Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-246"
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"en.20080219.30.2-246"2
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"Mr President, the debate today shows how sensitive this matter is to the European Parliament. The topic of the day is the
for us. It is about the wellbeing of Europeans in the future.
We have our different opinions about the tool bag – how we reach the Lisbon goals – but I think everyone in this House wants to reach the goals. Even though I agree with Ms Jäätteenmäki that, unfortunately, we have not seen a lot of progress.
I think we have to speak about two different levels of action. First, at European level, we have only one key thing we should do in order to increase competitiveness and that is the single market. The European internal market is the biggest driver of competitiveness in a global context. We also have a lot of red tape and we need to work with our SMEs – these are very much the key to European success.
Of course, then we need to concentrate on things at national level, at Member State level, and there we need much more action than we have seen lately, especially regarding the structural reforms to the labour market. We heard today the Prime Minister of Sweden, who spoke about the importance of structural reforms to the labour market, also in terms of coping with demographic changes. I think it is self-evident that Member States have not done their duty in this respect.
Also, I think that, on fiscal policy and macroeconomics, we have to end the era of budget deficits. We really need to work on our macroeconomics. This cannot be done by the Union, even though we have a single currency. It must be done by the Member State politicians.
Finally, I would like to agree with Ms Starkevičiūtė, whose report is, I think, wonderful. Financial services are one of the cornerstones of the internal market. Financial services need much more attention, including at European level."@en1
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