Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-19-Speech-3-041"
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"en.20081119.4.3-041"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, faced with the recession, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament advocates a united and European policy. This is true not only for financial confidentiality, it also applies to the other economic sectors, including the industrial sector.
We have often regretted the lack of a strong industrial policy in the European Union. Countries such as the United States and Great Britain have allowed their industries to decline while mainly backing services. The outcome is not convincing. Europe must fight to maintain the extensive industrial fabric on which SMEs and services to businesses are dependent.
The automotive industry in Europe is by no means a dinosaur, it is not a species doomed to extinction. I agree fully with Vice-President Verheugen in this respect. We account for one third of all automobile production in the world, despite the fact that car production has declined recently. Cars produced in Europe must become cleaner and less energy-guzzling and, for the foreseeable future, we will not be able to do without this essential, individual means of transport. The best possible organisation of collective transport will never succeed in appeasing the human need for mobility. The European Union must therefore develop a common response to the sector’s problems and the response cannot be, as Mr Verheugen has just stated, the strangulation of the European automotive industry. I do not want a Europe in which the only cars on the road are Japanese – or, in the future, Chinese.
I am aware that the politically correct argument insists on promoting so-called ‘green’ jobs. A recent United Nations report estimates the potential for green jobs in the world to be 3% of global jobs. This would be very welcome. However, simple arithmetic leads us to conclude that 97% of jobs are not green, but fall under the realm of traditional sectors. This is another reason for us to fight to maintain a European automotive industry which employs 2 million people directly and 10 million indirectly, equating to 7% of all European jobs.
When the United States, China and Japan are investing massively in economic programmes, Europe cannot afford to sit back and watch passively as whole swathes of its industry disappear. Those who tell us that we must leave the market alone are naïve ideologists. Without intervention by the public hand, the hidden hand, dear to Adam Smith, will prefer the short term and will destroy structures that are essential in shaping our common future.
Lastly, we expect the Commission, Madam President, to provide a proactive framework to maintain the competitiveness and the very existence of the European automotive industry."@en1
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