Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-02-Speech-2-019"
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"en.20030902.1.2-019"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, both reports focus on cohesion in Europe. In particular, they refer to structural issues that could foster such cohesion.
The reports refer to a geographical dimension that relates to mountains and islands, and also to a social dimension. The latter represents a new approach, and relates mainly to depopulation. We would suggest that another new Europe-wide phenomenon should be taken into account also. I refer to the ageing of the population and the shortage of productive members of the labour force required to develop the economy. This has been noted in all the inland regions of Europe. It is especially true of areas like my constituency. I represent Aragon in Spain. Two-thirds of the population of Aragon live in a single city. The region extends over 47 000 square kilometres and the whole of the interior is becoming depopulated. The problem is not a lack of employment opportunities or a shortage of work. It is that nobody wants to go there to work. Ladies and gentlemen, I urge you to consider how to overcome that obstacle. This really is a structural problem, because it is a question of attitude. People simply do not wish to go and work in inland regions.
Yesterday Commissioner Barnier outlined the difficulties facing Portugal. What were the individuals affected by the problems resulting from the fires and the heat wave to do? Where were they to seek employment, in the large cities, on the coast? Are we to plan for a coastal Europe, a Europe of large cities? Or should we be aiming at a balanced Europe? We believe it is time to bring a new factor into the equation, namely the ageing of the population. Furthermore, such ageing is inevitable. It is also important to tackle the shortage of productive members of the labour force and the difficulty of persuading people to seek employment in certain areas."@en1
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