Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-17-Speech-2-023"

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"en.20060117.5.2-023"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, having rejected it during the last legislature, today we are once again dealing with the Commission’s proposal for the liberalisation of port services, and we find ourselves once again in practically the same situation, because, in substance, the text we originally rejected has hardly been changed at all. The proposal is similar and the rapporteur is the same person; I say this with respect and affection for my colleague, Mr Jarzembowski, but I believe that this proposal will also be rejected by a majority. Being generally in favour of the liberalisation of the markets and also of port services, I cannot support the present proposal; firstly, because the intention is purely to deal with services provided within each port, with the healthy intention of promoting free competition, but not to deal with the very real practices that breach the rules on competition amongst different European ports. I believe that numerous aspects of the normal practices in many ports need to be changed. I believe that some of the abuses and forms of contracting imposed on service providers are unacceptable. Nevertheless, I believe that changes cannot be proposed in such an aggressive way. We must promote an ordered transition and, on the one hand, guarantee safety and efficiency in port operations and, on the other, safeguard the rights of workers. I believe that companies have the right to choose workers freely but they should firstly take on those workers who have already been doing certain jobs and whose employment contracts are still in force. As has happened in other economic sectors in crisis, if there is a surplus of workers, we will have to negotiate a suitable restructuring plan between the trade unions, companies and the administration. Europe and this Parliament must not be seen by the citizens as an instrument for unbridled capitalism. Proposals such as this, which we are discussing today and which I hope we will reject, have contributed to the Dutch and French ‘No’s to the Constitutional Treaty. We must modernise our economy, but with the necessary coverage and protection for the people affected, which is the main objective of any political action. In that way we will have greater moral authority when it comes to condemning the use of violence that we witnessed here yesterday."@en1

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