Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-01-16-Speech-3-016-000"
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"en.20130116.4.3-016-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to say good morning to the Taoiseach and welcome him to the Chamber this morning. On behalf of my group let me welcome the fact that Ireland is taking on the Presidency at this crucial time and indeed personally, as someone who is half Irish, it gives me particular pleasure, Taoiseach, to welcome you here this morning and it gives me the opportunity to wish you well. I have every confidence that your Presidency will in fact turn out to be a success because Ireland has such a distinguished track record during previous presidencies.
Ireland’s second Presidency in 1979 saw the conclusion of the GATT agreement which opened up international trade, the 1990 Irish Presidency helped to reunify the continent following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 2004 Irish Presidency welcomed many former Soviet bloc states into the EU. Now, of course, it will not surprise you that my group does not agree with everything that either you have said today or that is included in your Presidency priorities but there is a substantial amount on which we can agree.
Naturally, in particular we welcome your emphasis on growth, on jobs and on stability. We agree with you that developing the single market as a drive of economic growth has to be a key priority. My group has long argued that it is time for the single market to move into the digital age and there is much in the Single Market 2 Act which delivers on this important agenda and we will work with you in attempting to deliver it.
In your priorities, you also talk about improving access to finance and, to quote, ‘public procurement for small businesses’. We, of course, welcome that although we will wait to see whether any concrete action actually flows from that statement. My group believes that there is one small but important change that you could make and that is to the Council meetings themselves, by creating a dedicated single market Council meeting rather than lumping this important policy area into other configurations.
It is, of course, as I have said many times essential that we reprioritise Europe’s competitiveness. Like much of Europe, your country was hit hard by the crisis but you have made great progress, as many have said, in your fight back. Ireland in my view is a fundamentally competitive economy compared to many other European countries. In particular I congratulate you in having rightly fought to preserve your low corporate tax rates; Ireland should be an example to the rest of Europe. I am thinking particularly of the Socialists and President Hollande here, showing that low tax rates do lead to a more competitive economy generating growth and creating wealth.
I also, unlike Mr Cohn-Bendit, welcome your very sensible opposition to a Financial Transaction Tax. It will be extremely damaging for many of the Member States that have introduced it, but there again that is their problem. Luckily Mr Cohn-Bendit will never get the opportunity to spend the vast fantasy sums which he thinks will be raised by it.
As you also said in your remarks, we have a unique opportunity in the next few months to make substantial progress on an EU-USA free trade agreement. The first half of 2013 not only sees Ireland hold the Presidency of the EU but it sees my own country hold the Presidency of the G8. I really hope that both Presidencies can work hard on such an agreement to get it off the ground. It seems to have gone from a pie-in-the-sky notion to a distinct possibility in a matter of months. The benefits of reducing tariffs are incalculable, both to our economies and across the Atlantic, and indeed it will help to build further on the transatlantic partnership.
I believe that our people in Europe want to see the EU making a difference in those areas where it can genuinely add value. What they do not want to see is more institutional navel gazing or theological blueprints for deepening economic and monetary union. We all know of course that there is little willingness by any Member State to shift from their entrenched positions on the eurozone crisis, whether in the north or in the south, so in my view it is important not to waste time and divert scarce resources trying to pretend otherwise.
Taoiseach, my hope is that you will be able to return here in the summer saying that you have laid the groundwork for a more open and competitive market, for a more complete digital single market and for freer trade with our major economic partners. That indeed would be a worthy legacy of your Presidency."@en1
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