Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-23-Speech-2-241-000"
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"en.20121023.16.2-241-000"2
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"Madam President, it is a great pleasure for me to be able to present to this House the Commission’s work programme for 2013, which has just been adopted by the College, which is still in session, because this programme is the culmination of an intense political dialogue and very close collaboration between the Commission and Parliament.
The Commission will therefore continue to push for a strong and competitive financial sector to restore growth and investment in the real economy. I see, for instance, that good progress is already being made on the credit rating agencies file in Parliament and in the Council. In 2013, we will address shadow banking, and put key indices used in the financial sector on a stronger footing. Businesses and home owners cannot be open to manipulation of the interest rates.
But we are not starting from scratch. The legislation this House has passed has already transformed the financial sector to a great extent. The European Semester is now established as a key pillar of economic governance. But to restore the confidence of citizens and markets we must go further and together.
If stability is the basis for sustainable growth and jobs, competitiveness and confidence are the engines. Europe’s economy can only survive with a strong and modern industrial base and our companies can only win away if the home field provides an optimal platform.
That is why we need a strong single market. We need to fill regulatory gaps. We need to unleash the growth potential in networks and the digital economy. We need to exploit mobility and we need to use cohesion policy as a driver for reform, not just as the safety net.
You will have seen the ideas put forward by the Commission in its Industrial Policy Flagship and Single Market Acts. Building on the progress made in the first phase, we should all pull together to make sure that these actions are developed, agreed and implemented before June 2014.
Agreement on the package for the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 is critical. It offers the kind of smart investment the EU economy needs and, subject to an agreement being found, we will need to devote a lot of attention and effort next year to the finalisation of sectoral instruments and programming of the next generation of projects.
The next year will also see new initiatives in key areas: on access to finance, in particular for SMEs; on cutting costs in areas like VAT; on leveraging investment in strategic sectors from aeronautics to pharmaceuticals; on broadband infrastructure and electronic payments. We also need to give investors long-term certainty and long-term vision about the society they live in.
Modernising infrastructure in ICT, energy and transport is critical to providing this certainty. So too is a fresh look at European air and waste legislation. This is, in particular, why we need a framework for climate and energy policy to 2030.
To build the future, Europe must build on its youth. Youth unemployment is a crisis within the crisis. The human tragedy and the economic loss of leaving a generation on the sidelines is something that we can neither allow, nor afford as a society. While many of the levers are national, there is much that Europe can do to invest in its people, to increase mobility between jobs and across borders, to target education and training in the right skills, and to protect the most vulnerable.
The European Semester is proving a key tool to stimulate job creation and to bring closer a truly European labour market. Amongst new proposals will be very practical measures to network national employment services to work together. I hope also that the proposals we are preparing for December of this year on employment packages, especially on youth guarantee, will be one of the priorities for this House.
We had very good collaboration with the Conference of Committee Chairs. The structural dialogue between the Commission and the sectoral committees was much deeper than last year and the debate after the State of the Union address, the recent exchange of views between the Commission and the Conference of Committee Chairs, and the exchange between the Conference of Presidents and myself have all been information sources which contributed to the preparation of the Commission’s work programme.
We are a community of values. At a time when our attention is directed at the economy, we must not lose sight of this: our freedoms sustain our prosperity. To grow and create jobs we must continue to safeguard and expand the freedoms of citizens. The EU must also protect its citizens by adapting to new threats and challenges. Concrete action next year to fight arms traffic, improve judicial cooperation and protect financial interests through a European Public Prosecutor will all help to ensure that citizens and companies can exercise their freedoms and rights in security.
In 2013, the Commission will also continue relentlessly to defend European values and interests around the world. In external trade this can make a huge difference, with the potential for 2 million new jobs in the medium term. Possible agreements with partners such as Japan and the United States would have a huge impact.
Europe must continue to show that it is a positive force worldwide. This was very clearly recognised by the Nobel Prize Committee. Effective development and humanitarian aid will be directed to those most in need and an active enlargement and neighbourhood policy will continue to make the EU an anchor of peaceful development in our region and beyond. Once again, putting the new generation of programmes in place will make a key contribution to this.
Madam President, honourable Members, these are crucial years for Europe. The steps we take over the next few years will decide our future path. We must direct our energies to making the most of the rest of this legislature, bringing all key proposals to their conclusion before 2014.
The Commission is looking forward to working closely with Parliament and the Member States to move from programme to progress and to take the next decisive concrete steps together towards a stronger, more prosperous and fairer Europe.
It was quite clear from all these discussions that this programme has to focus on how the EU can best contribute to what is our most pressing priority: reviving growth and creating jobs. 2013 will indeed be a decisive year in turning Europe round to face up to the crisis and to pursue the path of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. As we listened to the exchanges this morning, we could all conclude that there is no one silver bullet, and that all levels of society must contribute. But we are at EU level and we have to look at how the EU level can help to show a lead and make sure the result of our action will be a strong record to put before the electorate in 2014.
With this in mind, the Commission’s priorities are clustered around seven key policy areas. The first covers moving towards a genuine EMU. Here it is quite clear that a deep and genuine economic union must be based on political, and hence more democratic, union.
The second is boosting competitiveness through the single market and industrial policy. The third is building fully integrated networks in telecoms, energy and transport as a prerequisite for competitiveness, jobs and growth. The fourth is growth for jobs: supporting employment services, promoting social inclusion and entry into labour markets, with special measures to help vulnerable groups, notably young people who are faced with a huge unemployment pressure.
The fifth is using Europe’s resources to compete better. The sixth priority is to provide greater safety and security to all EU citizens and the seventh – last, but not least – strengthening the EU as a global actor, notably to unleash all our potential in trade policy.
For each of these seven key policy areas, the work programme sets out clearly the long-term vision and objectives, summarises what is missing and explains how the Commission will take up the challenge.
Honourable Members, let me briefly take you through some of the main priorities. The details of building a genuine economic and monetary union are the subject of a deep reflection. As this morning’s debate showed, the discussion will continue but the Commission will present shortly its blueprint, which should be a contribution to this debate. It will show how to have an ambitious approach, based on existing institutions to ensure full democratic control. Making this happen will be the key priority for next year.
This also means modernising the ways that we generate public revenue – at European and at national level. The Commission has responded today to the request from those Member States who wish to move ahead quickly on a Financial Transaction Tax. Large and small Member States determined to pioneer a new way to make everybody shoulder their fair share."@en1
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