Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-09-Speech-3-040"
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"en.20050309.5.3-040"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, where the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy and the conclusions to be drawn from it are concerned, the difference between the majority in this House and the group to which I belong is that the former, in principle, wants to carry on down the road we have already taken, that of supply-oriented economic policy with increased competition, whilst we say that that road is the wrong one.
We, in this House, do indeed agree on what the Lisbon strategy’s goals are, but we have quite different views as to the ways by which to reach them. The main task is to create jobs, and that is something I can do only if demand for products increases and business is obliged to invest in expansion and thereby meet the increased need. The facts ought to prompt even those whose economic thinking is of the most neoliberal kind to accept that, in the absence of demand, cutting taxes does nothing to create new jobs, but that, on the contrary, either the consequent rationalisation wipes them out or the increase in revenue is not reinvested, or alternatively, it finds its way, via taxation, into the state’s budget.
The Lisbon strategy must not be about competing for the biggest returns, but rather competing for highly skilled jobs, excellence in education and training, product quality, high environmental standards and a high level of consumer protection. That also means that the lower income groups – who, contrary to what is often asserted, are not saving more than they used to – must either have their wages increased or their taxes cut, all the more so as there is sufficient political room for manoeuvre, productivity having risen much faster than pay over recent years.
I might add that this is also reflected in the favourable foreign trade balance enjoyed by most of the European Union’s Member States, who, despite high social transfers, were able to offer products acceptable in global markets. Low-paid and part-time jobs do nothing to help do away with the scourge of unemployment. If we want to become the world’s strongest economic region by 2010, we must devote our attention primarily to welfare and the environment in the European Union, for that is the best way in which we can promote our economy."@en1
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