Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-15-Speech-4-033"
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"en.20071115.3.4-033"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I thank Mrs Lynne for raising a very important matter. I welcome the report’s aim, namely to focus various stakeholders’ attention on discussing what constitutes Europe’s social reality. This is a wide-ranging topic and for that reason I can dwell only on a couple of crucial points.
At the Nice Summit in 2000, the Member States undertook to bring about a significant, measurable reduction in poverty and social exclusion by 2010. Regrettably, action on that objective has not been particularly successful.
An open Europe based on free movement and free trade has contributed to the economic progress on which people’s well-being and a better quality of life depend. It has, however, become clear over the last few years that for many Europeans it is a matter for debate whether the net effect of globalisation, liberalisation and greater competition does anything to improve their well-being.
Today, in the 21st century, the level of poverty and social exclusion in Europe are worryingly high. Mr Špidla recently said that about 20%, in other words one in five of our citizens, is in danger of falling into poverty. All the Member States have social services and social benefits, yet even after receiving them one sixth of people live in poverty.
Have we asked ourselves why this is the way things are in a Union which was not forcibly brought together? Why now, 62 years after the end of the war and 50 years since the Union came into being, have we been unable to guarantee people’s basic rights? My question is: is a successful economy an end in itself or should it be a means of improving people’s well-being?
Furthermore, by providing social aid the Member States are committed to providing benefits equivalent to the minimum amount needed on which to live; to providing aid sufficient to fulfil this objective. We do not need to formally transpose reams of directives – there lies no more than self-delusion. This raises the question as to whether timely implementation of adopted texts is guaranteed at the level of the European Union institutions, including in the ‘soft policy areas’.
In Europe we should not focus solely on economic results and competition; we should also consider establishing greater social solidarity and sustainable social measures. And where we have adopted a decision to that end, we must also see to it that it is implemented. Our citizens expect that much of us."@en1
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