Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-10-Speech-4-014"
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"en.20070510.5.4-014"2
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"Madam President, I hope that the fact that two reports have, surprisingly, been combined does not indicate a desire to reduce the importance of a subject that is dear to my heart and to which I feel most committed, namely that of housing. If I remember correctly, this is the first time that Parliament will vote on a report devoted to housing in the European Union. I should like straightaway to thank our fellow Member, Mr Andria, for his constructive and useful work.
To the surprise of some people, millions of our fellow citizens currently live in insecure conditions due to the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of finding somewhere to live – a state of affairs that is unacceptable, given the democratic model on which we so often pride ourselves. This is, therefore, an important moment.
Guaranteed access to decent affordable housing for everyone is an objective to be pursued if we want to make a success of, for example, the Lisbon Strategy. The fact is that having somewhere to live is an obvious prerequisite for completing one’s education and obtaining a job. Although housing is not, strictly speaking, one of the EU’s competences, the fact remains that it is a crucial factor of which account needs to be taken in pursuing our objective of social, economic and environmental cohesion.
In this connection, I am very happy to emphasise that, in anticipation of the 2009 review of the cohesion policy regulations, the report in question asks that the debate be reopened on broadening access to the Structural Funds to all Member States for the purpose of renovating local authority housing – access already possessed, since the last reform of these Funds, by those Member States that joined the EU after 1 May 2004.
Finally, I would emphasise the need for MEPs to remain alert to the concerns of Europeans, a not inconsiderable proportion of whom consider, rightly or wrongly, that the European institutions are at too far of a remove from themselves. With the Andria report on housing, we are, as it were, entering millions of European homes. If, moreover, we fall in with the report’s proposal that this House take the initiative and draft a European housing charter or declaration spelling out the importance of this fundamental right to decent affordable housing for everyone, we shall, I am convinced, succeed in sending the public a strong signal in favour of a closer relationship between Europeans and an EU that has their day-to-day concerns at heart."@en1
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