Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-05-Speech-2-022-000"
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"en.20110405.3.2-022-000"2
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"Mr Van Rompuy, I have a great deal of respect for you as a person and for your work, but I must tell you that you have not really convinced me.
You say that workers should not worry, that we are working for them. When I read the section on competitiveness in the ‘Euro Plus Pact’, as you call it, my understanding is that it talks about wage cuts, about greater flexibility and less security. Nothing is said about productivity or our resources. Nothing is said about energy productivity.
What I am saying is that we will never win the race against China when it comes to cheap labour. By contrast, China is well on course to beat us when it comes to energy efficiency and resource efficiency. What, then, will be left for Europe in terms of competitiveness if we cannot compete in those areas?
You are telling us that those on benefits should not worry. Yet when balancing public finances, a reasonable objective, you say that cuts need to be made. Forty per cent of public spending goes on welfare and you are telling us not to worry. You also tell us that revenue is being taken care of. Let us talk about revenue. The CCCTB, the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, is a real joke. You talk about it in the conditional tense; you say that it should in any case be neutral in terms of revenue. Therefore no extra euros will be gained from it, and what is more, companies will be able to choose, anyway. I have never seen anyone choose the most expensive fiscal option.
On the other hand, if anyone should be free from worry it is the banks’ shareholders and creditors. You talk to us about stress tests. Those last year were a joke. I do not know whether we will see the same tasteless joke this year. What we can be sure of, however, even if these stress tests are serious, after all, is where the funds for the banks will come from. Will they come from their shareholders or from us, the taxpayers? Be serious! Anyway, they obviously have nothing to worry about.
Finally, nothing has been said of the elephant in the room, namely the absolute unsustainability of the Greek debt and the Irish debt. You know, no matter how much you want to skirt the issue, there is no way they can pay it back. And the later we restructure, the more painful the exercise. It is never going to be a pleasant exercise, but if you wait it will cost us dearly."@en1
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