Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-22-Speech-4-029"
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"en.20040422.2.4-029"2
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"Madam President, I would like to confine my remarks to the Hermange report, and start by saying this is not the speech that I had intended to make. I had hoped to be in a position to congratulate the rapporteur on her excellent report. It was an excellent report but by the time it came out of our committee earlier this week a lot of the more excellent parts of it were unfortunately removed. What is left is still very useful, very positive, but it is a pale shadow of the excellent and very thorough work that she had put in.
Unfortunately her amendments were voted out by the PSE Group who were there in strength on Monday. Unfortunately, apart from herself and one other Group Vice President from the PPE-DE Group, I was the only representative of our Group there.
I have no quibble with the Socialists for what they did in pursuing their agenda. They happen to believe they are right in saying there should be no legislative changes and I am not going to debate that particular point now. I congratulate them for their single-mindedness and the efficiency with which they pursued it. However, I do say to our colleagues, particularly our absent colleagues from this side of the House, that if we care about employment, as we do; if we care about unemployment, as we do; if we care about the social injustice that flows from unemployment, as we do; then we must be prepared to make this area a priority.
Although there is work simultaneously in other Committees, we have to make certain that we can stand up to be counted, so that our view may prevail in these meetings and so that we can drive change. Change is important on the issues of employment guidelines; I was delighted that the Commissioner again reinforced the importance of the Lisbon Agenda, to which all sides of the House have agreed.
However, if we are to deliver the Lisbon Agenda, it is not good enough simply to say that the guidelines will not change before 2006. Similarly, it is not good enough to say it is entirely up to Member States to make changes and implement the guidelines. The guidelines need to be strengthened and refocused and there is a lot of work both to do and to undo in this House in order to give more impetus to the Lisbon process.
Finally, I would like to thank Stephen Hughes for saying that he is in full agreement of an oral amendment, which I believe the rapporteur will also support, concerning the importance of elderly people, which I will be proposing later this morning. I am delighted to have that agreement; I hope that augurs well for our relationship in the coming mandate. I know that Stephen Hughes hopes to be back; I also hope to be back, but next time with more support."@en1
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