Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-16-Speech-3-018"
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"en.20080116.2.3-018"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, President of the Commission, for this first Presidency of a new Member State, Slovenia is inheriting a number of rather thankless tasks from its predecessors. Thus, as regards the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, you are required to ensure that no Member State apart from Ireland sets the bad example of organising a referendum, including countries that have made firm commitments to do so. This is to some extent like moving backwards at a time when the EU's citizens and institutions are supposed to be moving closer together. Frankly, you deserve to have been given a nobler ambition.
At the social level, the Presidency will first have the difficult task of getting things moving again on two emblematic draft directives, one on working time and the sadly famous opt-out, and the other on temporary work and equal treatment of employees. Nor will it escape a substantive discussion on the action to be taken in the wake of the recent judgments by the European Court of Justice in the Laval/Vaxholm and Viking Line cases, which lend legitimacy to social dumping. My group, moreover, has requested a debate on this matter to be put on the agenda of a forthcoming parliamentary session. This brings up again the whole problem of the Bolkestein Directive and the provisions of the treaty on which it is based. In the midst of the ratification of a new text that includes all these provisions, this makes for a real muddle.
Finally, again on the social level, Europe is facing increasing demands for higher pay. Indeed its share of added value has been diminishing for some decades. It has never been so low, as even the financial press are pointing out. Yet, the European Central Bank has just threatened to raise interest rates if this demand, however legitimate, is met, despite the fact that profits have never been so high, as the experts acknowledge. If we do not put this issue on the agenda, it will soon make its own way there. I recall that the joint document of the German, Portuguese and Slovenian Presidencies underlines in point 68 that, I quote ‘The overarching aims of the three Presidencies will be to strengthen the European Social Model as an integral part of the Lisbon Strategy’. As the adage goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating!
A word also about another sensitive subject: that of illegal migrants. In its current state, the draft directive on their return deserves the ‘outrageous directive’ label given to it by organisations that defend human rights. Adoption in its current state would cast an unkind light on the good intentions expressed by the EU in the context of intercultural dialogue.
To conclude, I would like to mention the problem of Kosovo. Before any decision is made, surely it would be justified to have clarification on a three-pronged question? Firstly, how to explain the fact that two billion euros of aid from the international community have, in the space of seven years, resulted in non-existent economic development, endemic poverty, 50% unemployment, and the proliferation of corruption and mafia networks? Secondly, how to explain the fact that 17 000 NATO soldiers have proved unable to prevent the destruction of dozens of orthodox buildings, the kidnapping or murder of hundreds of Kosovar citizens from minority communities and the forced exile of thousands of others? Finally, how will the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo and the replacement of UNMIK with the European Union solve these vitally important problems while guaranteeing the stability of the Balkans? I would be curious to hear your response."@en1
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