Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-13-Speech-2-151"
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"en.20070213.16.2-151"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, today is the right time to say that, thanks to the 2004 reform, the Lisbon Strategy is more than just a series of unattainable targets – the priorities are clearer and the responsibilities better defined.
I wish to use this speech to talk about social policy within the framework of the Lisbon Strategy. Firstly, it is abundantly clear that the Lisbon Strategy is not, as some would have it, some kind of liberal attempt at undermining the foundations and values of the European social model. Far from it, in fact. The Lisbon Strategy represents a vision that, very much in a spirit of reform, seeks to preserve the values that lie at the heart of the European social model. The Lisbon Strategy therefore lays down political guidelines on the need to modernise social protection systems, which is a necessary response to what is happening in Europe and around the world.
This broad guideline clearly expresses the idea that social policy should be seen not as a burden but rather as a factor that can have a positive influence on economic growth, by increasing productivity and competitiveness and by delivering higher levels of social cohesion and access to fundamental rights. It thus becomes a significant instrument in guaranteeing social peace and political stability, without which there can be no lasting economic progress.
Because of the 2004 reform, I now feel more optimistic than before as regards the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. The EU has entered a period of economic acceleration and may outstrip the United States of America in terms of growth. In the first half of 2006 alone, investment rose by 6%, exports should rise by more than 5%, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 1998 levels. These figures confirm that the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy are having a cumulative effect on the ground, whereby sustained economic growth leads to more and better jobs, to continued improvement in the living standards of EU citizens without any loss of competitiveness and to the values of the European social model being upheld.
I therefore wish to congratulate Mr Barroso and the Commission on the reform that, in timely fashion, they chose to introduce into the Lisbon Strategy."@en1
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