Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-10-Speech-2-330"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040210.13.2-330"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of my group, I have to say that I do not fully understand why Mr Bushill-Matthews asked this question. We are all aware of the problem, and the Commissioner’s reply has also demonstrated that something is being done, and that naturally pressure is also being put on Member States as and where we can. I think your points, particularly the three requests, are expressed in too summarised a form to seriously tackle the topic as a whole and all aspects of demographic change.
Both the Member States and the candidate countries are aware of the challenges. Let me refer you to the two reports our committee and Parliament have already approved in 2001 and 2003, which were produced by Mr Cercas and Mr Andersson. I think you will find the subject receives much more thorough treatment in those reports. We are not only talking about raising the age of retirement, as Mr Bushill-Matthews has reminded us. Clearly one issue is the need to remove the incentives for taking early retirement. Of course, we also need to get rid of the discrimination older workers still often encounter in our labour market, such as the fact that they are rarely allowed to participate in further training, the way their experience is often under-used, the way they have no chance of any kind of promotion. All this forms part of making the labour market attractive and reasonable for older workers. There is certainly a lot of catching up to be done, both by the Member States and on our side, which goes far beyond simply increasing the age of retirement.
Of course, one other element, as Mrs Bastos has said, is to consider how we can promote child-friendly employment conditions in the European Union; how we can support women in combining work and family. I think there is a hefty contradiction if the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Demcorats have no problem with calling for a 55- or 60-hour working week, as they did yesterday, expects that, and never stops to consider that it completely rules out a child-friendly society. I think this is another important point.
The third and last point is that of course we need to have an unbiased, open and serious discussion about an active immigration policy. We should also seriously discuss the immigration strategy mentioned recently in this House by Kofi Annan. I think all this belongs to a policy which establishes a balance between the generations and welfare as well as showing intergenerational solidarity, as it is often called here. This is more important than simply talking about raising the retirement age."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples