Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-07-21-Speech-3-051"
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"en.20040721.2.3-051"2
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"Mr President, the President-in-Office of the Council has referred to the feeling of distrust expressed by European citizens on the occasion of the recent elections.
Mr President-in-Office of the Council, it is precisely the main thrust of your actions over the next six months that will show our fellow citizens to what extent Europe has listened to the message that the European people have sent it.
The social partners, and in particular those who will be meeting in October at the European Social Forum in London, will certainly pay close attention to the three principal issues which you yourself, as well as Mr Prodi, have just mentioned, and which my group would like to put on the agenda right now.
First of all there is the draft directive on the liberalisation of services, known as the ‘Bolkestein Directive’, which you described as a step in the right direction. At the heart of this text, however, lies the principle of the law of the country of origin, by virtue of which the social law of the supplier country would apply everywhere. That would leave the door open to all kinds of abuse involving social dumping. The perverse system of flags of convenience would thus apply to more than half of all economic activity. For that reason, we see this text as unacceptable.
Next, there is the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact. As far as reform is concerned, at this stage we have still not managed to put an end to our obsession with reducing public and social expenditure, or even to the 3% myth. On the contrary, and even worse, there is talk of the reform having a hidden face, with particularly severe treatment for those States with a pay-as-you-go system, which would be treated the same as hidden indebtedness. We must be aware that such a measure would give rise to strong public disapproval in the countries concerned.
Finally, there is the revision of the Lisbon Strategy. The working party chaired by Mr Kok is due to submit its report in October, but you are already calling for more flexibility and deregulation, as a way of helping countries with a very low level of social acquis. We would urge you to beware of the temptation to make a headlong dash towards liberalism. Even the Commission, in its report to the European Council in March, admitted, in its own way, the failure of that strategy, which was supposed to lead the Union into full employment and an economy of dynamic growth by the year 2010. I would also like to add that the very restrictive measures which you have outlined regarding asylum seekers, migrants and refugees, as well as your vision of the WTO negotiations, are also certain to give rise to legitimate debate.
In other words, Mr President-in-Office, we are waiting to see what the Dutch Presidency will do. See you in September."@en1
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