Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-13-Speech-2-014-000"
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"en.20120313.6.2-014-000"2
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"Mr President, firstly, I would like to congratulate Mr Van Rompuy on his re-election. There are a lot of discussions ahead of us and some controversial issues to be dealt with. We still have a great deal to do. Secondly, I would like to congratulate the Council on its decision regarding Serbia. I believe that it is the right option for Serbia, for the region and also for Kosovo. Unfortunately, no positive decisions were made about Schengen, in particular, with regard to Bulgaria and Romania. The people of these countries deserve to have the Schengen Area enlarged. I hope that this will happen soon.
What are we to say to the young people who cannot find work? It is appalling that young people from Europe are being forced to emigrate to Argentina, Angola and Brazil in order to get a job. It is appalling that many young people have to work for what almost amounts to starvation wages. What are we to say to this
as they are called in Italy? In fact, they are the
because many of them earn less than EUR 1 000 per month. What are we to say to these young people? How can we win them over to the cause of Europe? Therefore, on behalf of my group, I am calling for a job and training guarantee. Mr Van Rompuy, you were right when you said to me that this is the responsibility of the Member States. However, the budgets are also the responsibility of the Member States and that does not stop Europe getting involved in them. My group and I would like to see Europe getting involved with young people and giving them the possibility of a job or of training.
That is part of the European social model. I would like to make one thing quite clear and my remarks are also aimed at Mr Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, although what he said may simply have been misunderstood: the European social model is not dead. The European social model must not be allowed to die. We Social Democrats are in favour of its continued survival. We need to reform it, but the European social model is part of our identity and we will defend this identity to the hilt.
Finally, many people believe that the people of Europe are opposed to reform. There is only opposition to reform because the people can see that the policies which are being pursued are not fair. Mr Barroso rightly quoted from our study, for example, concerning the question of tax evasion. It is clear that our tax system is often unfair and that it is the rich people who pay no taxes. These are things which we need to change. I am very pleased about what Mr Barroso and Mr Van Rompuy said. We have made some progress, but not enough. I am sure that if the people of Europe understood that we will be pursuing more socially just policies in future, they would be prepared to support the necessary reforms. However, what they do not want is for us to give up the European social model which we are so proud of. We Social Democrats support this model and we will defend it with all our strength.
However, what shocked me was the statement by Mr Sarkozy after the Council meeting in which he said that Schengen should possibly be suspended. Will we have to bring our passports again when we come to Strasbourg? Are the many absent members of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) already looking for their passports ready for their next trip to Strasbourg? This surely cannot be meant seriously.
Now, Mr Sarkozy’s spokesperson is saying that the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament is preventing the reform of Schengen. This is not true. We are not preventing reform; we simply do not want to take a step backwards. We need to move forwards in Europe and not back. Therefore, I am calling on Mr Sarkozy, in the light of his possible election defeat, not to dig out all the old nationalist and anti-European relics. Let us remain realistic and continue focusing on the future. Let us commit to Europe. That would be a good thing for Mr Sarkozy to do.
I would now like to turn to economic issues. I read the following sentences in an interview in a German magazine. ‘How do you intend to maintain your system of supply and demand if you do not care about the people who are supposed to be buying the products? We need a system which gives those on low incomes a share in the profits of global financial speculation. A system is only ever as strong as the poor people who form part of it’.
This was said not by an economist or a politician, but by the human rights campaigner and singer, Harry Belafonte. Unfortunately, there are many politicians in Europe who do not have Mr Belafonte’s economic common sense. I think this is very sad and I believe that it is something which we need to change in Europe.
The system will not work without support for demand and support for the weaker members of society. However, in some cases, we are doing the opposite; for example, in Greece and also in Spain. We are achieving the opposite of what we want to achieve. We are creating less growth and employment rather than more. We are also reducing taxes and public revenues rather than increasing them. However, the fact that we have responded so late to the problem of youth unemployment is a particularly serious matter. Mr Van Rompuy, you are right that the Council has reacted, but we have seen huge increases in youth unemployment since 2008."@en1
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"generazione con meno di mille euro"1
"generazione mille euro"1
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