Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-106"
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"en.20000411.5.2-106"2
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"Madam President, many observers have stressed the fact that the Special Summit was characterised by the triumph of the contentions of Mr Blair and Mr Aznar. If that means that the Lisbon Summit sanctioned a liberal view of Europe, then I must of course, unfortunately, concur with this analysis. I cannot however be delighted by it. I do not by any means wish to allow the current British and Spanish Heads of Government to monopolise the offensive position with regard to the information revolution. In my opinion, this is indeed a huge challenge which must be accepted. So when I read the summit conclusions which state that Europe has set itself the goal of promoting a dynamic knowledge-based economy ‘capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs’, I say, ‘Go on then, I dare you.’ An annual upturn in investment in people and adopting a proactive policy to promote full employment is something I am firmly in favour of.
The political difference between us is not a question of whether or not to adopt modern methods, but of what our concept of these modern methods is, particularly on the place and the role which all men and women, bar none, must play, both as workers and as citizens. In this respect, however, Mr Blair and Mr Aznar and their followers are held captive by archaic liberal ideas, which are conformist in the most ordinary way: allow the market, particularly the financial market, to operate, introduce wage flexibility, reduce labour costs, even if it means boosting the mechanism which produces inequality, precariousness and exclusion across the entire planet. There’s the rub: do we or do we not have the courage to tackle these taboo areas at the very time when we are starting to see such promising beginnings of a new phase in human civilisation? This, in my opinion, is the yardstick against which we will be able to measure Europe’s true ambition and also the true modernity of the left."@en1
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