Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-21-Speech-1-198"
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"en.20080421.19.1-198"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I, too, should like to join my colleagues in thanking and congratulating Mrs Harkin for having produced this report. The choice of rapporteur is not a random one, as Mrs Harkin has extensive experience in the area of volunteering, and it is therefore only natural that she tabled this report. We have, of course, approved heartily of her being given this report, which she has drafted in a true spirit of consensus, for, as you will have noticed, we have tabled only one amendment, with which she is in agreement. This demonstrates the quality of her report, and I feel that this deserves to be strongly emphasised.
Commissioner Danuta Hübner, you have, to some extent, beaten us to the punch and given answers, right from the beginning of your speech, to questions raised in this report. I should like to thank you in advance, and it is most likely that several of the other speeches made by Members will enable you, later and over the next few days, to provide further answers from the Commission.
I should like to emphasise, in addition to what has already been said and further to what has been written in the report, that if there are 100 million Europeans who dedicate themselves to helping some 500 million Europeans every day, it must not be forgotten that these 100 million Europeans who volunteer receive personal gain from so doing, not in the financial sense but in the sense of personal fulfilment. You all know, we all know, I am certain, of sports teams and cultural and social leaders without whom our non-governmental associations and organisations would not operate. It must be said that these people need this commitment for their personal development.
In an ageing society, in a society where there is an increasing number of young retirees, we also need this individual work-life balance that is achieved through volunteering. Therefore, for economic reasons, but also with a view to the fulfilment of the human values shared by Europe’s citizens – more than 100 million of them – let us make efforts to promote voluntary work in our societies and hope that, in the years to come, there will be well in excess of 100 million European citizens engaged in voluntary activity. Thanks to Marian Harkin, thanks to the Commission, thanks also to the governments and the regional and local authorities that are ready, tomorrow, to show their support, through their actions, for the wishes expressed by the European Parliament."@en1
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