Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-15-Speech-3-260"
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"en.20001115.11.3-260"2
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"Mr President, in this Chamber we never cease to sing the praises of the European Social Model, the social market economy, which many feel with pride compares very favourably with the primitive model of the United States of America. However, the figures on poverty in Europe, upon which our report is based and which have been mentioned today – the 18% poverty line – are evidence of a situation which is anything but exciting. The main problem is still understanding what it is that is not working in the economies and societies of the European countries and which reforms should be carried out in order to reduce substantially the zones of poverty and social exclusion burdening many areas of the Union.
What proposals does the decision under consideration make? To guarantee rights, to establish coordination, to create committees to study the situation and draw up action plans to combat social exclusion, to promote dialogue between the parties concerned and to create NGO networks at European level, and for this we will appropriate EUR 70 million or maybe EUR 100 million. Now, I am not questioning the good intentions behind this decision, but I am concerned at the results to be expected from this five-year plan. At the end of the day, we will in all probability, be more familiar with the statistics of social exclusion and poverty – which is a good thing – and we will have guaranteed operations to assist some tens of thousands of people in Europe – which is also no bad thing – but we will not have made any progress towards structural reforms which could have convincingly reduced poverty and exclusion.
The report stresses two points: unemployment and the extremely low pension levels for certain categories. It is certainly true that these are two factors which lead to exclusion and poverty, but we must treat the disease rather than the symptoms. If we want there to be more jobs, we must have the courage to liberalise the labour market. Where this has been achieved, even in Europe, unemployment has fallen convincingly. In the United States, a more flexible labour market means that periods of poverty and unemployment are only very short. If we want to find the resources to give to the pensioners with the most paltry pensions, we must have the courage to admit that we need to stop people retiring at 50 years old and, in all probability, create a completely new social security system.
If we do not reform the labour and welfare markets, re-establishing them on the basis of individual freedom and responsibility rather than on State and trade union paternalism, then I am afraid that our committees and our efforts at coordination will do very little for the poor of the European Union."@en1
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