Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-21-Speech-1-114"
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"en.20050221.14.1-114"2
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"Mr President, it goes without saying that I agree with practically nothing the previous Member said and, like many Members of this House, I attended the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. At this point, it is not a question of competing to see who is in the best position to combat poverty, but of seeing things as they are.
On the one hand, the World Social Forum was an enormous success this year – 155 000 participants, 135 countries; that is considerable – and it has taken on a new tone since, on a certain number of issues – social, environmental, economic, financial – many networks have continued to be put in place and have done extremely serious work, in an extremely concrete manner, in order, specifically, to produce a number of proposals which have yet to be developed, but which are very real.
On the other hand, the World Social Forum does not just consist of NGOs, it also includes parliamentarians – the Parliamentarians’ Forum – and local elected representatives, of which there were also many this year, who have discussed district and local authority policies in response to the challenges we are facing. Very dynamic, enthusiastic and hard-working young people are also extremely well represented, and I do not believe we can casually sweep aside such dynamism and vitality.
In reality, the World Social Forum has two aims. Firstly, to explain that free trade cannot provide a response to the increasing social inequalities. They are not increasing because of a scourge which has merely come out of the blue, but rather because the policies being implemented over recent years in the fields of structural adjustment and of reducing public spending have led to increasing inequalities and poverty and to increased deterioration of the environment and of the planet as a whole.
The second aim is to propose an alternative to the current development model and reject the presentation of world free trade as a panacea and a miracle cure for everything. It is clearly not these things. All the bodies of the United Nations indicate that the situation is deteriorating today.
Finally, whether we are talking about Porto Alegre or Davos, what we need is practical action. We must no longer be content with words, images and positions adopted. We need very practical and precise commitments, a work plan. Mr President of the Commission, that is something else we expect from you who are, together with the Commission – and with us all – in a position to take decisions: not just good intentions or Millennium objectives, but also extremely specific proposals."@en1
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