Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-20-Speech-4-091"

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"en.20010920.9.4-091"2
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". The economic and social cohesion we hear so much about is no more than a deliberate attempt to mislead the people of Europe and impose policies on them which serve the interests of big business. The relentless law of asymmetrical development operating within the capitalist system is not a figment of our imagination, it is a reality and the figures in the Commission's own reports confirm that there can be no talk of convergence; on the contrary, what we have is divergence between the Member States of the Community, between the rich and poor regions, even between regions within a Member State. A typical example is Greece, where the GNP of regions such as Epirus, Mytilene or the Peloponnese has fallen rather than risen. The per capita income in Hamburg is 440% higher than in Epirus, which is the poorest region in the ΕU. In Greece and Portugal, 22% of the population are living below the poverty line. Decisions by the ΕU are exacerbating social and economic differences, thereby giving the monopolies more and more options. EMU and the Stability Pact deprive the Member States of the right to exercise monetary policy, impose budgetary discipline and reduce social expenditure and public-sector investments. And people's earnings and the country's economy are being hit particularly hard by privatisation and, in more general terms, the structural changes being pushed forward in the form of liberalisation of the markets and reactionary decisions on the labour market. The prevalence of atypical, short-term and temporary forms of employment, part-time employment and changes to the national insurance system, along with the concentration of capital, are exacerbating what is already an unacceptable situation. Structural interventions funded from the Community purse are not designed to bring about real development in each region. They disregard what is unique to and the comparative advantages of each region and are dictated by big business's demand for greater profitability and the need to serve the objectives of the Stability Pact. As a result of this policy, considerable sums of money are being spent on showcase projects, on scrapping traditional productive sectors and on creating infrastructure works which serve private capital, helping to liberalise the markets and boost the unaccountability of the monopolies. The workers are fighting these political choices and aims on the part of the ΕU and the adverse impact which they generate, an impact which is being paid for by the poorest sections of society, workers and pensioners, farmers with small or medium-sized holdings and small enterprises, especially in the processing and trade sectors."@en1

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