Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-13-Speech-4-020"
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"en.20071213.4.4-020"2
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".
We are glad to be having this debate to which my parliamentary group has contributed a great deal. We hope that the debate will help to protect jobs and the activity of the textile and clothing sector, a strategic sector for the European Union, which has been so little protected and so undervalued.
As regards the questions to the Commission, we have nothing to add; they have been tabled. As regards the joint motion for a resolution, due to be adopted by the European Parliament today, we should like to point out that, although it contains certain points that might in practice protect and promote the textile and clothing sector in the European Union, we have reservations about some other points.
To give just three examples: the ‘Globalisation Adjustment Fund’ should not be used as a temporary cushion against the unacceptable social and economic costs of closure and relocation of undertakings, with the consequent destruction of jobs. That is, we should intervene on the causes, not the effects. The current liberalisation policies need to be reversed and financial means made available that effectively help to protect jobs, to modernise the sector and also to promote the introduction of other industries, including those linked to textiles and clothing, thus making for industrial diversification in regions where that activity is currently concentrated.
It would not make much sense to urge the European Union to encourage others to review their monetary policies if the EU does not first critically reappraise the strong euro policy and its impact on some EU countries’ exports. Nor would it make sense to call for trade defence instruments in relation to China, whilst simultaneously supporting the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area.
I do not have time in this speech to summarise all our proposals on the European Union’s clothing and textile industry. They are set out in our motion for a resolution. However, we should like to mention some of the amendments tabled to the joint resolution.
They aim at making up for the lack of any mention of the serious consequences of the liberalisation of the textile and clothing industry at global level, with the closure and relocation of numerous undertakings, in particular to North Africa and Asia, leaving a trail of unemployment and serious socio-economic crises; stressing also that the double-checking ‘surveillance system’ will serve no purpose unless it prevents any repetition of the situation that occurred in 2005, underscoring the need for new safeguard measures so as to enable employment in, and the business of, the textiles and clothing sector to be safeguarded and promoted in the EU. The proposals highlight that some countries have adopted safeguard measures applying until the end of 2008 and it is therefore difficult to understand why the EU has not followed suit.
The proposals also express disquiet at the Commission’s intentions to review trade defence instruments according to the interests of firms which are relocating their production to countries where, because of the low wages and social and environmental standards, production costs are lower. They propose that a Community programme should be drawn up for the textiles and clothing sector, and especially for the more disadvantaged regions that depend on it and aid for SMEs. They are proposals which maintain that a regulatory framework needs to be laid down to penalise company relocations, making public aid to businesses subject to long-term commitments regarding regional development and employment, including the requirement to pay back aid if such conditions are not met. Finally, they are proposals which call for a stronger role for workers’ representatives in company boards and in fundamental organisational decision-making. They are proposals that we hope will have the support of the European Parliament."@en1
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