Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-07-15-Speech-2-023-000"
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"en.20140715.5.2-023-000"2
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"Mr President, Mr Juncker, major change does not happen on its own. It needs leadership to drive it; leadership that looks forward, not back; leadership that recognises the challenges of the 2050s – not those of 1950s; leadership that understands the concerns of the people of Europe, who want a Europe of cooperation – not a Europe of centralisation. If you put forward an agenda that opens markets, tears down barriers and decentralises power, then we will stand with you. But if you espouse an old, tired, backward-looking agenda, we will simply offer constructive, positive alternatives.
Sadly, Mr Juncker, members of my group do not feel able to vote for you today. But where you put forward an agenda which leads the EU towards the future – to the challenges of a new era – then you will be able to look to us for support in the future.
Many of us are looking for you to clarify your position, Mr Juncker. In last week’s hearings in the political groups on issues such as euro-federalism, maternity leave and budgetary rigour, you told the ECR one thing and seemed to tell the other groups another. We need the real Mr Junker to stand up and tell us what you really believe. But in reality, you know and we know that none of this really matters. The deal has been done; the spoils have been shared out. The election which was supposed to end all backroom deals has resulted in the mother of all backroom deals.
You know, and we know, that you are likely to be the next President of the Commission. Mr Juncker, we wish you well, but members of my political group will not be able to vote for your today for two reasons: firstly we do not subscribe to the process that brought you here; we do not believe that you have an EU-wide mandate that stretches across all 28 Member States. Secondly, members of my group are not yet convinced that you are the right man to lead the charge for European reform. I hope that, over the next few years, you will prove us wrong.
The question I want to put to you is this: do you want your Commission to be the last of an old era or the first of a new era? That is the crux of the leadership we would like to see. We need leadership to reform the budget for a new era, moving away from the idea that a bigger budget means a better budget. Instead, let us have a better budget, to invest – and facilitate investment – in infrastructure, technology and research. Let our children inherit a vibrant economy built for their future. They must not inherit the large debts built up in the past. Instead of focusing on how to raise money from our own resources, let us lead a debate towards how we spend taxpayers’ money better. That is why my group would like to see a dedicated commissioner for budgetary control.
We need leadership to build a single market fit for the new era. Yet eight years since the Services Directive, a single market in services is still far from reality. Why do we not sit down with the digital entrepreneurs and ask them about the barriers they face – and then let us tear them down. It is time we delivered a single market for all. Let us look at the energy market and together identify and remove blockages in it; create incentives for consumers to promote energy efficiency, and ensure investment in energy security, new energy sources and more interconnectors to reduce our dependence on regimes in the Middle East and Russia. We need leadership to deliver trade and international development policies fit for a new era: more open, and yet more transparent trade agreements with fast growing economies, but also international development programmes to promote property rights, legal and financial systems, support for entrepreneurs in poorer countries to create wealth and jobs for local people in their countries.
We need leadership to promote better regulations that are fit for a new era; talk to businesses of all sizes directly and ask them what stops them from creating extra jobs, what stops them from creating that growth. We need leadership to address the underlying weaknesses in the eurozone; the significant productivity gaps that are inflicting job losses and crippling levels of youth unemployment in southern Europe. Now, with the euro, many Member States have lost the instrument of exchange rates to address these problems. As a result, we have seen burdens passed from banks to taxpayers, treaties broken and untold state intervention.
We need leadership on immigration in order to restore people’s faith in both the principle of free movement of those workers who wish to work and contribute to their new host countries, as well as in controlled migration which respects the rights of all Member States – both those welcoming new workers, and those Member States who are losing their youngest and brightest talents to other countries.
Mr Juncker, today I have only outlined a few examples of where leadership is needed to build an EU fit for a new era; to build an EU fit for the century ahead of us, not the century behind us; leadership to address the fears and suspicions of our voters towards the EU’s direction; leadership which seeks to fulfil people’s hopes and aspirations for the future."@en1
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"(Scattered applause)"1
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