Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-13-Speech-1-047"
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"en.20000313.2.1-047"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office, ladies and gentlemen, in the speeches which we have heard a noble aim has been mentioned, that of we Europeans becoming competitive with the United States, of developing ourselves into equal partners with the United States.
If we consider our gross national product, that ought actually to be possible. If, on the other hand, we look, for example, at the issue of filling top posts – when it is a question of finding a new Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund – and see how the Europeans behave towards the Americans, then without a doubt we are still a very long way from this equal partnership.
We now need to ask ourselves why this is the case. Of course there are sectors of the business world, including the new media, in which we occupy leading positions. Here I need only mention mobile telephones. We have banned them here in the Chamber, rightly, because they are instruments of torment. At the same time, however, they also make life much easier for many people because they create jobs.
And in Europe we are world leaders in this field. Why? We are world leaders because we managed to adopt a common set of European rules; early on we decided on a common European standard which today has become a world standard. This means that if we in Europe get our act together in good time then we will also be competitive in this field of new technologies.
Where then do Europe's shortcomings actually lie? I believe, Mr President-in-Office, that we cannot eliminate the shortcomings by setting up more observatories as is planned at present. I believe that these observatories create a handful of jobs for officials, but that they do not create any jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises. We in Europe are deficient where training is concerned. This is shown by the fact that where the new media are concerned we are having to import from countries outside Europe. Europe lacks, as has already been stated, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit. There are too few young people who are willing to take the risk of being self-employed.
The way in which we structure our work and the way in which work is organised is not flexible enough. Establishing additional rigid rules – such as, for example, introducing a rigid 35-hour week in France – can, I admit, create jobs in the short term, but I am convinced that in the long term it damages our competitiveness and thus destroys jobs.
In Europe we are also still a long way from a common domestic market. We have 15 domestic markets and a common European internal market. For electronic commerce we need common, clear, European rules. We need a European patent at a reasonable price; we do not have that yet either. This European patent is so expensive that it is not competitive with other patents. We need the European company legislation, and not least we need to adapt our social security systems to the new reality of a common Europe, because this too forms the basis of what we call the social model, namely a social market economy for Europe."@en1
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