Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-17-Speech-3-217"
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"en.19991117.7.3-217"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the report we are discussing today contains Parliament’s proposals for reforming the European Union. This is necessary because of the forthcoming enlargement. The reform is also necessary, however, due to the fact that now, for the time being, eleven countries have a common monetary policy. This necessitates the Member States’ at least pursuing their economic policies on the basis of common principles.
The economic system prescribed in the Treaty of Rome has remained the basis of the Community’s economic policy. It is a system of open markets. In a number of Member States, one particular concept has been adopted. It bears the name “social market economy”. I would recommend that this concept of the social market economy be incorporated into the Treaty. That is also the view of the majority of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy.
A significant part of the Member States’ economic policy revolves around tax policy. Here, through Europe’s internal market, competition between the economic systems has arisen which, in the area of VAT, for example, has led to tax rates’ converging. However, the internal market in this area is not complete because the anticipated changeover to the country of origin principle has not yet taken place. This is one example of why the requirement of unanimity in the Council has led to paralysis in decision making and therefore to a reduction in economic performance. As a result, our economic growth is lower and unemployment higher. That is why it is necessary, at least when it comes to the procedures for collecting taxes effective across national borders (VAT in particular), to permit qualified majority voting in the Council.
A further problem area is Parliament’s still inadequate participation in the legislative procedures concerning competition. Competition is the key to our industry’s competitiveness and therefore a prerequisite for Europe’s ability to embrace the future. We therefore demand, where legislative procedures in this area too are concerned, that the European Parliament be involved in the decision-making process.
What we request is that, in a number of areas in which, in full adherence to the principle of subsidiarity, the Treaties now already accord Europe a key role, the role of Parliament should be strengthened and the principle of majority voting established in the Council."@en1
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