Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-09-Speech-3-075"

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"en.20050309.5.3-075"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in early February the Commission presented a revised version of the Lisbon strategy, which was approved one month later by the Member States. In spite of all the flowery language, however, there is no getting away from the fact that the Lisbon goals will not be achieved. The revised version of the Lisbon strategy sets fewer goals, while attempting to categorise these goals, and gives clear priority to economic growth and greater competitiveness. This is a good thing in itself, yet unfortunately this does not provide an answer to the contradiction inherent in the project, namely that the problems with which the European Union is struggling are due to the over-regulation of every area of economic activity. The impact of this over-regulation is quite simply devastating, and it leads to low – or, in some Member States, zero – GDP growth and high unemployment. The main problem Europe faces is the over-sized tax burden and excessive number of regulations with which the private sector and investors have to contend. Liberalisation in the sense of the four freedoms has always acted as the foundation of the Community, and care must therefore be taken to ensure that any legislation that is adopted serves to promote effective liberalisation and freedom instead of over-regulation. The Lisbon strategy also fails to mention a number of obvious problems that have arisen as a result of the EU’s enlargement to include ten new Member States. Such problems relate primarily to discrimination against workers from the new Member States on the labour markets of 12 of the old Member States. Such discrimination violates European principles and the concept of the four freedoms, and poses a major threat to the economic productivity of the European Union as a whole. Similarly, the Lisbon strategy does not mention the common agricultural policy in any detail, although this programme swallows up the most EU funding. This is another instance where double standards exist in the European Union; one rule applies to the old Member States, whose farmers receive full support, and another to the new Member States, whose farmers will not receive full support until 2013. The amount of money spent on this policy is also ridiculously large. In general terms, Europe needs less regulation, fewer grants and more freedom of movement for workers, services, firms, investments and capital. Thank you for your attention."@en1

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