Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-14-Speech-3-296"
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, as Commissioner Almunia pointed out, we have, in practical terms, got our growth back up to 3%, and are therefore back on the course set by Lisbon. It is this continuous 3% growth that we aimed to achieve by means of the Lisbon Strategy, enabling us to implement the social and economic reforms that are needed in order that everyone in Europe may benefit. It is precisely because there were many years in which we did not achieve this that we need to remind ourselves that this will not happen on its own. Much in this upturn has to do, in the first instance, with the economic cycle, and it is because we cannot be certain that it will continue that our report takes the line that action on our part is needed, that we need to manage and direct, that we must not take time out and allow the clock to keep ticking while we neglect to take the necessary political steps.
The single market is our great trump card, performing better than the internal market in the USA. 90% of what we manufacture in the European Union, we – as consumers – buy back from our own companies, and that gives us strength to cope with the vicissitudes of globalisation. It is right, then, that this internal market should be completed, whether as regards financial services, energy, or the free movement of workers in Europe, for whom this is a fundamental right, albeit one that we have yet to put into effect, but this single market can function only if we endow it with a political framework – only if we are bold enough to give it form and ensure that the social checks and balances are in place.
That is why it is so important to call to mind the fact that we have succeeded in creating that social balance; we did so with the Services Directive. It is only when people are able to support themselves properly by their own labour in this internal market that they will be able, as consumers, to support an economic upturn; it is only then that they will be able, as consumers, to invest, and only then that they will be able, as workers, to acquire further skills and qualifications and to play their decisive part in fostering innovation in our societies. That is why it is so important that this report should ask the Member States just where they are, how far they have come, and just what they have done about achieving the great targets that we set ourselves at Lisbon. It is crystal clear that they are beginning to come up with some answers, but those answers are still slow in coming and are not framed everywhere with the same quality that we would like to see; active employment policy and social integration policy, in particular, leave something to be desired. Looking at the positive outcomes, we can see that the countries that are ahead are the ones that are bold enough, instead of making savings to the point where nothing works, to invest in the active parts of society, in small and medium-sized enterprises, in those who are at school, in those who are doing their apprenticeships, in those who are studying for university degrees and are thereby bringing new creativity into society.
It is not fortuitous that many Scandinavian countries, working according to the Nordic model, are producing the best results on this front. While it is up to each and every country to find its own best solution, we would strongly encourage the Member States to play their part in putting the pro-active Lisbon approach into practice and carrying on with it.
I am grateful to the President-in-Office, Mr Gloser, for not, in his speech, disregarding the report, but instead saying ‘yes’ to dialogue, and I would urge him to be courageous, for I can find nothing in the Treaty that forbids us from developing closer forms of cooperation where the reform of the Integrated Guidelines and preparing Lisbon and the economic policy guidelines for a new stage are concerned. This House expects to be involved – as is only right and proper – for that is the only way in which we can help to communicate the Lisbon goals to the public, to businesses, to trade unions and to workers. I think the Commission is right to think in terms of coming up with more proposals on this front; why should such proposals not be adopted by the European Council as guidelines and thus give the Member States firmer guidance?
I do not want to close without extending very warm thanks to the services – both the committee’s and those of the groups – for their contribution to the production of the report, and also to the shadow rapporteurs, Mr Montoro Romero, Mrs in 't Veld, Mrs Rühle and Mrs Wagenknecht, whose excellent cooperation has made it possible to present a unanimous report."@en1
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