Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-09-10-Speech-1-037-000"
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"en.20120910.21.1-037-000"2
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"Madam President, when I tell voters in Denmark about the work on standardisation, they actually find it hard to understand what it is all about. When it comes down to it, you could say that the EU’s standards and standardisation work are really one of the hidden successes of European cooperation. Without standardisation, our everyday lives would be much more difficult. It ensures, for example, that we can use our USB memory sticks in any PC we like. It also ensures that the thread on our light bulbs is standardised, so that we can buy any light fitting we like and still be sure of finding a bulb that fits.
There are also standards that are there generally to make the products on the European market safer, for everything from toys to house building, and there are standards that help to ensure that we can test our food and that the environment is protected. That is why it is also very important that we have been able to look at our legislation and have been able to revise the existing standardisation legislation at European level. We can thereby make it even easier to be a consumer, even safer to be a worker and, moreover, we can make it even easier to be a business that produces goods for the internal market.
I would like to highlight three things in the proposal that we have now negotiated which I think are good. First and foremost, it is essential that we have made the political mandate-giving process more transparent; that must be the case when we make political decisions on the mandates that are to be given. Secondly, it is also very important that we have secured broader participation in the standardisation work, and it was important to us in the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament to ensure that consumers, workers, environmental organisations, etc. are involved to a greater extent in the decision making in respect of standards. That was very important to us.
Finally, I would like to say that it was also important for us to ensure that we did not create an almost open back door when it comes to giving political mandates in the area of services. We wanted to stick to the principle that the Member States retain their powers in all matters that relate to defining the fundamental principles of social conditions, social security, health systems, etc. The amendments that Parliament has managed to push through have ensured that we make no changes to the Member States’ powers in this area. You could say that we have achieved a win-win situation. Workers, consumers, environmental organisations and businesses will gain a lot from this revision of the legislation on standardisation, which will mean that we can produce standards more easily, better and more quickly. In reality, all that is left is to say congratulations. Congratulations to European businesses, congratulations to European consumers and congratulations to European workers on legislation that makes it safer to be a citizen in the EU."@en1
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