Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-25-Speech-3-080"
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"en.20040225.5.3-080"2
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"Mr President, as we are addressing the issue of the European economy in the debate on these reports, the point I would like to emphasise is the vital importance of turning the Lisbon agenda from rhetoric into reality. Advances have been made since European leaders declared that they were going to make Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy within ten years, but there have also been a lot of steps back. It seems to me that a fundamental aim of the Lisbon agenda is to produce economic reform and more flexible labour markets. In many cases, however, we have seen the European Union going in the opposite direction to this aspiration. Labour markets are not made more flexible by measures like the Temporary Workers Directive, which could drive hundreds or thousands of temporary workers out of employment.
I am also concerned about plans to phase out some of the opt-outs to the Working Time Directive, which give additional flexibility. Of course it is important to ensure that people do not have to work excessive hours, but there are many aspects of the Working Time Directive that just add red tape and do not give proper protection to working people: these measures just make it more difficult for them to run their lives in the way they would like to.
There are other proposals which I think are overreactions: the intention in the Chemicals Regulation, for example, is that one must control and regulate the use of dangerous chemicals, but this should not give rise to the disproportionate reaction we have seen from that regulation. Many items of European legislation are over-intrusive and simply add to business costs. In the end, that will cost jobs for people in Europe and very often mean that consumers end up getting a worse deal and a narrower range of choices.
To make the Lisbon agenda a reality we have to cut down on the red tape produced by the European Union."@en1
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