Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-14-Speech-2-031"
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, restructuring is essential, as it will allow the economy to develop, shedding the less productive activities and becoming stronger in key areas. It is, however, usually the case that the new jobs are not the same as the jobs that have been lost. The greatest number will be in services and in the most skilled professions. Industrial and less skilled jobs will disappear. This will involve social costs, and it is therefore essential to anticipate restructuring and to ensure that accompanying measures are in place, which is the shared responsibility of public authorities, firms and social partners. The communication on restructuring of 31 March 2005 was drafted precisely with this in mind. The Commission is grateful to Mr Cottigny and to all of the Members who contributed to the drafting of the report, which in principle supports the general consensus that has emerged on addressing the issue of restructuring.
The Commission is pleased that Parliament supports the provision of significant funding from the European Union for the purposes of anticipating restructuring and ensuring that the accompanying measures are in place. Greater use must be made of the Structural Funds to support economic and social change in the regions and to retrain the workers most affected by restructuring so as to help them secure new and better jobs. In addition to this, the Commission recently adopted a proposal to create a European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which has already been put before you. The aim of this Fund is to ensure the necessary level of solidarity in the future between those who benefit from trade liberalisation and those who will lose their jobs as a result of globalisation.
The Commission notes a number of interesting points in Mr Cottigny’s report, which it will pursue further. These include the idea of a European one-stop shop for restructuring, which I consider to be particularly interesting. As for improved monitoring of the way that Community funds are used, the Commission has proposed for the period 2007-2013 that Community funds tighten regulations on company relocations and broaden the responsibility for securing a return on investments. The Commission is also proposing that firms which infringe these regulations be obliged to return the aid they have received and that they be barred from receiving any aid in the future.
If we wish to pursue a positive and constructive approach to economic and social change, the involvement of the public authorities is essential, on European, national and regional levels. At the same time, restructuring must principally involve those who are carrying it out and who will have to live with its consequences, that is to say firms and employees. It is precisely for this reason that last year’s communication focused also on the European social partners, calling on them to continue in the joint task of drawing up and implementing preventative and positive procedures on restructuring. The Commission has also called on the partners to find ways of strengthening the role of European works councils. The programme of work for future years, which has recently received the backing of the European partners, provides for continuing work on both of these issues. The Commission calls on the social partners to speed up the delivery of results in this area.
Ladies and gentlemen, restructuring must not become a synonym for social decline and the loss of economic substance. It can also contribute to economic and social progress, provided it has been anticipated in time so that firms are able to manage it rapidly and efficiently, and public authorities are able to contribute with appropriate accompanying measures. I am delighted to find this view expressed in the introduction to the report from the European Parliament, and it must be our guide on the path to growth, social cohesion and higher standards of living."@en1
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