Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-03-Speech-2-340"
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"en.20020903.13.2-340"2
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"Mr President, I too should like to begin by congratulating Mrs Smet on having, as usual, done a sterling job. In my own country, Sweden, a national election campaign is under way right now. Those in Sweden who belong to the same political group as Mrs Smet usually maintain that the social agenda is not something for Europe but that social policy is a matter only for the individual Member States.
I usually put forward Mrs Smet’s view. Despite our belonging to different political groups, we are in complete agreement about the need for national social agendas. A European social agenda is also needed, however, as something which is becoming more and more important. Like Mr De Rossa, I approve of what happened in Lisbon. Incredible progress was made, and we succeeded in broadening and deepening the social agenda.
At the same time, I am rather uneasy about the signals which have been produced in the course of last year and which I see in terms of attempts to throw the Lisbon process off balance. The talk now is simply of companies and of competition between companies, and the social dimension is forgotten. It is therefore good that there are MEPs who wish to go beyond party boundaries in promoting the social aspects, and I wish again to congratulate both the Commission and Mrs Smet on their work.
I also share Mrs Smet’s views on the scoreboard, namely to the effect that it must be more forward-looking and strategic and be based upon the conclusions from the spring European Councils. I hope that the Commission too will take that view on board, as well as the open coordination method, which is something to which we have returned time and again. We have debated this on many occasions, and I am myself a proponent of the open coordination method. It has meant that we have been able to develop cooperation in new areas. If the open coordination method is to be successful in the long term, it must not however be applied behind closed doors. If the method is to be employed for a long time, it must be subject to democratic control and be debated both here in the European Parliament and in the national parliaments. We must hope that the Convention will get to grips with this issue so that the open coordination method is taken account of in the Treaties.
The social agenda is important in another perspective too, namely people’s willingness to take the EU project to heart. The social agenda concerns precisely those questions that people consider to be important – the fight against poverty, together with increased employment and a more just society – and that is why the social agenda is important."@en1
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