Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-24-Speech-3-048"
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"en.20080924.4.3-048"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for this debate. I think it reflects very well the full spectrum of issues that the European Union deals with, from sports – a budget line for sports – to how we label medicines, to what we do in the Caucasus, or how we try to help the situation in the Middle East. We do all these things at the same time. It also represents the ultimate challenge from a communication point of view.
Since Jan Andersson also mentioned the whole social issue – and again it is the role of the Commission to make sure that we balance all issues in which the social agenda plays an important part – the forum that the Commission will be organising in November can, I hope, also look at questions about the functioning of the Posting of Workers Directive and help us to decide on the way forward. We will not shy away from looking at these issues as well. We know by now how important they are and how they affected even the Irish referendum.
On that topic, Mrs Grabowska, you also know the saying that ‘the lie is already halfway to Damascus while truth is putting its boots on’. I do not know exactly if this is the English expression, but you know the meaning. I think that this is part of it. If you are well-funded, if you can use and mobilise fear as well, this is very often more effective than maybe having to explain a treaty text that is not always that clear or that helps to simplify things. At the same time in this debate you have, however, given some of the best examples of why we need a new treaty, why that would help us to act and speak with one voice in the world and also be more effective in our decision-making, and why that would help citizens.
We continue to deliver, for example, with the proposal yesterday on the telecoms package which will give lower prices to all those of us who use mobile phones and make sure that roaming charges go down.
Finally also on the budget review, I would like to say that this consultation process on an initial so-called reflection paper can help us from the end of November to propose a new way of constructing the budget. I think it will be an opportunity to look at the question about what Europe is and how it should act over the coming years. That is only to comment on a few of the more detailed things that you have raised.
All of this I will take back to the Commission and it will feed into our discussions on the work programme. I have very much appreciated the full range of issues that have been mentioned here, and we will come back in a few weeks with a new proposal and present it in the full college. I also want to underline how important it is that we have a framework agreement that we also abide by and follow, and that we can agree on the way the institutions should work in an efficient, effective and democratic way together.
We have also heard some very detailed proposals here today. I want to assure you that the role of the Commission is to make sure that we can balance all of these interests, because the Commission cannot be seen as representing only one interest or only one stakeholder or only one issue. We have to cover this whole spectrum of political challenges. Sometimes we can choose the issues, others are chosen for us, and I think that, even if some people say that they had warned of the financial crisis, nobody knew exactly when it would occur or the full consequences of this financial crisis. So we have to deal with that as well. We have to be able to respond.
The way we do it, of course, is that we are the guardians of the Treaties, and that also sometimes restricts our capabilities or our capacities to act. We cannot suddenly make up new competences or enter into areas where we know that it is actually sometimes the Member States that have the competences, or we are at least limited in what we can propose, or we have to work together with the other institutions. That is what forms the framework for whatever we do.
When we met last time in a small seminar – and this is the message I want to pass on to Parliament as well – we said first of all that we will stay on message. We will not change our overall objectives of prosperity, solidarity and security. These will still guide everything we do, and prosperity means defending growth and jobs in Europe. Nobody should doubt our determination to continue to fight for growth and jobs in Europe. This has been even further reinforced by recent events and the financial crisis. It is all the more important that we have a very forceful policy and that we are careful about what we do right now. I do not think that anybody is ignorant of the fact that this is one of our major priorities, has been from the very beginning, and will continue to be one of our most important priorities.
On the topic of solidarity, this is about energy and climate change and about how we use the solidarity fund, because defence today is also defence against natural disasters or threats that we did not have, say, 10 or 20 years ago. Now we need proper cooperation and defence against these things too.
I do not like the doom-and-gloom atmosphere on energy and climate change. You know what, I think we have an enormous opportunity in Europe. I think we have the know-how, we have the technology, we have the resources, we have the people, we have hope for the future and, even if there is a cost to it all, I think we can do it and it will actually bring something very positive to Europe. It will bring a better quality of life and I think it offers new opportunities also for creating jobs in Europe.
I think that we have to turn it around and not only see it as a cost, a burden, an effort, but actually as part of the future. This is a solution for the future, and it is Europe that can take the lead, that can create innovation, jobs, creativity in Europe. It will bring us a better quality of life, especially by bringing the future into the picture for once and also by bringing the rest of the world into the picture.
We will also continue to deliver. Concrete results are the most important for this Commission. We will not be a caretaker Commission. We will continue to present proposals to this Parliament and to the Council until the end.
I thank you for all your concrete proposals and I would just like to respond to a few of them because I think, for example, the whole issue of consumer protection is a very important one, and we have a very ambitious project. We will present a proposal to undertake a complete review of the existing legislation on consumer protection, simplifying it and making it more accessible to all. We hope that Parliament will be able to deal with this major proposal before the elections. We will also, before the end of the year, present a proposal to extend the possibility of action on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, another important fund. We want to be able to also use this in the context of globalisation and to meet the effects of globalisation."@en1
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