Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-13-Speech-1-104"
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"en.20060313.18.1-104"2
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".
Mr President, I wish to focus on the concept of direct state aid as a tool of regional development, to which Mr Hutchinson alludes in his report. It is a concept very closely allied to the idea of structural funds and regional cohesion and my country, the United Kingdom, is paying a heavy price within the EU as a result.
The rapporteur called for companies that have received public aid and have then relocated within the EU to be blocked from receiving state aid or structural funding for seven years. But what of respected companies that have applied quite properly for state aid, received no answer from the British Government due to delays from the Commission in giving the green light, and have then relocated to another part of the EU, which fits in better with Brussels’ idea of cohesion and is, therefore, completely free of the same obstructions?
In 2002 Peugeot asked the European Commission to approve a state aid package to build the new 207 model at Ryton in the English West Midlands. More than two years later, with still no answer forthcoming from the Commission, Peugeot gave up and announced that the 207 would be built in France and Slovakia. No doubt Brussels saw that as an economic mission accomplished. Meanwhile, Ryton faces an uncertain future. Once production ceases on the 206 model – built there so well and so competitively up until now – if this factory then closes after many years of production under various owners, I suppose one could describe that as a kind of relocation; but it is hardly Peugeot’s fault. Perhaps instead the Commission should be banned for seven years from pronouncing on state aid and from over-regulating the business sector. That would certainly be cheered in the English West Midlands, where skilled workers are suffering at the hands of EU economic policy.
Rubbing salt into its workforce’s wounds, we now have the news that Peugeot has reached an agreement with Kia Motors to build the 206 in Indonesia, along with unconfirmed reports that the 207 will be built there too. Nothing could better illustrate the illiteracy of EU economics. If we want an increase in employment we should strike the right balance between regulation and flexibility for business. Over-regulation creates artificial jobs, which are not economically justified."@en1
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