Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-05-Speech-2-246"
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"en.20090505.23.2-246"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, over the last few months while I have been preparing the report on the Renewed Social Agenda, the effects of the economic, financial and social crisis affecting Europe and the world have been getting worse. Every day we are seeing more redundancies, more company closures and more families in terrible situations.
To ensure that European citizens can understand and deal with the changes brought about by the current context, social dialogue must be reinforced in order to increase transparency in decisions on social adaptation and economic restructuring. I tend to say that you have to go through a period of turmoil in order to get to a period of cooperation in social dialogue relations. The open method of coordination must also be reinforced, as this is an essential complement to the European Union’s legislation. Social policies cannot be a patchwork of isolated actions and ideas; we need to ensure a better link between economic, labour, social and environmental initiatives.
It is vital that social policy goes hand in hand with economic policy, to ensure a sustainable recovery not only of the economic fabric, but also of the social fabric. There is one point on which I want to be very clear: the crisis that we are experiencing cannot be used as a pretext to cut social expenditure. It must be said that, if this is not the time to make cuts in social expenditure, then this is in fact the time to firmly push forward with implementing the necessary structural reforms. I therefore want to congratulate the Commission and President Barroso who, in such complex circumstances, have managed to drive Europe to deal with the problems of the crisis in a coordinated manner …
This is more than just an economic and financial crisis; I believe that we are experiencing a crisis of confidence. According to the latest Eurostat data, in February 2009 over 19 million men and women were unemployed in the European Union. Given this scenario, if nothing is done, the rise in unemployment will definitely be followed by more poverty, more social exclusion, more insecurity, more crime and, in particular, more distrust.
We take the view that unemployment – the most visible face of this crisis – does not simply mean a loss of income for those who are unemployed and their families: unemployment discourages you and can lead to a loss of confidence in yourself and in those around you. Even before the crisis that we are facing today, the Member States of the European Union were already being confronted with social problems stemming from weak economic growth, a complicated demographic situation and the difficulties of living in an increasingly globalised world economy.
In this report I have tried to reflect these concerns as clearly and as pragmatically as possible. I know that a social agenda is a very broad concept and I have therefore tried to produce a balanced report and to clearly and concisely present the real priorities.
Firstly, the institutions of the European Union can play a vital role by reaffirming the importance of the social models and infrastructures of the Member States, thus helping to build consensus on the importance of universal access to these models and infrastructures, their high quality and particularly their sustainability.
Secondly, we have to mobilise all available instruments to ensure that more people are better integrated into the labour market.
The third priority stems from the conclusion that there is still much to do to ensure full mobility for citizens within the European Union.
I believe that the fourth priority is for the European Union to play a much more active role in promoting social and environmental standards in its external relations with emerging powers, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. This is particularly important when we are talking about trade agreements.
The fifth priority which the Commission has tried to implement, even today with the planned vote on the report on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, concerns making the European Structural Funds more flexible."@en1
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