Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-055"
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"en.20010214.3.3-055"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, my speech will concentrate on the Commission report on the Lisbon European Council. I believe that it is an interesting report and the comments that I shall make are intended to suggest a few improvements to the Commission. It is what is called constructive criticism.
My first point concerns the content of the report. I am extremely surprised that no reference is made to the marked disparities between countries and regions of the European Community with regard to the information society. It is a fact that the European Union is made up of geographical subdivisions which differ greatly from one another. The situation of the Scandinavian countries is quite different from that of the countries of southern Europe, and account should be taken of this in order to refine this analysis.
My second point is that the Commission quite rightly talks of an integrated response. I would like to make some suggestions regarding three broad areas to make this integration operate more smoothly.
First of all, with regard to sustainable development, it is vital that the Commission recognise that the Lisbon process lacks an environmental dimension. We must ensure that the Gothenburg report rearranges the order of Lisbon’s priorities. To give a practical example of this, in terms of energy and transport, it is not sufficient to say that liberalisation will enable us to lower prices, and, consequently, consumers and businesses will have greater access. We also need indicators showing the increase in public transport or the growth of truck-on-train technology. The issue of indicators will emerge and that is why we tabled a number of amendments to the Bullmann report.
Similarly, it is not enough for the Commission to say that it has made a statement on services of general interest. Parliament is currently considering this issue. Initiatives must be taken to limit the extent to which competition is introduced into various sectors.
Secondly, there is the role of education and training. You start off by making a fundamental observation about the general lack of training. The Commission should look into two issues more closely. On the one hand, the issue of balancing work, training and leisure time. Why not have a framework directive, or at least a Commission recommendation, to enable workers and citizens in general to benefit from the different patterns of training, work and leisure? On the other hand, there is the issue of public and private funding of this training, the problem of the responsibility of businesses, including for the training of their workers, which raises the question whether public money is well spent.
Thirdly, I believe that it would be a good idea if the Commission statement followed the example of the report on economic and social cohesion, in which Mr Barnier discussed European Union enlargement. Clearly, many of the priorities set out in the Commission statement should be reworded, in view of the European Union’s enlargement, for example, with regard to the labour market – where issues such as health and safety will become fundamental – social exclusion and social protection. This cannot be related to the issue of an ageing population, but simply to the creation of a whole new branch of social security, as the latest report from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has just reminded us once again.
These are a few suggestions, Commissioner. I hope that they will be taken into consideration in the Commission’s next reports, particularly with regard to integration, sustainable development and the knowledge-based society."@en1
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