Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-19-Speech-2-130"
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"en.20101019.6.2-130"2
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"Madam President, poverty, especially the number of those at risk of poverty, has grown as the EU has grown, with each new Member State adding to the problem, so it is pretty obvious how to prevent further increases.
One of your answers is to introduce a minimum income. I am in favour of a minimum wage, but only as set by each country for itself. A pan-EU minimum wage would distort the issue. In Scandinavia, for example, domestic heating must be more expensive for all income groups than in southern Europe.
I oppose a minimum income because that means public funds to top up a low wage: more for the taxpayer to find in an economic crisis. How do you stop some employers paying less than they might because they know the benefit system will make it up? Answer: more regulations and red tape for businesses, falling most heavily on the SMEs who, between them, employ half the workforce.
And, of course, minimum income harmonised across the EU will be followed by a harmonised tax system, reducing all to a grey amorphous mass, devoid of Europe’s greatest property: diversity."@en1
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