is to be understood by social exclusion and how is it best to be combated? What must the EU’s role be? It is the answers to such questions that we shall find in this programme, designed to promote cooperation on the part of the Member States in combating social exclusion. The idea is that all interested and concerned parties should be involved in a type of work in which the individual countries describe the extent of social exclusion and their efforts to combat it. This will form the background against which we shall acquire a more common framework of understanding, for the concept of social exclusion is not so simple to define. When we think of the long-term unemployed – young as well as old – do we not think of physically or mentally handicapped people, of the mentally ill and of the poor and people with limited means? No doubt we each of us have our own particular ideas about what the concept should cover. What we lack is a common definition.
The Commission experimented with a definition in its consultation document for the Lisbon Summit, proceeding on the basis that the excluded are those who have an income of less than 60% of average earnings in the country concerned. The governments of the Member States did not accept this definition, which is also rather simplistic and unduly bland. We need a more detailed description of the problem areas. The very open approach adopted by the Council to the issue is, in my view, quite correct. There is a need to gather statistics, prepare analyses and, by means of conferences and other devices, create greater common appreciation of what we understand to mean by social exclusion. With regard to the actual report, Mrs Figueiredo wants to see the word ‘poverty’ introduced into the legislative text. This is something to which my group is generally opposed for technical reasons, namely the issue of what the basis would be in terms of the Treaties. We recognise, of course, that poverty is a source of social exclusion, as is also stated in the text. I believe we are all agreed about that. Parts of the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party also have reservations about increasing the appropriation and inserting a reference to the focus group into the legislative text, but we are otherwise able to support Mrs Figueiredo’s report."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples