Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-15-Speech-1-096"
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"en.19991115.7.1-096"2
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"Mr President, I would like to say to Mr Matthews that, following my visit to London, there was a party statement accusing me of having “crazy ideas”. I hope that this was not the general consensus. In response, I must say that– and politicians too are always faced with such dilemmas – you have to decide between being a likeable individual or one that is effective. I could quite easily be a likeable person. Parliament’s amendments from April could have been accepted, incorporated into a text and referred to the Council and from there on I could quite easily have said that it was just a matter for the Council. However, it was I who introduced the reform, accepted the proposals and forwarded them to the Council and left it in the hands of the Council to resolve.
However, I believe that for such a demanding directive – and Parliament is quite aware that it is not a straightforward one – we must take the current state of affairs of each country, the various aspects of social dialogue, the positions of the social partners and the various discrepancies in all the points I mentioned before, piece them all together and thereby find a very fine balance between them all, so that we can be as successful as we possibly can. If we approve the amendments straight away, and take the new proposal to the negotiating table, then that will necessitate unanimity, which, as we all know, as things stand at present, will not achieve the desired result. I believe therefore that we need to be more effective and I shall endeavour to do just that. Already we are in constant communication with national representatives and governments, with all the individual ministers. In my view, this directive is not merely a directive which will help workers. I believe that it is of great social significance because of the major problems and reforms ahead of us. And we all know that there are sectors, such as the banking sector, which will undergo radical change in the coming years.
We must therefore prepare a framework to make us all aware that it will facilitate competition, and that it will not be just a framework of social awareness, but one that will protect social equilibrium and social rest in Europe, and ensure stability and development. We shall proceed on this basis, and on this basis, I shall also proceed, with the aforementioned timetable, in the belief that, under the Portuguese Presidency, we will indeed be able to find a new strategy.
I, like Ms Damião, note that there are such endeavours and laws at national level and two directives at Community level. With this new directive, we wish to reinforce the right of workers to be consulted and informed, which to date has not been reinforced. There is more to be done on a voluntary basis and this can be interpreted at will. We want to see stronger reinforcement and greater responsibility being taken, but we also need to have the consensus of both Member States and social partners because acceptance from all quarters will play an extremely important role in its effective implementation."@en1
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