Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-04-Speech-2-063"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070904.5.2-063"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, the Gdańsk Shipyard is a great European symbol, the place where in August 1988 Polish workers led by Lech Wałęsa began a strike for freedom and justice. The shipyard became a symbol of the fight for trade union, political and civil rights for the workers’ movement throughout the world. I would like to underline the importance of the initiative by Mr Wurtz which has made it possible to hold a debate on the risk of the collapse of the Gdańsk Shipyard in the European Parliament today.
I first spoke out in defence of the Gdańsk Shipyard while still an activist in underground ‘Solidarity’ in November 1998, when the government of Mieczysław Rakowski placed the shipyard into liquidation on the pretext of poor economic results. Unfortunately, the Gdańsk Shipyard also became a symbol of the decline of heavy industry and the defencelessness of workers and trade unions in the face of that process, a model example of everything that is defined as ‘casino capitalism’. Little remains of the proud shipyard that was the birthplace of ‘Solidarity’. After 1989 the Solidarity government was unconcerned by the fate of the shipyard. The establishment became a place of market speculation, on the one hand, and demagogy and populism, on the other.
Following entry into the European Union Polish shipyards received State aid. The Gdańsk Shipyard started to restructure and is demonstrating that it can operate profitably. The current demands by the European Commission for the closure of two of the three slipways used by the shipyard to build ships will make it unprofitable and result in unemployment and tragedy for many workers’ families. In the European Parliament, on the twenty-seventh anniversary of the signing of the August agreements, I would urge prudence in this case. Commissioner, let us consider a wise compromise which would reconcile the principles of the Single Market, which the Commission upholds, with the interests of three thousand shipyard workers. Let us save the Gdańsk Shipyard!"@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples