Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-25-Speech-4-072-000"
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"en.20121025.11.4-072-000"2
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"Madam President, my sincerest thanks to everyone for the high standard of this very dynamic debate and the fact that so many of you have taken part.
The task we have taken on is a vast one, I believe, but it is not being executed quickly enough. Very soon we will need to be thinking about what the Single Market Act III could consist of, in 2014. Mr Harbour, we should probably focus on new measures to give the digital single market a boost. I am expecting to talk to Commissioner Kroes and my other colleagues about this.
Mr de Jong and Mr Karas mentioned SMEs and product safety. I worry a great deal – and Commissioner Tajani does too – that the measures we are taking in the Single Market Act will be approved or rejected on the basis of whether they are advantageous or disadvantageous for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Trust me.
I just want to ask you, as I am asking the Council, Mr Mavroyiannis, whom I thank for being here, to speed up the adoption of certain texts, on public procurement, Mr Tarabella, accounting standards, and capital requirements IV, for which we have issued some proposals on transparency as the rapporteur Mr Karas knows, which should encourage the financing of SMEs by the banking sector.
These are some very concrete texts. If you look at each one of them in detail, you will find they contain measures that are more favourable to or less restrictive for SMEs. To Mr Kósa, who raised the issue of daily living for disabled people – for which I thank him – I want to say that as far as product safety is concerned, we will be very mindful of this, along with Commissioner Reding, when special measures are proposed in 2013 on the access of disabled people to a larger number of products.
Many of you mentioned the social dimension – the competitive social market economy – and I thank you for that, particularly Ms Regner, Ms Rühle, Mr de Jong and Mr Rübig. Once we know something has to be done and we need to introduce reforms, one of the keys to this is social dialogue, which is something some countries do better than others. For example, I could compare the high standard of social dialogue that takes place in Germany with a frequent absence of social dialogue in my own country. We cannot reform, we cannot win the competitiveness and sustainable growth battle without social cohesion, without social dialogue, and without respect for the social partners.
I want my agreement with this to be noted, and I also want to say to anyone who is worried about privatisation, Ms Rühle and Ms Regner, that the treaty clearly and, I believe, definitively stipulates that each country is free to choose how it organises its public services. I would be the first person, wherever I am, to protect this freedom of choice when it comes to the standard of public services.
I should just say, however, that within the framework of this freedom, if one or two countries decide to use a different economic model, it is their sovereign right to use external service providers for some public service roles. In that case we would be accountable for compliance with the rules on public procurement and concessions, and particularly the rules on transparency. That was my intention when I tabled certain texts on public procurement and concessions, but I am totally committed to each country having this freedom of choice, particularly when it comes to protecting public services.
I would like to thank Mr Schwab and Mr Buşoi for raising the matter of implementation again, as did Mr Mavroyiannis. I am encouraged on this matter by Mr Van Rompuy and the European Council’s call for the rapid, concrete implementation by Europe’s governments of many of the texts we have presented and, along with you and the Commission, I will be ensuring that we can reach proper agreements over the next few weeks or months.
Mr Bufton, earlier on, and Ms Mazej Kukovič mentioned the very important external dimension of the single market. We are not alone. We must continue to be open to trade as a continent, but without the naivety of which we have demonstrated too much in the past. We need to take a good look at the rest of the world, which sometimes still hopes Europe will be there but no longer expect us to be, whether it is Brazil, China, the United States of America or India.
So let us consolidate the single market. Honourable Members, I can assure you that when you are in these big countries – I was in Brazil last week – you find that the only reason why they have respect for Europeans is because of the scale of the single market with its 500 million consumers and 22 million companies.
Many of you – Mr Scicluna at the start, Ms Werthmann, Mr Obermayr – have said that we needed the single market for growth. I would reiterate that it is not enough just for the single market to function well. There are plenty of initiatives – whether national, private, public or European – that should encourage growth, but the single market is a necessary condition for this. If it is working well, all the private and public initiatives that support the single market will work better and be more effective.
While I am on the subject of the rest of the world, Mr Alves, I have not forgotten the place or role of the outermost regions. As part of the follow-up to the report by Mr Solbes on Europe’s Outermost Regions and the Single Market, which I commissioned, we are preparing some more specific but very practical measures for State aid and innovation.
While I am also on the subject of consumer and citizen protection, I can reiterate to Mr Kósa that I am very concerned about the daily living conditions of disabled people. That is why I have asked the Council for a mandate to launch a discussion on the issue of intellectual property and to discuss an exception for people who are hard of hearing; I am an active supporter of the social enterprise sector, as you know. Many companies are in fact oriented towards disabled people.
I can tell Mr Karas, who spoke about citizen and consumer protection, that I believe every citizen is necessary in the battle for the single market and competitiveness.
