Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-16-Speech-3-020"
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"en.20100616.4.3-020"2
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"Mr President, this week, the European Council will need to provide answers to the political, economic, environmental and social challenges we are facing at the moment, both now and over the next 10 years. We worry, however, that it will not. On immediate challenges, the Council seems likely to support the idea of accelerated fiscal consolidation and excessive tightening of the Stability and Growth Pact, as called for by Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy. That will not reassure markets at a time when the US Administration is considering a new recovery plan to secure economic growth and job creation.
Europe does need to consolidate its finances, but not in a brutal and undemocratic way, a way which would undermine welfare systems, kill fragile growth and put several million more needlessly out of work. That is not what the people of Europe want, and we ask the European Council not to use this crisis to deconstruct systems of social protection or undermine our future competitiveness by cutting public spending in vital areas like research and education. There is a more socially just and economically intelligent way to bring finances under control which requires much closer cooperation between our nations within a framework of reformed economic governance and greater solidarity. But that is the only way if we do not want to make ordinary people, and especially the more vulnerable in society, pay for a crisis which they did not cause.
On longer-term challenges, the European Council should revisit the planned Europe 2020 strategy. Right now, it is incomplete, unambitious and lacks serious financial backing. There is basically no social dimension, nor an environmental one, except that some climate change elements are already agreed. Some priorities, such as research, will not be achieved because of accelerated fiscal consolidation. We are facing historic levels of unemployment, yet the strategy does not make explicit high-quality full employment as a core target; it must.
We hope that these calls will be heeded, Mr President, and that this week’s European Council will not become just another missed opportunity."@en1
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