Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-26-Speech-2-013"
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"en.20060926.3.2-013"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament has put my colleague Mr Rapkay’s report, and the issue of services of general interest, at the heart of what it is trying to do during this Parliament. We have made so bold – and it was an extraordinary achievement on our part – as to put together our own draft directive, which includes the essentials of what Mr Rapkay has set out in his report, and which I presented to you, Mr President of the Commission, and to the then President of the Council, Mr Schüssel. What we see as important in the services debate – certain essential individual elements of which I shall shortly address – is that our strategy should strike a balance between the demands of the internal market, which we social democrats are aware of and acknowledge, and the need to protect the public by reinforcing local and regional institutions, which are still best suited to maintaining the subsidiarity principle in the provision of services.
The essential message that must be carried by this debate is ‘flexibility where it is needed, protection where it is possible’. After all the Councils we have had – in Barcelona, Laeken, Nice – and after all the debates we have had, we see your coming here today, Mr President of the Commission, as the Commission’s underlining of the importance of this debate, and something for which we are grateful to you. That is also the reason why I, as chairman of our group, am speaking in this debate.
The main thing I have to do is to underline on behalf of our group what Mr Rapkay has, in his role as rapporteur, said about this report, but there are two other things I should like to say as well. I listened to what Mr Hökmark said with a great deal of attention. It is interesting when a convinced liberal tries to take the curve on this issue. To be sure, we are all in favour of the internal market, and we all want it to do all it can to spark off economic dynamism; on that we agree with you, but it becomes more difficult when it comes to the subsidiarity principle, which free-marketeers otherwise insist on as a matter of principle, yet, when it is used to guarantee certain indispensable social standards, it suddenly becomes a hindrance. That is not on!
I do not know whether requiring all health services to actually be subject to the free market is something that is worth striving for, nor do I know whether we have to sit back and watch until the day comes when every last municipal graveyard is run on commercial lines. I do not think that makes sense. We certainly still need strengthened local and regional authorities to enable us, within the framework of subsidiarity, to provide high-quality services that respond directly to what the public needs and demands. That is at the heart of social democratic policy, and we will not abandon it, but we also want the chance for local and regional authorities to enhance quality by means of greater flexibility and opening-up to the internal market, thereby, by their own free choice, being able to ensure flexibility in the provision of good and affordable services, for both are possible.
It was with a great deal of attention that we heard you, Mr President, saying that you wanted to consolidate the legal framework as a whole, for your acknowledgement of the need for a legal framework marks a great step forward, and your wanting now to consolidate it is an indication of your desire for a broad-based rather than sector-by-sector approach. If that is how you want to proceed, then I can imagine us making common cause quite soon.
I would like to say, on behalf of our group, that our venture in writing a draft directive of our own, combined with what Mr Rapkay has had to say, and with the President’s remarks, will convince you too, Madam Vice-President, that we are on the right track."@en1
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