Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-13-Speech-4-114"
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"en.20030213.5.4-114"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the steel crisis and, in particular, the recent decisions made by Arcelor, are not a Belgian regional problem, but a European problem. You do not need to live next to a smelting works in order to feel the whole human impact of the decisions that have been taken, the way in which they were taken, and to be aware of their economic impact, which will reach far beyond the Liège region and even across borders.
That is not the only thing, however, that demonstrates that the type of problem being raised here is not only regional but also European. The problem is not only confined to the steel industry. It is part of a business mindset in which financial profitability takes precedence over proximity – which was a genuine attribute – and in particular over respecting commitments made towards the sustainable development of the regions of Europe. As a result, if we respond to this with relatively weak declarations, we are confirming our inability, on the one hand, to ensure that basic social law is respected and, on the other hand to control or even prevent the use of public funds to create cheap jobs to the detriment of quality jobs that therefore have to be more expensive.
The action that we can take today involves enforcing the right to control the use of public funds, far beyond promises and declarations. However, currently it appears that the resources that we have are, in my opinion, insufficient. This raises the question: what is our ambition for the Europe of tomorrow? As we approach enlargement, it is vital that we define the social rules that the market will never define for itself, if we wish to prevent unfair and suicidal competition between the regions of Europe. Let us not forget that the financial rules, which are currently helping to drain certain regions of Europe to the benefit of others, will in the future drain Europe to the benefit of other regions in the world.
This debate is, therefore indeed about the social future, but also about the economic future of Europe. National governments and parliaments, but also the Commission, therefore urgently need to equip themselves with effective tools to manage both an economic Europe and a social Europe. Enforcing the right to legislate in order to better manage the future is not a question of ability but a question of political will. What we need to do first of all is to get past the fatalism of liberalisation and the selfishness of certain regions and countries, entrusting to Europe what will be best managed at that level, so that we can have a strong economy but also a quality of employment that is worthy of the social model that we are always talking about."@en1
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