Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-15-Speech-4-014"
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"en.20030515.1.4-014"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, when introducing this report on the BEPGs, the rapporteur declared himself to be satisfied with the broad, almost unanimous consensus achieved within the Commission, and, I imagine, within Parliament. I can see why, but I believe that there lies the limit of our work and, ultimately, also one of the limitations of the BEPGs as such. It is easy to support the Lisbon objectives – who would not agree on these objectives – but what is difficult is to agree on the instruments. If you were members of a national parliament, Mr President, Mr Trentin, it would ultimately be a hard task to achieve consensus on the choices to be made and the positions to be adopted. I believe that this – but we know that now, it is an intrinsic problem
is the limitation of these major guidelines and the open coordination policies, particularly because I feel we need to have the courage to go further on some issues, making decisions rather than seeking the lowest common denominator of different positions held within Parliament and by the different Member States, and getting to the heart of the issues.
I want to mention three points, which I feel receive insufficient emphasis in both the BEPGs and the report. The first is pension provision. Let this be understood – and we must shout it out loud and clear – there are going to be generations of poor pensioners in Europe and we are not doing anything about it because we do not want, we are not strong enough or courageous enough to impose certain choices on those who stand to benefit from pension systems not changing in due time. We have systems which are financially unsustainable, whose treatment of the younger and future generations is wicked, and yet we cannot muster the political will to change the situation. The issue would cause a heated debate even in Parliament. We have witnessed the strike in Austria, we have witnessed the strike in France and there will soon be a strike in Italy. The
lobby upholding the interests of those seeking to prevent any changes in the field of pensions is powerful and active. I believe that the European Parliament’s documents and statements too must call strongly for protection of the interests of all, especially the youngest citizens.
In his report, which is, moreover, valuable, Mr García-Margallo calls for social dialogue. I believe that, where an issue such as pensions is concerned, what is needed is not dialogue but a social debate instead and, where necessary, a political debate too. The pensions dialogue with the people filling the squares in Vienna, Paris or Rome, where the people’s fear is exploited with demagogic proposals when they know full well that something needs to be done, is a sterile dialogue, a dialogue that can lead nowhere.
Another point: immigration. Although I can think of an amendment which I hope will not be supported by the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, I hope that the reference will be retained in the report to the important role played by immigrants and immigration in increasing the dynamism and flexibility of the European economy at precisely the time when, with enlargement, some of the larger countries are calling for the introduction of the free movement of workers to be postponed until 2011. The free movement of workers will contribute greatly to the dynamism of the European economy and the reference must be preserved.
I will end with one last point, Mr President: the Lisbon goals, making the European economy the most competitive knowledge-based economy. We must ask ourselves how that will be possible in countries such as the European countries which reject the cutting-edge technology of GMOs and stem cells."@en1
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