Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-22-Speech-2-400-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120522.18.2-400-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"(
) Mr President, Minister, Commissioners, I will never get used to European Councils being prepared by the General Affairs Council, and I am disappointed that Mr Van Rompuy has not come to debrief us at this meeting, even if it is informal.
Actually, Minister, the problem at hand does not come under the authority of the rotating Presidency. Since there has been a permanent Presidency, we at the European Parliament no longer have any contact with Heads of State or Government. We are facing a problem which falls to the European Council and Heads of State or Government. I regret that we have no dealings with Mr Van Rompuy because the truth is that the Council convened tomorrow and one at the end of June is intended to close the European Semester. This is not exactly the European Council on growth that we in the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) asked for as far back as early December last year.
A few thoughts on the matter: firstly, we are no longer listening to advocates of zero growth. This is good news. Next, I reiterate the idea that we should examine the effectiveness of public spending. I propose an independent audit, conducted by the European Court of Auditors and the 27 national courts of auditors, to find out where we could make savings: 27 armies, yet no enemies, research programmes that have been funded 15 times without any coordination, hundreds of diplomatic buildings where the costs are not even shared.
The second point of thought is competitiveness. A word that is not used enough. Firstly, the competitiveness of our companies (flexicurity, labour costs) – and this does not mean public spending and higher levies as proposed by Mr Hollande to resolve the problems of competitiveness that we face in Europe and France. Next, the competitiveness of the continent. Yes, we need a major infrastructure plan for roads, digital technology, space and universities.
Finally, for struggling States, I suggest, in line with Jean-Paul Gauzès’ proposals, that we consider establishing hive-off vehicles, beyond ratios, with a banking licence, in other words, access to the European Central Banks (ECB)’s cash to help States recover. However, each State needs to pay off its debts. We are never going to get a political majority whereby the people of one State pay off another State’s debts. Each State needs to pay off its own debts.
Lastly, Mr President, the speech on the State of the Union is woefully inadequate. I propose organising a Congress of the Union in the autumn, which would bring together Heads of State or Government, the European Commission, the European Parliament and national parliaments to ensure that the direction of the continent is in the interests of the European people."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"FR"1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples