Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-069"
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"en.20021009.6.3-069"2
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". – Mr President, may I start by saying how much I welcome the Commissioner's remarks, and also those of the Danish Presidency. The concept of putting employment in a central place in the Presidency programme is absolutely right and sets exactly the right tone and example not just for us but indeed for successive presidencies.
I am reminded that at the end of the debate in December on exactly this subject, Commissioner Liikanen accosted me just after he finished speaking and asked whether the Parliament agreed with winding up the JEV Programme, because this was what the Commission very much wanted to do. I told him that Parliament did indeed want to see the programme wound up. He said he was very relieved to hear that and would now get on with it.
So far, I have not seen much action in winding the programme up. The Commission needs to be much quicker and lighter on its feet on such issues, but then, so do we all.
I would like to make some general remarks and then touch on my report. Certainly it is fair to say that generally, Member States and this Parliament too often skate around the important issue of employment. There is much talk but little action and such action as there is often unhelpful. Certainly my own country sets a rather poor example in this respect. Last year 4 600 employment regulations were introduced. That is one every 26 minutes. That is hardly the way ahead.
But it is not enough for us to have separate programmes and projects, welcome as those may be. It is not enough just to set targets whether for young people, women, the long-term unemployed etc., and then sit back and watch. It is not enough to focus so firmly on job protection, trying to keep current jobs alive even when the market has moved on. We need to focus on job creation, which means liberating enterprise. We need to recognise that the greatest engine of employment growth in all our countries is the sector called 'small and medium-sized enterprises'. We must help them succeed and thrive and not hold them back. We need to realise that full employment helps create social inclusion and not the other way around.
The Lisbon Council said, and I repeated this in my report, that we need to encourage a regulatory climate which is conducive to investment, innovation and entrepreneurship in general. Two years on, we have simply added to the burdens on business, and high unemployment in continental Europe is our own fault.
I am heartened, however, by the lead that the Danish Presidency is trying to give and I would like to thank Minister Frederiksen in particular for a most helpful letter that he sent me on 18 September. I am sure he will not be embarrassed if I share with colleagues just one paragraph which is very pertinent to our topic of discussion today:
'My clear stand is that the European Union should only step in with legislation where there is an obvious need for such regulation and, in such cases, only to the necessary extent. There should be room for manoeuvre at the national level and if regulation is introduced it should, in my view, to the highest possible extent, be in the form of framework directives rather than detailed rules. There should also, wherever possible, be a freedom of choice as to the method of implementation as is, for instance, the case in connection with the open coordination method in the employment and social field. Finally I would like to emphasise that I also attach great importance to the principle of subsidiarity.'
Those are extremely wise words and we all look forward to them being translated into action. Similarly, the comments from Commissioner Prodi back in July saying that the intention was to simplify regulation by at least 25%, and to do that with all speed, is also to be welcomed. Again, we wish to see some flesh put on those particular commitments as soon as possible, preferably again under your leadership and presidency.
As far as the growth and employment initiative is concerned, I was delighted that this was approved unanimously in committee and that we had made some progress in becoming lighter on our feet. The first report on this multi-annual programme was in January 2001. The second year's report was made only 11 months later, and this year the report is actually in October. Next year I would like to make it earlier still, and I would look for the earliest possible feedback from the Commission to make this possible.
Specifically, however, I would like to point out how much I welcome the Commission's cooperation in providing information and updates at regular intervals. I welcome the progress that has been made and in particular the way that the programme has been managed and has developed. I would like to see some clear responses and some action regarding the proposals made by the Parliament both last year and indeed this time around. Very simply, I would like to see the next Commission report show that it has not only read Parliament's report but has actually responded to it. This means including a fuller analysis of certain aspects of the initiative and also the winding up of the Joint European Venture, the JEV Programme, in its current form."@en1
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