Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-21-Speech-3-453"
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"en.20080521.29.3-453"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in these last two minutes, I should like to try and outline how I expect things to develop in the period that lies ahead. We shall continue to have a strong European industrial base. There is no danger that industry will disappear from Europe. I am also quite certain that European industry will continue to generate growth and create jobs, though not necessarily in Europe. That is the problem.
We are already seeing more and more large European companies achieve their growth and their profits outside Europe, and they are also creating their new jobs outside Europe. That is resulting in a jobs problem here, and the only way to redress the balance and truly resolve this principal social issue of our time, namely how to create enough good jobs, is actually – as several speakers have said, and I fully support them – to focus initiatives more sharply on enterprise by placing greater emphasis on small and medium-sized businesses.
The key to the long-term success of our economic strategy does not lie with the large industrial undertakings, which are well able to look after themselves. No, the key to success lies with the numerous small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe, whose potential is far from exhausted, and they are the focus of our policy.
The other point is that the conditions in which European industries compete will change very rapidly. It is wrong to imagine that we can go on regarding competitors such as China as suppliers of cheap products for the masses and ourselves as the manufacturers of finer and more expensive goods. The Chinese are already producing and exporting high-quality and technologically complex goods. We shall very shortly be challenged in those areas in which we are still particularly strong today. This means that we must strive to become even better.
For this reason, everything that has been said here about research, development, innovation, education and training is correct. The European economy, and European industry in particular, will be successful if it forges ahead resolutely with the transition to a knowledge-based economy. It will also be successful if it realises that the major environmental challenges of our time, especially those relating to energy and climate change, can actually create economic opportunities too, and that these opportunities must be grasped."@en1
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