Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-25-Speech-2-486-000"
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"en.20111025.29.2-486-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I am not going to go back over the cynicism with which the ArcelorMittal group has announced the closure of some of its plants in Europe, and specifically in Belgium – in Liège – which will, in time, lead to hundreds of direct redundancies and put several thousand indirect jobs at risk. Being from Liège, I share the astonishment and dismay of the 581 workers made redundant and their families.
However, I am also thinking of the radical restructuring announced by the steel-making group in France, Germany and Luxembourg. The reasons given are always the same: a poor outlook for the steel market in Europe; strong competition with imports from China, Korea, Russia and Brazil; the downturn in the automotive market; and, lastly, the competitiveness gap, for example, between the Liège plant and the best plants in northern Europe.
Apart from that, and despite 2010 being a difficult year, the financial centre of the steel-making group ArcelorMittal Belgium made EUR 1.394 billion in profits. It paid zero euros in taxes, in other words, a tax rate of 0%. This is particularly shocking. The group’s management would appear to be driven primarily by financial considerations, with a stop-and-go policy practised over a number of sites. Furthermore, these managers believe that site closures are nothing more than an economic adjustment variable, where human issues are of little importance. We must not put up with this any more.
Commissioner, you mentioned rules. Is it not time that the Commission drew up a binding code of social responsibility for multinational companies? Six years have passed since our Parliament adopted a report on relocations, on a corporate code of conduct, on the repayment of subsidies, on obligatory consultation between companies, trade unions and public authorities. Since then, it is clear that little real progress has been made regarding these various proposals. What, then, does the Commission intend to do about this, and when?
While we do need to keep our companies competitive and make Europe an attractive destination for financial investment, we also need to adopt a robust European legislative framework to deal with relocations and restructuring and to ensure that full account is taken of another type of capital: human capital.
Lastly, in the case of the Liège plant, I hope that it will be eligible for European Globalisation Adjustment Fund assistance, to compensate those workers who have been made redundant."@en1
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