Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-14-Speech-4-126"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001214.3.4-126"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I would firstly like to congratulate Mr Langen on the sound report which he has produced on the issue of shipbuilders.
I would like to remind you that the issue we are dealing with today is an old one. It has been a recurrent theme. Specifically, it is now more than two years since we condemned the unfair practices which essentially take place in South East Asia, and which affect our shipbuilding industry.
In recent weeks, the Commission has told us that the system of subsidies, thanks to which our industry is subsisting, must be removed as from January as a result of a supposed improvement in competitiveness. On the other hand, after more than two years of ferocious unfair competition on the part of Korea, the Commission has decided, after receiving a formal complaint from all our shipbuilders, to take the case to the World Trade Organisation. As you all know, it will take more than six months to carry out this procedure. Furthermore, if successful, the creation of a group of experts within that organisation will mean that it will take at least two years.
In the meantime, it is intended that what remains of our shipbuilding industry will subsist thanks to a package of aid to research and development, which will enter into force in January, as Commissioner Monti pointed out yesterday afternoon. We have held a meeting with him, in which I asked him a series of questions. It can be deduced from the conclusions of the meeting that the aid received by our industry has not resolved the problem of Korea. I pointed out to him that the European shipbuilding industry is unprotected. He then said that after 2 December an investigation would perhaps be opened, and that after that investigation we would have to wait and see what happened, etc.
I believe that the honest ones, the Europeans, are being left to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, the pirates, to put it in realistic, if pejorative, terms, have the advantage within this competitive world. It is we who play by the rules and it is we who end up losing. I, for example, am from the Basque Country, and I live close to Bilbao. There, these days, what were once shipyards are now concert halls, maritime museums etc. In these shipyards, 4 000 people once worked, and now just a couple of doormen work in each place, and that is what is happening in the European countries. That is, while we are enduring unemployment, the Koreans are doing good business in their shipyards."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples