Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-06-Speech-3-090-000"
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"en.20110406.6.3-090-000"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank everyone who participated in this debate today. For me, this is extremely important from two aspects. On the one hand, you have confirmed the Hungarian Presidency’s conviction that the internal market plays a huge role in stimulating, at long last, economic growth in the European Union, and in ensuring that finally we can create new jobs again. The other great benefit of this debate is that very many thoughts and ideas have been voiced which we will be able to incorporate into the Council’s work as well. The Commission has already completed a good part of the job. Naturally, however, they, too, still have much to do. The Council wishes to cooperate extremely closely with this House later in the adoption of specific legislation. Thanks are therefore due to everyone who has assisted in this process up to now, either as a rapporteur or member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, and whose involvement we are counting on in the future as well.
Finally, it is the Hungarian Presidency’s intention to ensure the greatest possible visibility for the Single Market, and we are prepared to make commitments at the highest level. In this, we are counting on the Members and President of the Commission as well as the Members and President of the European Parliament.
As has been mentioned many times already, the Hungarian Presidency has advocated the goal of a strong Europe. This is the Hungarian Presidency’s motto as well. What is more, we always say that we are thinking of a strong Europe which places the citizen, the people, at the centre of its policies, and this is what we must not lose sight of either when we consider the Single Market.
I would like to address separately some of the most widely discussed issues in the debate. The first is the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They are, indeed, the key players in the internal market, and in consequence of this, we intend to do everything to put them on the map. This partly means making access to finance easier for SMEs, reducing administrative burdens and ensuring simplified access to public procurements. We attribute great importance to reviewing the Small Business Act, which will be on the Competitiveness Council’s agenda in May. We intend to adopt conclusions on the subject as well.
The other such topic is the digital agenda. A very great deal has been said about this, too, here in today’s debate. We all know that there is enormous unexploited potential in this area. We need to improve the options and conditions of paperless administration and business transactions. The e-commerce and e-government initiatives serve this purpose, but in a broader sense, I believe that the aim of the Consumer Rights Directive is also to encourage cross-border transactions based on a single set of European rules. Here, I could also mention the implementation of the Services Directive, which affects a significant part of the internal market, a major element of which is simplified electronic administration.
A third point I would like to raise is that the completion of the internal market is, in my view, inconceivable without building and completing the energy and transport infrastructure. The Hungarian Presidency has already devoted special attention to the realisation of the single energy market in the first three months. Several Members mentioned infrastructure bonds as well in the debate. We look forward with interest to the outcome of the public consultation in relation to this. Protecting intellectual rights is also an issue to which we have devoted much attention to date. I mentioned the European patent system in my introduction as well, and I trust that, after enhanced cooperation has begun, we will be able to formulate its content together and that, as regards implementing rules, we will be able to achieve the greatest progress possible at the Competitiveness Council in May. Moreover, I also hope that there is even a possibility that we will be able to reach an agreement.
Lastly, I would like to address social aspects. This is the issue which generated the greatest interest in today’s debate, too, and aroused the most emotion in the Chamber as well. I believe that there has been a very lively debate about this in the Commission as well as in this House, and I am certain that this will be the case in the Council, too.
As I have said before, we need a strong Europe with a human factor at its centre. I think that this clearly indicates the Hungarian Presidency’s approach to this issue, yet we can only do this in a balanced way and by considering all aspects. That is to say, if we place the human factor centre stage, creating jobs certainly is the most important task, because if we can guarantee that everyone who wants to work can do so, I believe that we cannot offer more than this to our citizens.
The other thing is that, as we are all aware, the European social model, the European social market economy, has been put to the test. It is our common interest to protect this. Of course, there is no single model in all the 27 Member States, as we all implement this differently. We must also be realistic. This model has been put to the test: the EU’s competitiveness, the Member States’ competitiveness, depends on whether we can adapt this social model to the challenges of the 21st century. For this reason, we must not treat this as sacrosanct but as something that we defend through joint efforts while adapting it to the 21st century.
Finally, mobility has also been mentioned frequently. I believe that this is the area where we may be able to make progress most urgently and most easily, and we would like to adopt conclusions about this in the Competitiveness Council in May by all means."@en1
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