So there we are, honourable Members. Mr Paška and Mr Moreira mentioned the completion of the single market in employment. This is also one of our proposals in the Single Market Act II, most notably the development of a European public recruitment service, with EURES. There are not enough online curriculum vitae. We are going to increase this capacity considerably and also encourage cross-border recruitment.
Finally, not with propaganda – this was the word used by Mr Ferreira but I do not think he was right – or smugness, but simply with pride in the work done by our predecessors along the lines of Jacques Delors’s proposal for a single market, let us look ahead and open up the debate with Europe’s citizens.
Over the last few days, many of us have taken part in discussions as part of Single Market Act Week – Ms Thun und Hohenstein mentioned the one in Warsaw. We have had lots of discussions. I was talking with Mr Harbour about the success of the 90-92 generation, where we saw young people who had plenty to say. We need to listen to people. I would like it if – including at the Commission – we could change the ‘top down’ way we communicate, as if we were saying ‘we are always right in Brussels’. That is not true. There are masses of ideas, criticisms and suggestions that should come from the bottom up.
Along the lines of what we did for the first time with Single Market Act Week, I am going to be taking other initiatives with my colleagues to open the debate with European citizens, where we ask those on the ground, consumers, unions, professionals and small businesses, to put forward their ideas. I am repeating what Ms Corazza Bildt and Ms Sehnalová said: a debate for citizens, a cultural dimension, Mr Schwab. Cultural means with citizens. It means not only talking technical, about money and laws, but also asking for people’s opinions. Many of you have taken part in these debates, and I am going to be taking other high-profile initiatives, particularly through social networks and the internet, to open up this crucial, interactive debate on the future and the consolidation of the single market.
That is why I cannot agree with Mr Zéribi, who was not here when I spoke and who has now left, but who criticised me several times for being smug. That was frankly not the tone of my comments. There is no place for smugness, nostalgia or sadness at the moment. None at all.
We need to take stock of the progress we have made, and many of the political groups have emphasised the amount of progress in terms of jobs. Mr Ferreira has also left but he talked of a race to the bottom. That is not true. The 2 500 000 students who have taken part in Erasmus, the lowering of mobile phone tariffs by 70 %, the millions of citizens who now have access to cheaper airfares: that is not a race to the bottom. These are the advantages of the single market.
However, I think we should also be looking ahead. Mr Pargneaux was just talking about the new model. Indeed we should be and are working together on very practical initiatives as part of this new economic and social model. Mr Pargneaux was asking about closer cooperation initiatives. Take the example of patents: here is a practical initiative for closer cooperation that I presented a year and a half ago and you supported, which will clearly lead to many new jobs through the smart protection of inventions throughout the single market. And the basic bank account, which you called for unanimously. These initiatives are part of this model.
This is not smugness. We need to watch out, however, because, as Mr Repo and Mr Schmidt said – they used the word protectionism – the single market is currently in the paradoxical situation of being the first potential victim of the crisis if we let protectionism, national withdrawal and nationalism, which we sense is on the increase everywhere because of the crisis, run riot at the exact moment when the single market is our best chance, our leading asset for getting out of the crisis. We must ensure it is working well and is destined to become what both you and I believe in: a competitive social market economy. All four of these words are important; not just one or two of them as we have perhaps thought, even in Brussels, in the last 20 years.
Just briefly, many of you – Ms Vergnaud, Mr Zéribi, Mr Creutzmann and Mr Correia de Campos – spoke about networks. These are the arteries of the single market. That is why we made them a priority in the Single Market Act II. There is plenty to do in this field.
Mr Creutzmann and Mr Pirker mentioned the issues concerning railways, which are dealt with by the Committee on Transport and Tourism and its chair, Mr Simpson. The procedures we have for certifying rail companies and approving rolling stock are much too lengthy, much too expensive. This is not liberalisation, this is encouraging harmonisation so that the free movement of people and goods can work. We have work to do on harmonisation including, Mr Correia de Campos, in the field of energy. The lack of a single market in energy, which Ms Vergnaud also mentioned, costs consumers EUR 13 billion.
We therefore need to harmonise the single energy market. I could give other examples in the maritime sector. Why is it – and this is just one example – that when it arrives in Naples, cargo that comes from Rotterdam has to undergo the same formalities as cargo from Shanghai? That is not a single market. We need to sort out these problems practically. That is the aim of all the measures we will be taking with Commissioner Kallas, in the Single Market Act II. I would reiterate to Mr Becker that we are working together, just as you are. I am not working alone but with 12 of my fellow Commissioners, which means that the Single Market Acts I and II implement the work of many of the European Parliament’s committees. This is particularly the case with Commissioner Kroes, my colleague who is responsible for the digital agenda. I was very interested in what the committee chair, Mr Harbour said, but also Mr Rübig, Ms Rapti, Mr Arias Echeverría, whom I thank very much, and Ms Jazłowiecka, Ms Stihler too, and Mr Creutzmann, on the digital single market."@en1
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