Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-13-Speech-2-060"
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"en.20051213.7.2-060"2
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".
Mr President, Madam Vice-President, I really cannot restrain myself from starting my speech with the comment that, although it was Mrs Grossetête’s group that insisted on us having this debate, one can hardly be overwhelmed by the number of its members who have actually turned up for it.
Madam Vice-President, it is to our great advantage that we can support the Commission when we believe it is going down the right road and criticise it when we believe there are things to be set right. If I may begin with Plan D, for which you have personal responsibility, I can say that you will have this group’s wholehearted support. I hope that you yourself will, next year, be able to devote your full energy to getting the Constitution and the debate on the issues around it across to the public and thereby completing your achievement.
Turning to Mr Barroso’s criticisms of the draft budget – which he described as a mini-budget for a mini-Europe – I have to say that we agree with him, and our chairman, Mr Schulz, has said so in plain terms. I hope that our President will stand sufficiently firm in the dialogue to ensure that the interests of Europe as a whole are defended.
As for the ‘better regulation’ issue, we agree with you that what really matters is that the process of enacting Europe’s laws be made more efficient and more readily comprehensible, not least from the point of view of the man and woman in the street, and, with this in mind, I would ask the members of the Commission – all of them – to read through the draft of the services directive and then say whether or not they find it comprehensible or an example of ‘better regulation’. Quite apart from its social content, it would be very interesting to discuss that with you, but that can, of course, wait for next year.
I would like to say something about two things to which our Socialist Group in the European Parliament will be giving particular attention next year. The first is the defence of fundamental rights and freedoms in Europe, in relation to which especially objectionable things have come to light and occurred in recent months, and I am not referring only to the activities of the CIA, but rather – to give a couple of examples –to the restriction of trade union rights in Slovakia, and also, in this context, certain attitudes that have become apparent in the new Member State of Poland as regards the fundamental rights and freedoms of homosexual persons and others. All these developments we regard with concern. I would like to assure Commissioner Frattini of our full support and urge him to forthrightly defend Europe’s rights and standards in this area. That is the only thing we demand of him.
Let me turn to the most important issue, which is that of ‘social Europe’. We, in our group, know as well as anyone else that there is no long-term job security; we also know that many people have to change jobs again and again, but it is precisely for that reason that this Commission needs to take tougher action on social issues, and be seen to do so. Many members of the public – as you, Madam Vice-President, will know from your dialogue with them – even believe that the EU magnifies the negative effects of globalisation; they see how many people – including, alas, many companies – misuse the European Union, enlargement, and globalisation too, as a means of undermining social standards. This is not just a matter of concern in the so-called old Member States, but in the new ones too. It is for that reason that the Commission needs to become more active in the field of social policy; it must help to obviate or at least to alleviate the adverse effects, without fostering the illusion that we can erect a protective wall around Europe.
Speaking on behalf of my group, then, I urge the Commission to produce a proposal for legislation on, for example, non-standard working arrangements, to unveil – as the Council Presidency has not done – a workable approach to the establishment of a globalisation adjustment fund and, at last, to put on the table a proposal for a framework directive on services of general interest, which are among the means whereby the public are connected to the public sector. What they need is support from the European Union and the Commission rather than to be undermined by them.
I can tell the Vice-President of the Commission that the members of my group are not starry-eyed about social issues, but we do know that, if we fail to make this Europe of ours more social, if we fail to give greater prominence to the social dimension in addressing the issues of globalisation and the opening up of markets, then we will fail to win backing for our project from the citizens of this continent. That, though, is an absolute necessity, and for it to happen, we need the Commission’s support. That, speaking on my group’s behalf, is what I really would urge you to provide."@en1
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