Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-20-Speech-2-024"
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"en.20060620.6.2-024"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Mr President of the Council, I too am grateful for the strong presence of the Austrian Presidency here in the European Parliament and for the good cooperation with you, your colleagues in government and all those involved. I should particularly like to single out Secretary-of-State Winkler. He has not just been a man for all seasons, but also a man for all times of the day and night – particularly for the late-night sittings here in the European Parliament.
On the Austrian Presidency's balance sheet, the social aspect is, for me, obviously in the foreground. On the assets side, the conclusion of the Services Directive is certainly a major plus point to which the European Parliament, as has repeatedly been stressed, also made an important contribution. I think, however, that there are also some minus points to be seen if one looks at the financial perspective: for example, one of the biggest cuts has been to the European Social Fund, of all things, there has been no progress on the Working Time Directive, and the targets at the Spring Summit with regard to employment figures were so modest that they have already been overtaken by reality. Perhaps that is now the Council's new tactic – to set such modest, or as some would say realistic, targets and to set the benchmark so low that it is practically impossible to stumble over it.
There is a negative mark in the ecological balance sheet, namely the infrastructure costs directive. Here, too, the European Parliament served the Presidency a very good ball, but unfortunately Vice-Chancellor Gorbach did not catch it, and the European Parliament's attitude, which was more favourable for Austria as well, could not be transferred to the Council.
We have heard nothing at all about other subjects: particularly in women's policy, equality policy and development policy, there has been a real lack of initiatives. On the question of the Constitution, there was nothing more that the Austrian Presidency could achieve. What concerned me a little was the fact that, through the special events, priority has been given almost exclusively to the subsidiarity principle. All of us who took part in those events now have a better idea of what Europe should not do. What we still do not know, though, is what Europe can do to really solve its problems."@en1
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