Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-26-Speech-3-179"
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"en.20051026.17.3-179"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I agree with the contents of Mr Blair’s speech about tomorrow’s summit, but I would ask the Council to pay particular attention to one key issue, already central to both Mr Blair’s and Mr Barroso’s speeches: the extent to which the Union’s economy will suffer because of our society’s ageing population. The demographic rate and working population of Europe are falling in an alarming way and, according to figures published only yesterday by Eurostat, the only way to overcome this deficit is through immigration.
The birth rate of 1.5 children per couple is well below the natural replacement level of two children for two parents. The working population in 2020 will be 20.7% less than in 1980, which is the equivalent of 20 million fewer workers. The population of Europe is growing older: in 2020 there will be 19.1% more elderly people than in 1980. All that has a negative effect not only on health, pensions and public finances, but also on the prospects of growth in Europe, because we are losing dynamism.
The reasons are many, but among them surely is the failure to safeguard and promote the family, the fundamental building block of society and a fundamental value of European civilisation. We are finding out that disregarding our values has not only a social, but also an extremely negative, economic impact. Such conditions would appear to make the Lisbon objectives difficult to achieve.
What, then, should we do? We need to return to the values that inspired the founding fathers of Europe to realise a dream that is in danger of being shattered just as it is about to come true. That is why, if we truly wish to create a new European social model, each institution must rely on the central importance of the individual. This social model should take as its inspiration the principles of the social market economy in which competitiveness, competition and the role of free initiative and of entrepreneurialism as a whole should have as their main aims full employment and the welfare of society.
Much must be done to create balanced growth, including the need to review – and I agree with Mr Blair here – our energy choices, and to devise financial and project instruments. In the coming weeks, the Council, the Commission and Parliament will have to face difficult issues: the liberalisation of services, the Financial Perspective and agriculture. If they set out, however, without a strategic plan based on the values on which our society is founded, then all their efforts will be in vain. Mr Blair is right when he says that we have a great legacy to uphold. Let us do so in a way that does not destroy it."@en1
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