Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-159"
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"en.20051116.16.3-159"2
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Mr President, I would like to deal with two specific points and then comment more widely on the debate. Mrs Riis-Jørgensen asked me about the Court of Auditors and she asked for a yes or no answer. My apologies, but I have to give a yes and a no because this matter is in the hands of finance ministers, and you know what they are like! The answer is that the Ecofin Council on 8 November adopted conclusions listing a range of actions for both the Commission and Member States. They talked about a roadmap which they said was vital, not least because it focuses greater attention on Member States’ responsibility to improve their systems of auditing and to take responsibility for the money spent in their countries. My judgement is that where Member States have control of the money, they ought properly to account for it as well. If they do not have control of it then the European Union will have to account for it, but I am with you on encouraging our finance ministers to get a grip on this. Nevertheless, this is the responsibility of the Commission and of this Parliament together. We all have responsibility for this.
I agree that we have all got to pay our way for enlargement. With any, even the most minimal, change to the financial perspective, or no change at all, the United Kingdom would be paying another EUR 11 billion – getting on for another third more – towards the next financial perspective to pay for enlargement.
The issue is not whether the United Kingdom or the better off countries pay a bit more for enlargement – though some better off countries would not pay anything extra – but of how much more one pays in a context in which the United Kingdom has, over the last 20 years, paid 2.5 times the equivalent of say France or Italy, notwithstanding the fact that our GNIs have been equivalent over that period. That is the problem. We are working through it. We see our responsibility as being to the Union as well as to our publics. No one can accuse my Prime Minister of not being courageous or of not being very committed to this Union, as we have done a great deal. I just wanted to make that clear so that everyone understands the difficulties we all face.
The last thing point I wish to make, on a more hopeful tack, is that President Barroso spoke very eloquently about the fact that the European Union has to do less in some areas and more in others, and I think that is exactly the right way of looking at things. This is not about a minimalist Europe, because Europe’s achievements have been astonishing over the last 60 years when one recalls the condition of conflict which had characterised Europe for three centuries prior to that. When I look around other areas of conflict today, particularly the Middle East, with horror, it reminds me of the Britain that I grew up in as a young child just after the war and of the even worse conditions that existed on the Continent. That is the European Union’s achievement. What we have to do for the future, however, is to build on that achievement and recognise that the challenges are a little different.
One of the areas in which we can do the greatest good, and are doing so with the great leadership of Javier Solana and the Commission, is in the field of foreign, defence and security policy. Take what was agreed yesterday by Condoleezza Rice and Javier Solana. Take the fact that the European Union is now the third party in that agreement to allow Palestinians to travel in and out of Gaza and the West Bank. We were not always regarded by the government of Israel as the third party in such matters. Take what we are doing together with respect to Iran, take the joint declaration we have just agreed with Afghanistan and take the tangible increase in aid of Africa. It is here that we can see real progress being made by Europe collectively. It is in this area, as well as in many others, that we need to do more, and at the same time rebalance what the Union does compared to what national, regional and local government does in respect of domestic policy.
This Presidency has been a great privilege for us, Mr President. I have certainly enjoyed it, and I look forward to another six weeks of interesting times here in Strasbourg, Brussels and in other cities.
On the issue of transparency, which Mr Kirkhope raised with me, we will shortly be circulating an options paper with ideas for improving transparency, and essentially will be putting two options before the Council. It will be up to the Council to take a decision on the basis of a simple majority, as with all procedural issues, so I am glad to be able to satisfy you in this respect, Mr Kirkhope, if not in any others.
