Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-035"
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"en.20040331.1.3-035"2
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"Mr President, the intention has always been for the spring European Council each year to be devoted to economic and social affairs, growth and development. There was very little of that this year. I admit that there were subjects to discuss that were important in themselves, but I wish to object to the almost total disregard for economic and social development. The Lisbon process is not at all functioning as intended, and the problems are great. Unemployment is high, investment is not what it could be, and so on and so forth.
Vigorous policy efforts in the Member States would of course be required, as it is there that economic policy must be given tangible form. Instead, the only guidelines originating from Europe that carry real weight are found in the Stability and Growth Pact, which does the opposite and puts them in a straitjacket. I fully share Mr Prodi’s view that the Stability and Growth Pact is idiotic. It is high time that we did something about it and made economic development in Europe rather more dynamic.
Nor is the social aspect of the Lisbon process functioning as it should. Everyone is talking about lifelong learning, but in reality the Member States are investing nothing at all in education; on the contrary, they are making cutbacks. Something should really be done, and the electorate is reacting. In both Germany and France, we are seeing how the electorate is protesting against an economic and social policy that is now being left to its own devices."@en1
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