Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-149"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20031118.6.2-149"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in Flanders, thousands of Flemish dock workers’ families are anxiously waiting this week to see how next Thursday’s vote on the liberalisation of port services will turn out. In Flanders, thousands of people are anxiously waiting this week to see whether they will have a job in a few months’ time. That, and nothing else, is the bottom line of the report we are debating again today. The fact is that, for thousands of Flemish dockworkers, liberalisation in this context means nothing more than unemployment and social misery. By blindly believing its own ideology and ignoring any serious consultation with the parties involved, the Commission proves once again that it could not give a damn about the subsidiarity principle with which the prophets of the ‘Europe of milk and honey’ have bombarded us since Maastricht. Indeed, in the context of this issue, the Commission is tampering with traditions which, for decades, have made the name and fame of the Flemish ports across the world. With Thursday’s vote on this report, Europe is at risk of wiping out tens of years of social peace in the Flemish ports in the name of an ultra-Liberal ideology, which is at risk of creating the opposite of what it intends to do.
The liberalisation of particularly energy and rail transport has shown in Flanders, for example, but also in Great Britain, that it can also adversely impact on competition, job quality and the provision of services. Liberalisation of this kind could have pernicious consequences for our ports, their competitiveness, their employment and their provision of services. However, it is not too late.
I hope that on Thursday, all MEPs, whatever group or persuasion they belong to across the political spectrum, will consider the precarious situation of the dockworkers in Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent, but also in the other European ports. I therefore hope that there will be a massive vote against this report."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples