Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-28-Speech-3-163"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010228.9.3-163"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Gemelli, for his work in producing this report, on which all the groups have ultimately reached a consensus in committee, although, as has been said, this has not been easy.
This report deals with a field of action – globalisation – which is increasingly complex, especially when it comes to environmental problems and the problem of migratory flows, which is becoming more and more important in defining the European Union’s role in the world.
The Socialist Group has always argued that development policy should be an essential element of the external action of the European Union and its Member States. And this is for two fundamental reasons: firstly, because the underdevelopment in which at least 800 million people live strikes us as intrinsically perverse, socially unjust and economically inefficient. Secondly, because we believe that the principles of solidarity and cohesion on which the European Union is based must guide the management of globalisation, so that it may be sustainable. To this end, I recommend that anybody who is not convinced should read the latest essay by Susan George.
However, we do not support just any development policy. Commissioner, if the objective of development policy is to eliminate poverty, as you and the Council have stated on numerous occasions, you should not, in your preliminary draft budgets, take funds away from the least-developed countries for the benefit of other external commitments. If this means that you have to increase the ceiling of the Financial Perspective, then do so, and if you do not, then change your tune. If we follow the model of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD for the rationalisation of strategies to combat poverty, we will also have to follow the DAC on the structure of the budgets, so that we can assess the effectiveness of our policy in relation to our objectives. That is what Parliament approved and what we want to see.
If the Commission wants new forms of governance for Europe in which dialogue with civil society plays a fundamental role, we must help those organisations which are more representative in the development of the European Union. In summary, we cannot manage this policy in the erratic way that we are doing at the moment.
Mr Gemelli’s report is good. The Commission’s communication is also good although it suffers from a lack of specific points and quantifiable objectives, as the report says. Both documents are worthless if they are not applicable in practice. In the coming months various world conferences are going to take place and the debate will be reopened on the great development issues: the World Conference against Racism, the United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, and the first AIDS Conference. All of these issues affect our everyday policy. Racism, for example, is closely related to the problems of immigration, which in turn must be analysed from the point of view of the development of the countries of origin, and AIDS is closely related to the whole policy of patents and the pharmaceutical industry.
The Socialist Group of the European Parliament advocates the European Union’s active participation in these conferences and it is therefore necessary for European Community development policy to be effective, coherent and cohesive. We therefore hope that this report bears fruit."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples