Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-17-Speech-3-060"
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".
Mr President, during the debate it was said that to talk about there being no alternative to the Lisbon Strategy was questionable, but that reflects an incorrect perception of what it is really about. It is not a simple and easy fix that drew us to defining this position in Lisbon, it is a more complex and broadly defined strategy. It is not an
list, available for selective political shopping, but one balanced menu. Of course it is complex, and that is why we needed to re-evaluate where we are and how we can improve performance. If we did not have it at all, we would have to invent it.
On the issue of the readmission problem I would also say that confidence-building is necessary. It is not just about telling our neighbours and some developing countries far away from here that they have to take back refused asylum seekers from their own country or maybe their neighbouring country. We have to consider Europe's image in this. We have to offer some burden-sharing when we do these things. We must make it clear that we should not fund these activities with money earmarked for development cooperation. We have to talk about additionality, because we are adding to the list of things to do.
This is the last time I will address this House. I want, on a personal note, to thank you for five very good years, both on the level of the results we have achieved together and on a personal level.
Thank you, and good luck.
One aspect links the challenge of the ageing population in Europe with the challenge of increasing competitiveness. In a broad sense, that aspect is education. In my view, we are not entitled to life-long earning without life-long learning and this has to be very broadly defined. It is not just about elevating the elite in Europe, it is also important to look at the broader definition of education for the labour market. Here, the challenge for Europe to improve its competitiveness is not to say 'work harder' but to say 'work smarter'. This is the only way forward and is also why increasing the focus on education is essential.
Money is also essential. One per cent is not enough! It does not make sense to talk about ambition and to define and identify with the ambition of Lisbon without doing something to the budget. This is not just about the Community budget, but it does include it. We cannot have a credible ambition for Europe without a credible budget for Europe.
Mr Titley suggested a scoreboard to show the performance of Member States' implementation efforts. I see the Kok report as an initial step along those lines. I am totally convinced that President Barroso and the incoming Commission will do its utmost in this respect.
Mr Harbour mentioned the need for the Commission to reduce red tape and to simplify procedures. An important point on the European agenda should be to look again at the existing
of directives and find out whether they could be simplified by transforming them and clarifying things to have more regulations and fewer directives. This would make it easier for economic players in Europe to find out what the existing legal situation is by reading it in a regulation instead of having to find out how directives have been implemented in all the different Member States.
To mention just one example, the Prodi Commission has reduced the different ways of tendering from 48 to 8. This is not the answer to all the problems and I would say that the Financial Regulation is still a monster. We have not reached the point of simplification that we had hoped for. One reason for this is that in reacting to the problems of the previous Commission, we perhaps added too many layers of futile
controls. I hope the Commission and Parliament will continue to look at the Financial Regulation. Confidence-building between our European institutions is necessary, but it is now necessary to build self-confidence. We can do better.
Let me turn now to some final remarks on external relations. I add my voice to the sympathy being expressed to the family of the aid worker, Margaret Hassan, particularly because we in the Commission have been funding her work and the work of her organisation in Iraq over many years.
It seems to be perpetually necessary to remind the strongest power in the world about the need to respect international humanitarian law. I was totally shocked to learn the other day that Red Crescent aid workers were not given access to Fallujah by the United States Army there. This is very, very bad and the international community – if we have one – should react very strongly against this type of behaviour. We, as Europeans, cannot create a credible basis for our relationship with an emerging democratic Iraq if we do not invest and do not clarify that it is possible for our views to differ from those of others on some points."@en1
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