Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-222"
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"en.20080219.30.2-222"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, you said we have created more jobs recently. True, but most of them are insecure jobs. You said productivity has now grown. True, but that productivity growth has not been used to increase wages – which could have been done – nor has it been used for reinvestment. You said the rising GDP is also a sign that we are on the right track, that the Lisbon Strategy is the right one. I say to you that despite the three positive statistics you gave, we have seen no results at all to date.
We have rising profits, but income from wages is not rising; we continue to have an economic policy directed at supply and not demand; we do not have adequate domestic demand. That means we still have the same problems we had five years ago, that we had three years ago, with the Lisbon Strategy. Nothing has changed at all. So how can you then say that we are on the right track? What have we got? You also said we must support the SMEs. In that case I would ask you to turn to your colleague Mr Mandelson. What was his input into the global Europe strategy? It was that the markets must be opened to large companies operating worldwide. Nothing about SMEs there, not a word!
We are carrying out tax reforms in the Member States that give preferential treatment to joint-stock companies. They are exempted from tax. The profits then made are, however, no longer passed on to the national economy. We say that employees have to be flexible. They have to accept earning less money. They have been doing so for years. If profits escalate, they could also be allowed their share. That is not happening. The banks speculate mercilessly and a very large proportion of the big companies’ profits is invested as financial capital, because the profit margins are higher there, rather than going back into production. That is the wrong track for Lisbon.
If I want money, then I as the European Union or as a Member State must also insist on more tax revenue. I can only get that in areas where enough taxes also can be obtained. That would be the right approach for a Lisbon Strategy: a radical rethinking of economic policy. If we continue along the lines you have proposed, we will not resolve the problem in the European Union."@en1
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