Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-16-Speech-1-188"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080616.25.1-188"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the in-depth debate that touched upon many aspects of poverty. I think that the proposal itself makes it clear that the Commission does not ignore the issue of poverty and that it aims at gradually creating such political environment that will make it possible to fight poverty in a more effective way. I also wish to say that the Commission is dealing with the problem of poverty in all its complexity. Although some of its texts, namely our recent communication on active inclusion that deals with poverty
emphasise the importance of quality jobs, given that the goal of the Lisbon Strategy is more jobs and better quality jobs, the Commission nevertheless understands that the complex issue of poverty cannot be resolved purely through labour market means. Suffice to mention child poverty, which is also clearly related to the quality of the education systems. There is also the issue of poverty among pensioners, which obviously cannot be resolved directly by labour market means either.
Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude let me once again thank you for the debate, which touched upon many aspects of poverty and was, in my opinion, very insightful. Unfortunately, I do not think that it is possible to respond at the moment to each of your speeches, leaving aside the fact that the overwhelming majority of your views are incorporated in the rapporteur’s report. I would like to thank her again for the report.
The Commission can accept in full Amendments 6, 7, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 and 63.
The Commission can only accept in substance, in part, and subject to rewording, the following amendments: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, 24, 25, 26, 30, 32, 37, 43, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 64 and 66.
Finally, the Commission rejects Amendments 40 and 65. More specifically, regarding Amendments 37 and 52, concerning the participation of small and medium-sized organisations and the possibility of cofinancing up to the total amount of the costs of certain projects, the Commission proposes – as a compromise solution – making a statement in that regard, which I shall read out to you, in which it undertakes to incorporate the spirit of the content of those two amendments in the framework strategy document that the Commission will be drawing up to define the main priorities of the European Year activities.
Allow me to mention some other issues I consider to be important. The Commission is proposing financing totalling EUR 17 million and in the course of the debate we heard the opinion that funding of national projects should be increased, especially in some countries. The Commission does not agree with this view for the simple reason that our aim is to make as much financial support available as possible in order to make our actions as effective as possible. The European Year for Combating Poverty is a classic example of a routine democratic political procedure. In order to achieve a breakthrough, in order to change the political atmosphere, we need a detailed and topical debate on this subject, and that is the goal for the European Year.
Allow me now to touch upon certain individual amendments. I agree with the amendments concerning the revision of the headings of objectives in Article 2 and in the list of priorities for the European Year, and I am also in favour of the amendments focusing on the issue of gender equality. Furthermore, since a large number of amendments have been tabled, allow me to present Parliament with an exact list of the amendments instead of resorting to verbatim citations.
Let me mention just two articles – Articles 37 and 52 – which I want to single out in my speech. With your permission, I am going to read the text concerning these two articles.
The Commission attaches the greatest importance to facilitating and supporting wide participation at all levels in activities connected with the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion as a practical means of ensuring that its impact is positive and lasting.
In accordance with the Decision on the European Year, the Commission will draw up common guidelines in the Strategic Framework Document (SFD) which will set the key priorities for the implementation of activities relating to the European Year, including minimum standards in terms of participation in national bodies and actions.
The SFD is addressed to the National Implementing Bodies (NIBs) responsible for defining the national programmes for the European Year and for selecting individual actions to be proposed for Community funding, and to other actors concerned.
In this context, the Commission will underline the importance of facilitating access by all NGOs, including small and medium-sized organisations. With a view to ensuring the widest possible access, the NIBs can decide not to request any cofinancing and instead to fully fund certain actions.
That was the text itself. Ladies and gentlemen, let me mention another speech, that of Mr Falbr, who brought up the issue of the Working Time Directive and did so in a way far removed from reality. To be absolutely clear, the simple way of summing up the result of the compromise reached by the Council is as follows: ‘The 48-hour working week remains and the possibility to use the opt-out was reduced from 78 hours per week to 60 or 65 hours’. This is one of the substantial features of the compromise, and since it was mentioned in the course of the present debate I thought it would be good to respond to it."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"Commission’s position on Parliament’s amendments"1
"Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou report (A6-0173/2008 ) A6-0173/2008"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples