Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-19-Speech-4-012"
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"en.20090219.3.4-012"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, as you know, the European Parliament recognises that your job is difficult. It is not easy here, but when you are in the Council, it is worse, because there you have to work with unanimity. I hope, therefore, that everyone here will behave responsibly and vote in a coherent way. If we think that the Commission’s proposal is good, then we must support it.
Quibbling in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs led to certain amendments being singled out. The socialists, behaving responsibly, once again, decided not to table any amendments at all in plenary, because in these matters, if we want to move forward all we in the European Parliament have to do is to give our overwhelming support, as far as possible, to the Commission’s proposal, if we consider it a good one, as is the case here.
We have had many debates about VAT, about subsidiarity and about the need for tax harmonisation. VAT is the classic example of us all being on common ground. Let us make use of it. Renewing, on a temporary basis, this experiment with a reduced rate of VAT, when it aims at and contributes towards strengthening labour-intensive services – not necessarily the case for alcoholic drinks in restaurants – has shown us that this system works, so let us build on it. Let us put an end to legal uncertainty and harmonise the basis on which Member States can intervene. We will then have consistent goals, tax harmonisation where possible and encouragement for labour-intensive services. Who could say no to that today? Who could say no to using tax reductions as an incentive to consistently improving energy efficiency in our housing stock?
Today, taking into account what happened in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, taking into account the debate that I see taking place in the Council, I believe that we must support the Commission’s proposal very strongly – and I hope with the largest possible majority. At this stage of the debate, trying to do better could turn out worse and I think that our fellow citizens would not understand our remaining in a state of legal uncertainty.
We need to consolidate this system that has been shown to work. That is what our rapporteur, Mrs van den Burg, is proposing, and that, I hope, is what Parliament will vote for overwhelmingly later on. In this way, the Commissioner can take this strong message to the Council and obtain a final decision which will make it possible to consolidate this system."@en1
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