Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-029"
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"en.20071113.4.2-029"2
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".
Mr President, President of the Commission, I believe that the people of Europe have very high expectations when it comes to the social dimension of European integration and that the strengthening of this social pillar is the weak link, if not to say the missing link, in the Commission’s strategy.
After so many White Papers, Green Papers, announcements, disputes before the Court of Justice and a number of clear and repeated demands from the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee, and even though a consensus was reached between the Member States in the Council on including a new article in the Lisbon Treaty to provide a clear basis for a legislative initiative – in codecision with Parliament – on public services, which are services of general interest, there is still no concrete proposal forthcoming.
Public services lie at the heart of our social model. The people of Europe are waiting for clarification that competition rules and single market rules will not suddenly just be imposed on them. Mr President, you should present an initiative to Parliament on this issue.
We need to stop opposing the strategy for growth, the establishment of the single market and the strengthening of the social pillar. This is a key factor for the support of the peoples of Europe and it is also, quite simply, an essential condition for the success of the Lisbon Strategy and for strengthening the competitiveness and economic efficiency of the European Union.
In this respect there is a striking contrast with the awareness of the challenges posed by climate change, which effectively seemed to stem from last year’s spring summit, and indeed the priorities laid down in the Commission’s work programme contain more than a trace of this. We are a long way from displaying the same enthusiasm when it comes to meeting the challenges posed by social inclusion and the need to create a Europe that works for everyone, a Europe capable of promoting not just more jobs but better jobs too.
There are declarations of intent and there are various references here and there, in the introduction and in the preamble, but these scarcely figure in the action programme, nor are they included in the legislative initiatives.
Take, for example, lifelong learning, which is mentioned and which, as an accessory to the success of the new policy for the reform of the labour market, is essential if we want to have a fair and efficient system of ‘flexicurity’. However, there is no grand ambitious programme, something the equivalent, for example, of the old Erasmus scheme, which is not only bearing fruit but has also proved a very effective link via which EU citizens can recognise and acknowledge the work of the European Union.
When it comes to combating social exclusion and poverty, and promoting social protection, the proposals for action are essentially limited to non-legislative initiatives.
We also regret the absence of any progress on the Working Time Directive and Part-Time Work Directive. Similarly, in the area of taxation, we cannot but note that for want of an initiative on a genuine corporate tax base – which is something that Parliament has been advocating and which the Commissioner concerned was working on – we are still not moving towards a more equitable single market in this particular respect.
Finally, we are impatiently waiting for two initiatives that you announced. The first concerns the review of the European Works Council Directive, which Parliament has been calling for since 2001, and the second, which you mentioned, concerns maternity leave.
I would like to conclude by referring to two examples of deadlock that seem to us to be absolutely incomprehensible and unacceptable: they relate firstly to services of general economic interest and secondly to social services of general interest."@en1
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