Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-190"
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"en.20020410.6.3-190"2
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"Mr President, I too would like to congratulate Mr Fatuzzo on a report on which he has certainly worked with passion and on his devotion to the subject over many years.
The report certainly has good points. For instance, I especially welcome the emphasis placed on the link between the labour market and social protection. As long as rigid labour markets prevail in Europe, as long as employment rates, particularly among the youngest and oldest members of the active population, are prevented by corporate and protectionist policies from rising above their current low levels, as long as the labour market is organised in this way, it will be difficult or even impossible to guarantee to today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners conditions which are both dignified and sustainable in the medium and long term.
I feel, however, that certain points need further emphasis. The issue of pensions is not an easy question to deal with, and it is not one that can be resolved without cost. There are legitimate, quite specific interests involved. There are interests that are protected and interests that are not. On the one hand, we have powerful lobbies – and quite rightly so – including politicians and pensioners who vote, who belong to trade unions, and on the other, we have a lobby which has absolutely no power at all because it does not vote and does not belong to a trade union, namely the younger generations. I feel that the arguments surrounding the issue of pensions are first and foremost – for that is how things are – representative of a battle of interests between generations. At this stage, it is the poorly represented younger generations who are losing the battle, and who should be represented differently in Parliament and, I feel, in this report.
The labour market and pension reforms were intended to avoid the explosion of this intergenerational dispute. There are few guidelines to be followed for the reforms that are necessary, the first certainly being the need to raise the retirement age limit. We are familiar with population trends, life expectancies and the quality of life of elderly people, and so we must not continue to work with pension parameters that were appropriate maybe thirty or forty years ago.
In conclusion, Mr President, we need to eliminate corporate privileges and make increasing use of second- and third-tier funded schemes, leaving public welfare expenditure with the sole task of guaranteeing the minimum level. All the rest must be entrusted to funding mechanisms."@en1
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