Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-02-Speech-2-007"
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to talk about social Europe. We shall talk about social Europe, and I am glad to be doing so today before the European Parliament, which is a key player in the institutional structure of Europe, an essential partner with which the French Presidency is keen to work as closely as possible.
These endeavours will continue throughout the French Presidency. Especially – and I say this in all honesty – since the upcoming elections mean that the second half of 2008 will be our last shot at securing results in this parliamentary term on a number of issues. All of us will shortly be held to account by our fellow Europeans at the ballot box.
The people of Europe expect results here. The reactions to recent rulings by the European Court of Justice are proof of that. This is an area where the European Parliament can help us, along with many other areas which I will touch on briefly.
Firstly, revision of the European Works Council directive, which Vladimír Špidla talked about just now. This is a major undertaking that will strengthen social dialogue in Europe. The present directive applies to more than 14 million workers and 820 employers. Revision of the directive will increase the number covered still further.
At Chantilly we brought together representatives of the European Trade Union Confederation and of Business Europe to hear their views on the revised text put forward by the Commission. They were happy with the proposal as a working base and said they could negotiate to overcome points of disagreement. They are now finalising a number of common proposals which they will announce in due course.
If this comes to fruition, if the social partners produce common proposals on revision of the directive, this will be helpful to our work, the work of Parliament and the Council. So why not reach agreement at first reading as quickly as possible? If at all possible, by the end of the year?
Concerning our second focus of work: I must of course mention the proposal for a directive on protection from discrimination beyond the workplace, which the Commission also adopted on 2 July. This was much discussed at Chantilly and the Presidency opened talks on this text from the beginning of July. Parliament will be consulted on this matter but I should point out that the Commission's proposal, covering four grounds for discrimination, took account of the resolution which Parliament adopted last spring on the report by Elizabeth Lynne.
The third matter which also received a lot of attention was social services of general interest. All the Member States are talking about these. They are all talking about the same thing even if, admittedly, they are not all saying exactly the same thing. But adoption of the Protocol to the Lisbon Treaty and evaluation of the Altmark package gives us an opportunity to think about the contribution which these services make to social cohesion in Europe, the need to ensure that they are of high calibre and the importance of giving them a sound legal framework. We hope to work on a roadmap with the Commission, and with anyone keen to contribute, to identify a number of intermediate objectives so that progress on this highly important matter can be sustained.
Then, of course, there are the directives on temporary work and working time. On both these, the ball is in the European Parliament's court, for the second reading. We must try to avoid conciliation. Millions of temporary workers in Europe are waiting impatiently for the directive on temporary work to come into force and there is pressure on some Member States to settle the question of on-call time. So I can only encourage Parliament to keep us informed of what happens, with due regard, here too, to the counterbalancing factors of which I am well aware. But here too, people have expectations of us and all eyes are upon us.
I am also mindful, on the subject of mobility, of the need to reach agreement on the implementing regulation on the coordination of social security schemes.
The French Presidency needs the European Parliament's support on these various issues in order to achieve concrete results. Those results – you know this, but I will say it again – are keenly awaited by the people of Europe, who expect us to pursue our European social vision to the benefit of their everyday lives, to make Europe more a part of everyday existence. We know today that we need not less Europe but more Europe. We know full well today that we need not less social Europe but more social Europe. We know full well, ladies and gentlemen, the challenges we have to meet.
I have said it before and I will say it again now: 2008 is to be the year in which social Europe is re-energised. Something that I believe all our European players want to see. The June summit in Luxembourg, the Chantilly meeting in July, are milestones along that route. We were keen for the French Presidency to tackle the issue of revising the European Social Agenda, which Commissioner Špidla talked about just now. This is a key issue which demands the ability on our part to define a social vision for Europe and to translate that vision into concrete action. The discussions at Chantilly, in which Parliament took part through your committee chairman Mr Andersson, enabled us to reaffirm a number of common values which we all share, and it is precisely these that define Europe's ambitions for social policy. Those values are social dialogue, intergenerational solidarity, action against poverty and discrimination, equality between the sexes, social protection, occupational mobility, and the importance of services of general interest in guaranteeing social cohesion and social responsibility in business and industry. Observed from Beijing, Washington, the Cape, New Delhi or from Brisbane even, these values give the European social model its originality.
Chantilly was an opportunity for us to remind the world that these values are central to Europe's development strategy, to the Lisbon strategy. In other words, Chantilly provided a reminder that this social model, these common values, constitute a European strength in our globalised world.
Why? Because the knowledge-based economy, the innovation economy, can only be built by focusing firmly on developing human capital and on lifelong learning. Because the economy as a whole loses out when whole categories of the population are shut out of the world of work for long periods of time, cannot contribute to wealth creation and cannot access goods and services. Because workers too are more productive when they have good terms of employment and social protection which cushions them against the hard knocks that life delivers.
Economic progress does not mean sacrificing social progress, far from it. I am not alone in seeing the two as indissociable. Without social progress, economic progress will run out of steam sooner or later. So Europe must advance on both fronts: economic progress, yes, and social progress too.
Along with this conviction which we collectively reaffirmed, we took on board another fact: the European social model needs to change, to adapt to globalisation, climate change, demographic change and the growing diversity of European societies. So we need to adapt our labour markets and introduce flexicurity, that is to say new securities and flexibilities for both workforce and employers.
And things are moving. At first the term 'flexicurity' frightened people, alarmed them. But now it represents a European ideal aspired to by all players, including the social partners. The word has become commonplace, an everyday term, which proves that things are indeed changing, that mindsets are changing.
Something else which must be addressed if we are to move our social model forward is the guarantee of social cohesion, with measures to combat new forms of poverty, specifically where they affect children. It is time we joined forces to prepare our societies better for this demographic change, strengthening intergenerational solidarity and ensuring that people have access to high-quality social services of general interest.
This process of adjustment has been under way for a few years already. Thanks to initiatives by the Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the social partners, we are making progress on specific initiatives which respond to popular concerns in Europe. How do we allow freedom of movement for workers within Europe and at the same time safeguard the employment rights of those who move? How do we improve the management of restructuring operations by involving the workforce Europe-wide? How do we ensure that people are able to work and thus play a part in society and what can we do to counter discrimination more effectively?"@en1
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