Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-019"
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"en.20100907.4.2-019"2
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"Mr President, Mr Barroso, you have provided an impressive insight into the tasks of the various policy areas. Nevertheless, you, and all of us here, have to admit that the trust of European citizens is fading. Mr Verhofstadt has drawn our attention to this and so I will not address the matter in any more detail. These are reliable studies.
Citizens have also seen rescue and economic recovery packages amounting to billions of euro flow to the so-called system-relevant banks, and they have seen dangerously high national debts pile up everywhere. Now they are asking themselves who is responsible for this, particularly when, despite a better economic outlook, they are being hit by the Member States’ austerity measures. These austerity measures will result in rising prices for public services, cuts in social benefits, cuts in education services, pay cuts, an extended working life in the face of uncertain pensions and often precarious employment situations.
The protest goes far beyond the states hit by the crisis. Today, the unions are striking in France and on 29 September, strike action will be taken in many towns and cities in Europe against the Member States’ austerity policies. Citizens were promised that the Treaty of Lisbon would make the European Union more social and more democratic. The EU, including the Commission and the Parliament, would simply lose credibility if it now said that the Member States are responsible for the austerity measures. Effective financial market reforms, for example, like a ban on hedge funds, or a ban on speculation on raw materials and food derivatives, or even a financial transaction tax, but also the move away from the flexicurity ideology, are now most definitely the responsibility of the European Union. This is something that we all need to involve ourselves with over the next few months.
The situation in the Union varies greatly for the different sections of the population and it is full of inconsistencies. The social division in the societies of the EU countries has, in any case, widened dangerously once again. In the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, a large amount of money, billions of euro, have gone to rescue or to stand as security for the banks. It has not reached the people with real social needs or been put into education.
No one would want to dispute or belittle the EU’s successes. However, papering over the very real inconsistencies in the European Union will not help anyone. I, too, would like to finish by saying something about the Roma in France. I believe that the European Union has a good tradition. However, anyone who wants to combat social anxieties at the expense of a social minority, and indeed using unfair means, is abusing his political powers. I want to make this very clear: the abuse of social anxieties is simply unacceptable for a Community that always makes a point of standing up for universal human rights and moral values. These moral values and human rights apply to French, Polish, English, Spanish or German people in the European Union, just as they do for all Sinti and Roma who live in Europe."@en1
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