Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-174"
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"en.20030114.5.2-174"2
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".
Mr President, after Prime Minister Simitis’ exhaustive reply, I wish only to add a brief comment and response in order not to prolong your suffering.
The first question concerns the proposal to create a worldwide Socrates programme. I believe that this is the way to go. We have already created an Erasmus World based on the same criteria, save that the financing is such as to restrict us to minor projects. Let this be clear: if Europe does not undertake a major common research programme to bring back the drained brains from abroad, to make the most of our young people, to create a breeding ground for scientific and cultural knowledge, then we are lost. You all know that I never exaggerate. I can assure you: we are lost. We, with our costs, with our social structure, with our diversities – if we do not take a great leap forward we will be lost. I will give you just one example, by way of a practical illustration. At present, it costs three times as much to transport a container from China to Amsterdam as it does to transport a container from Amsterdam to China. Such are the market forces on both sides. I can give you another figure. In the past month, there have been 8 million new subscribers to mobile telephone networks in China – in one month. Do we really think we can tackle this world with our research sector in such a fragmented state, without entering the technology race, without being at the forefront of innovation? We are deluding ourselves.
My response to the second question is this. We have been accused of not mentioning the benefits of the internal markets. No: these are the basis of all the measures we will take this year. I would merely point out that so great is the importance of the internal market that, if we were to analyse the sectors which have been affected by inflation in recent months, entering the great, heated debate on the euro, we would find that, where the internal market has been implemented, there has not been any inflation and where there have been delays in implementing the internal market there has been inflation. Suffice it to say that our future depends on the competition the internal market can bring."@en1
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