Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-25-Speech-3-074"
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"en.20040225.5.3-074"2
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"Mr President, I would like to say something about the Spring Summit, which we can expect to be a sobering experience, and the ambitious process that we initiated at Lisbon four years ago. The grave economic downturn in many Member States demands more effective action. There is a need for closer approximation between economic, employment and structural policies, without going as far as attempting to harmonise them. Cutbacks in the bureaucracy of the state, improved structures in financial markets and more investment – to which Members have already referred – can promote the creation of more and sustainable jobs, but there is, above all, a lack of coordinated cooperation in the area of lifelong learning and the introduction of European educational marketing. Studies in the EU have revealed that too many young people have been poorly educated. More support for human capital, though, makes them more employable, and so this is something that has to be addressed in schools, work-based training and in universities.
I also believe that social dialogue has to be stepped up. I regard it as a key element in handling changes in our society, and it is regrettable that, in many Member States, it tends to take place on the margins. The enlargement of the EU in the coming months means that we have to be consistent in pressing on with joint measures in employment and social policy, of which the European employment strategy was, and still is, one of the most successful features. I might add that the budgetary expenditure for these areas is minimal in comparison with the structural resources for enlargement. The Commission’s insistence on increasing contributions and hence the burden on net contributors can therefore only be repudiated. Both on the European and national level, we need something else, and that is iron discipline where spending is concerned. It follows from this that we cannot support the amendment in which the Socialists dare to warn of austerity budgets.
The last point I want to make is that nothing will come of any attempt at softening up the Stability and Growth Pact or at discrediting it as unworkable. This, Commissioner Solbes Mira, is where the Commission is absolutely right; the budgetary offenders must be brought before the European Court of Justice. That deserves every political support, for the one thing needed by our businesses, by their workers as well as their managers, is guaranteed and long-term stability."@en1
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