Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-20-Speech-2-082"
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"en.20100420.4.2-082"2
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"Mr President, Mr Barroso, Commissioners, I would like to thank so many of you for attending today. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about my fellow Members. I am ashamed to say that not all of those who are not here are genuinely not here. They are in Strasbourg, but they are not in the Chamber where they should be. I find that very sad.
As we do not have a joint resolution, we will present our individual points to you and you can evaluate them in detail. Mr Barroso, we agree with you that the main issue is competitiveness combined with social security in a sustainable Europe. Of course, our main emphasis must be on continuing to combat poverty and unemployment, which is still rising in some areas or, at the very least, remains unacceptably high. I would like to thank you for mentioning this, as it is something which some Heads of Government seem not to be convinced of. How can we ensure that this happens in an era of budgetary consolidation? It goes without saying that we must consolidate our budgets. However, this must be kept in proportion – I would ask the Commission to take note of this – and it must take place in chronological order, in order to ensure that the other essential objectives, in other words, combating unemployment and poverty, are not left in ruins.
I would like to take this opportunity to say how important this issue is, against the background of the recent Roma summit in Cordoba, at which you were not present, but which two members of the Commission attended, Mrs Reding, the Vice-President of the Commission, and Mr Andor, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. I have recently visited Roma settlements in Serbia and it is inconceivable that places like this still exist in Europe. I call on the Commission to do everything within its power to combat the problem of poverty and unemployment in this area.
My next point relates to the budgetary consolidation. We need more investment. We discussed this earlier on this morning with Mr Kallas. We have invested too little, for example, in the trans-European networks. Now it is possible to see where the problems have arisen because we still have not implemented what was proposed in the so-called Delors Plan. When you talk about partnership, Mr Barroso, I would ask you to remember that we need this partnership, particularly with regard to the budget issue and future budget planning, because it is clear that the Council is already intending to make cuts in smaller items at a European level. We cannot tolerate this.
Mr Barroso, you referred to the Monti report. This is definitely an important report and it is good that you have asked Mr Monti to prepare it, as he is an expert in this area. However, when we talk about the single market, we must also refer to the social market economy. In this context, public services in particular are very important to us. You have agreed to submit proposals for a framework directive. We do not want to cover all the individual points here and now, but I believe that we will have to rely on these public services for the European identity, in particular, with regard to the transport problems that we have had, which indicate, for example, how important public rail services are. Regardless of whether they are provided by the private or the public sector, they must be regulated and safeguarded by a common European policy for public services.
I would now like to come to my final and decisive point. You spoke about the economic crisis and also about Greece and other countries which are in difficulties. In our previous discussions with Mr Van Rompuy, we established that the actions taken by the European Council in this case did not represent the best that Europe can offer. If all of this had been done two or three months ago, Greece would not have had to make high interest payments. You referred to this, but I believe that we need more than references. We need the Commission to call for these things with a powerful voice.
I agree with you that this is not about intervening when the crisis has already happened and the deficits are sky-high, because this fact is frequently misunderstood. It is about preventing these things from happening as far as possible by monitoring economic and budgetary changes. Once again, I can hear governments saying that we cannot investigate their statistics or their budgetary procedure. This is not acceptable. If we want to prevent what has happened in recent months and years from occurring again, then we must do this. Why do governments have to keep their statistics and their budget procedures secret? Of course, governments must have a certain freedom. They must have this freedom and, in the euro area in particular, it must correspond with the European objectives and targets.
Mr Barroso, we are ready to enter into the special partnership that you referred to. However, this partnership must be based on a strong position for Parliament and for the Commission. In the days to come, we will be negotiating on the framework agreement. It specifies some of the details, but the decisive factor is the spirit behind it. This also involves you stating clearly, when some Heads of Government want to misuse the Treaty of Lisbon in order to strengthen their own position, that the Treaty of Lisbon is intended to strengthen Europe. This is why the Commission must have a powerful voice. In this case, we will go along with you and support you, even if our opinions on individual details differ. However, we must both fight for a strong Europe. This is very important, particularly in the light of the recent behaviour of some Heads of Government."@en1
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