Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-25-Speech-3-058"
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"en.20040225.5.3-058"2
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"Mr President, the Lisbon strategy remains the most coherent means of making Europe a centre of economic, social and environmental excellence. But it is not enough for Europe to proclaim its ambitions; it must also equip itself with the means to achieve them. Budgetary austerity is no such means, even though stability remains an aim that must be resolutely pursued. For all that, balanced public expenditure would be much easier to achieve if the European economy started growing again.
The Right preaches austerity to us, claiming to defend future generations against the burdens imposed by our generation. But what will future generations say if we leave them a world characterised by gross inequalities, where insecurity and unemployment marginalise more and more of the population? The virtues of American flexibility are extolled to us. And yet the unemployment rate in the United States currently stands at about six per cent of all active jobseekers. This concept of actively seeking work is important, because it has served to remove five million Americans from the unemployment statistics since President Bush took office. Moreover, the country with the Statue of Liberty keeps 2.2 million adults of working age in captivity in its prisons. The American social model is manifestly not to be recommended.
In the realms of research and of public and private investment, on the other hand, Europe should indeed draw inspiration from the United States. Where Europeans see risks, as in the domain of biotechnology, the Americans see opportunities. While our Union invests some 700 million euros a year in biotechnological research, the United States invests 25 billion dollars a year in its National Health Institutes. Europe has set itself the objective of allocating three per cent of its GDP to research. But where is the cash? In the meantime, 400 000 European scientists are working in America. Major European companies, such as Nokia, are investing more in their research in the United States than in Europe. The same applies to investments in infrastructure. The European Union has just produced a 62-billion-euro plan to revitalise the trans-European networks between now and 2010. The U.S. Senate, meanwhile, is discussing a project to spend 318 billion dollars on improving the motorway network alone over a six-year period after the House of Representatives had originally called for an appropriation of 375 billion.
When people preach American competitiveness to us, we have to analyse the real facts behind the statistics. Europe will not become the world’s most competitive economy by jettisoning its social model or by getting rid of high-quality services of general interest. Europe must invest more in its human capital, more in research and more in its physical infrastructure. The next summit, Mr President-in-Office, must be the harbinger of a European spring."@en1
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