Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-09-12-Speech-3-030-000"
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"en.20120912.4.3-030-000"2
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"Mr President, Mr Barroso, ladies and gentlemen, it is time we returned to the real debate. I would like to say to you, Mr Barroso, that you have explained your idea of the route which the European Union will take towards becoming a banking union and a political union and you have highlighted the model of a democratic federation of nation states. There is obviously a lot to say about this. However, I believe that the decisive point, which forms the basis of all the discussions about developing the European Union’s future and working together to shape it, is: What is the people’s opinion of this, how will they become involved and whose interest does a future model of this kind ultimately serve? If we can answer this question, it will probably be easier for us to discuss the sort of Europe that we need in the future. Many others have recently been talking in the same way as you about fundamental changes of course that now need to be made.
Once again I would like to ask you specifically to reformulate your ideas, and you have already been called on to do this, about how we can emerge from the crisis and where the European Union should go. You should focus on the social progress clause and the social pact. You should stop all attempts to privatise social goods, social services, social security systems and pensions and put an end to any pressure on the Member States to do so. These are the reasons why many people have lost their faith in the European Union. We need to restore that faith and we can only do this by finally taking on the task of creating a social, green and democratic Europe based on the principle of solidarity, a democratic Union which also fulfils its obligation as a global player to show solidarity with others. I would like to distance myself totally from what has just been said by those on the right.
However, I would like to explain to you that, in my view, at least three premises have not been met which are needed to prevent us from ending up in a blind alley. This also applies to what you have said today, at least in the case of the first two. It is clear from your answer that you are afraid, along with other representatives of the European institutions and the governments, of the threat of losing economic and political influence in the world, of the shrinking proportion of the population and the dwindling share of resources, to put it briefly, of sacrificing economic power and strength.
Secondly, you are willing to combat the crisis in the EU, but not its causes. The focus is moving away from the interests of the people, who urgently need a functioning, social and green Union based on the principle of solidarity. We need to hold the discussion now and not to paint a picture which may apply at some point in the future, but is not relevant to their interests and their current difficulties. You are putting the emphasis on greater regulation by the institutions, because this is what the financial elite needs. This is how you intend to bring an end to the functional deficits in the EU economy and, in particular, in the euro area.
My third point, and here I will leave you out to a certain extent, is that you, in other words, the institutions and, most importantly, those in government, are assuming that this route will be accompanied by a serious threat to Europe’s democratic fabric. I am very grateful to you for one thing, which is that you have made it clear that the European Parliament is needed, because without Parliament and its elected Members the discussion on reshaping Europe is not possible.
I would have welcomed many of the Commission proposals, including a banking union and Eurobonds, if they had not focused primarily on making profits in a competitive global environment. I want to be quite clear about this. I am in favour of more regulation of the markets and the banks, the removal of functional deficits in the economic and monetary union and even the banking union and Eurobonds. However, I am opposed to these objectives, to the way in which they will be achieved, to the conditions that have been put in place and to undermining democracy.
We must focus on the people in the European Union, in particular in the hard-hit crisis countries, and, most importantly, young people, old people, the unemployed and women. An earlier speaker mentioned, for example, the question of the Commission withdrawing its proposal for quotas for women and I would like to know why this is being done. In the light of the fact that most of the proposals for bringing an end to the crisis and developing the future European Union have been made by men, and in this context the presence of Ms Merkel by no means constitutes equality, and that women have been hardest hit by the crisis, I find it incomprehensible that we are prepared to sacrifice a fundamental value and a part of the European Parliament’s and the EU’s concept of themselves and, without making any protests, withdraw a call for women’s equality now and allow it to be taken away from us. I cannot accept that and my group will also not support it.
The so-called reforms which have been adopted in the memorandum with regard to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Euro Plus Pact, the fiscal compact and so on, represent an attack on people’s fundamental social rights. Mr Barroso, you cannot explain here how important the people and their social situation in the European Union are to you, while at the same time the Commission, which is part of the troika, is largely responsible for imposing conditions on Greece which will have an impact on the social situation of the very weakest members of society. As a member of the troika, the Commission simply cannot allow calls for working hours to be extended from five to six days, for the minimum wage to be drastically reduced and for strikes to be banned. That is totally unacceptable. It is your job to protect precisely these European Union values in times of crisis. The Commission is the guardian of the European Union’s values and standards.
In my group’s view, one example of what we are currently experiencing is the fiscal compact. We are still questioning whether it complies with EU law. In the meantime, we have had the treaty evaluated by an expert and it is correct that the compact lies outside the EU’s legal framework. It falls back on EU institutions for its implementation, but excludes the European Parliament. In the near future my group will be evaluating how we can take political action against this and what rights we have in this area.
On the path that the European Union is taking, and previous speakers have already discussed this, those in power are increasingly having recourse to the German model. However, the German model is not suitable for use as a model for the future European Union. We cannot accept it in this form."@en1
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