Colleagues here have been very frank, so I will be frank in return. My problem with what a number of colleagues have said is that people refer to the need for change and then say that the future for the European Union nevertheless lies in the past. All I can say to colleagues here is that globalisation is a fact of life. The French, my comrade friend, may not like it, but we either have to deal with it or it will engulf all of us. I did not invent it, President Barroso did not invent it and nor indeed did President Chirac, but it is a fact of life. It has come about as a result of other policies that we have pursued over many years, namely to build up the World Trade Organization, to encourage free trade and to lift countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America out of poverty, meaning that they now want to share in trade and they want to work to their competitive advantage, just as we have done in the past. That means that the old European economic and social model will not work to deliver prosperity, social justice and jobs in the way it used to. This is a big challenge, especially, if I may say so, for the country you represent, and for a number of others on the continent. However, I simply do not understand why you continue to clutch at old methods, such as inflexible methods of labour regulation, including the Working Time Directive, which may have worked in the past but which cannot work for the future.
France is a country which knows that, and it is for that reason there is a higher level of evasion in France than in other countries. France is one of those countries which goes in for saying, as we understand it, that people can be assessed on whether they work 48 hours a contract rather than 48 hours an employer. We do not want to be lectured about our employment practices when we enforce the law, even if it is inconvenient, by countries which bang the drum for enforcement and then go through the back door to ensure that the law is not enforced. This is a fact, and this Parliament undermines confidence in its own measures if it turns a blind eye to what is going on when everyone knows that this has happened.
Moreover, it is better to be flexible. There is no European-wide requirement to set a minimum wage, which in my view is a fundamental human right. There is no requirement on it, however, and it is left to national governments. Some countries have a minimum wage and some do not, so why should there be a
requirement across Europe regardless of national circumstances and the nature of employment contracts, to set limits on working hours when the test for that ought to be health and safety? The countries that apparently have slightly longer hours actually have a better health and safety record than some other countries, including, my friend, your own.
Turning to the important issue of the budget, I listened very carefully to President Barroso’s speech. He said that the defining issue of the British Presidency will be the financial perspective, which is a test of whether Europe is on the move. It certainly is a test of whether Europe is on the move, but we do not regard it as the defining issue. If you asked me to bet on what historians will judge to be the defining issue of this Presidency in ten or twenty years’ time, I would not bet on it being whether or not we reached agreement on the financial perspective in December, although I hope we do. I think it will be judged on the fact that on 3 October we agreed to start negotiations with Croatia and Turkey. That is what will help to shape Europe for the future. I would remind colleagues that the last financial perspective was not agreed until the equivalent of the March Council 2006, rather than the December Council 2005.
We very much hope that we can reach agreement, but it is going to be difficult. Why? Well, Mr Jonckheer spoke of not allowing this issue to be dominated by national egos. I agree with that but would say to colleagues – and they know this to be true – that this debate is bound to be dominated by the different national perspectives and by whether a country has traditionally been a high contributor or a net recipient of funds from the European Union. That is a fact. If one ignores that or abuses those of us – including Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and a number of other Member States whose citizens have real concerns about the amount they have paid in the past and the amount they will pay in the future – by saying that this is all about national egotism, we will not get anywhere.
I would remind those colleagues from Belgium that their country has been a net recipient, despite the fact that it is a wealthy country, and will continue to be so under any of the exemplifications of the budget between 2006, 2007 and 2013. Luxembourg – a country that I like very much – is the richest country in Europe but will continue to be a net beneficiary. If we were in that happy position we would be saying to the Presidency: ‘Come on, do a deal’. If the only issue was whether we ended up with EUR 3 billion or EUR 6 billion in our pockets, that would be easy.
The problem, however, for a number of Member States – and not just the United Kingdom – is that we have historically been very high contributors. I am just saying this so that colleagues can understand the problem we have within the United Kingdom. We might as well lay our cards on the table and be frank. The problem is that over the latest financial perspective the UK has paid EUR 39 billion, France has paid EUR 28 billion, Italy has paid EUR 24 billion and Germany has paid EUR 77 billion, which is another extreme. However, the UK has still paid EUR 39 billion, which in population terms is much more than those other two countries. Spain has benefited by EUR 48 billion and Portugal by EUR 14 billion, so that puts a different perspective on things."@en1
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