Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-14-Speech-2-037"
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"en.20041214.5.2-037"2
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"Mr President, in the introduction to your speech, Mr President of the Commission, you said that it was important to demonstrate that Europe could make a difference.
We share this aim, in particular as regards growth and employment, and, in order to restore confidence among the citizens of the European Union, the Union must clearly demonstrate its capacity to revive our economy. The debate will, of course, revolve around the strategy and the means for restoring our competitiveness. When you present your proposals in January, our group will be listening particularly attentively to your Commission’s choice of economic strategy. In this context, a number of speeches have referred to a link between the economic dimension, the social dimension and the environment, which is, I believe, no more than rhetoric and masks a real difference in approach.
In our view, it is the Lisbon strategy that represents the path to follow. You mentioned the objective of a competitive, knowledge-based economy and we go along with that. We believe that, in choosing an economic strategy, we are choosing a social model and if we choose an economic strategy that is only based on liberalisation, this will be at the expense of the social model. We do not subscribe to the idea that the social aspect will simply follow on later.
I shall naturally refer to the example of the directive on services. If the price to be paid for developing the internal market in services is that our social services – our health services – are to be deregulated, that a number of services of general interest are to be put at risk and that employment law is under threat as a result of the country of origin rule, then I do not believe the return of competitiveness will in itself allow us to retain elements of the European social model.
The Clinton years in the United States showed that it is possible to have economic growth rightly based on investment in the knowledge economy and in new technologies, but without pulling the social model up with it, since the President did not, at that time, have a majority in Congress or political support for the implementation of a social policy that would provide for such a balance. We believe, on the contrary, that investment in social aspects, investment in public services and infrastructure and high environmental standards can be factors of production and competitiveness and can contribute towards success in international competition from the European Union’s point of view.
We are therefore serious about this interdependence of the economy, social aspects and the environment. We could give examples of this and we shall do so in the dialogue with you in January. The need to increase the employment rate and the rate of labour participation will accordingly be among the subjects raised. Let us look at the sections of society worst affected. Women constitute one such category. It is in those countries that have invested in public amenities, such as crèches and in training that the employment rate among women tends to be higher. .
We could also mention other vulnerable sections of society, such as the many children from disadvantaged, in particular immigrant, backgrounds, who not only face racism and discrimination but also suffer from gaps in their education. What must also be borne in mind is the need to reduce frictional unemployment and the fact that there have been a number of successes, for example in the Scandinavian countries, achieved thanks to investment in training.
I also believe that you will have to prove that you are capable of improving the quality of social dialogue, which will ensure greater involvement among employees in their companies’ development. Against this backdrop, we also await an initiative with regard to the revision of the directive on European works councils, which is now experiencing enormous delays compared to the other directives on information and consultation."@en1
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