Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-09-12-Speech-3-097-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120912.4.3-097-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I will give very concrete answers to very concrete questions.
Finally, let me thank you for this debate. I believe in democracy. I believe in national democracy, but also in European democracy. I want to reiterate that today, in the 21
century, with national democracy alone our citizens will not be able to control their future and their countries will become irrelevant. We are living in fundamentally new times. That is why we need to complete our national democracies with a strong European democracy. This Parliament is the basis for that future stronger European democracy.
First of all, to Mr Martin – because he was accusing me of giving too much attention to other Members of the Parliament – we are currently discussing in the Commission what we can do in terms of this issue of the risks inherent in different kinds of activities between banks.
As you know, Commissioner Barnier has asked Mr Liikanen to put forward a report. Based on that report we will take decisions about what we can do to prevent risks associated with big banks, namely the possibility of addressing the issue of different activities they may pursue.
Regarding other concrete issues, such as Romania and Bulgaria, we have already said that we believe that Romania and Bulgaria meet the necessary conditions to become members of the Schengen area. I want to reiterate that here today. That, of course, does not mean that we do not have the right to act when we believe decisions taken by any of our Member States may call into question some of the principles of the rule of law that all Member States accepted.
Some of you insisted on the issue of social cohesion. Indeed it is a very important matter. The reality is that we are doing what we can at European level, but there are differences here between the instruments available at national and European level. As you may be aware, one of the concerns we now have in terms of the discussion for the next MFF is the opposition that some of our governments are signalling, not only about the reinforcement of the Social Fund, but also the Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which is so important for workers who may feel the impact and be considered redundant because of some structural transformations in Europe, and even the Solidarity Fund, because there are some governments that are simply proposing the elimination of this fund.
I would also like to thank those of you who have referred to the European programme of aid for deprived persons. I would like to confirm that the Commission will put forward a proposal for a new programme to help poor people in Europe because there is now rising poverty in Europe.
So that is why we have to be absolutely sincere and frank. Yes, I say those words once again. You cannot withdraw from the European institutions the instruments for showing solidarity and afterwards criticise Europe because Europe does not have enough solidarity.
We also need to act at European level in the social area. This is critically important, not only because it is just, but because we need a social dimension at European level so that we can keep support for our social market economy and for our European project. When we speak about more Europe, it is not just more Europe for the sake of Europe or for the European institutions. The crisis in the euro area has shown that the credibility of the euro as a single currency is also dependent on the coherence and integration of the decisions taken for the euro area.
When people ask me why we need more Europe, we need more Europe if we want to keep and sustain a common currency. We need more integration of the institutions, but also more harmonisation of norms to avoid behaviours that are against the common norms and also we need more coherence of policies. This is indispensable for a common currency. Of course, we want to make those proposals not just for the euro area but for the European Union because we want this to be united and open for all. If some Members do not want to join us, of course they have that right, but they should not have the right to prevent those who want to have a stronger Union from building that stronger Union, not only for the currency but also for our common goals of a united Europe."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"st"1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples