Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-22-Speech-2-043"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050222.4.2-043"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time we have ever been faced with a situation in which a majority of Member States, or in other words 13 out of 25, are outside the euro zone instead of within it. Interest rates in Europe are also at their lowest levels since the Second World War, and yet this is not acting as any kind of incentive to investment. We need to recognise the fact that the eurozone is experiencing slow economic growth. We already know that domestic consumption will remain low for the next two years, and this is true for the EU as a whole. At the same time, since enlargement there has been a significant rise in the economic aspirations of citizens, and in particular of those in the new EU Member States, such as my country, Poland. These aspirations are at odds with a poor economic situation in which it is impossible to meet consumers’ expectations. In political terms this may result in a rise in Euroscepticism over time, and indeed this is made all the more likely by the fact that all projections, including those quoted in the Goebbels report, suggest that unemployment levels will remain high in the immediate future.
EU citizens expect the real economic growth they have repeatedly been promised in recent years, for example at EU summits. Yet they also expect justice and equal treatment for all Member States. By condoning large budget deficits in countries such as Germany or France, but coming down heavily on other weaker and poorer countries if they dare to have a deficit, the EU is putting into practice an idea familiar to us from Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, namely that all men are equal, but some are more equal than others. This does nothing to bolster the EU’s authority in the eyes of the other Member States. In short, it is a scandal."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples