Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-18-Speech-2-301"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20081118.29.2-301"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, things rarely happen at convenient times and any crisis, by definition, is going to be inconvenient. The financial and economic crises currently confronting us are unwelcome in themselves, but they also come in the closing months of the Parliament and the final year of the Commission, when all of us might normally be thinking of the next election and new appointments.
This Commission work programme almost has the feel of a ‘business as usual’ exercise, yet the situation demands fresh thought on how to head off what threatens to be a deep recession. It presents Europe with a big challenge because most measures of fiscal policy need to be taken at national level, yet the EU has a crucial role of coordination. The magnitude of the challenges facing us makes that particularly important.
In the field of energy, we have a pretty good idea of things that need to be done, but most of them are on a timescale well beyond the next year or two, so perhaps the only area where swift action – which could help – could be taken is in the field of energy efficiency measures. Specifically, allowing lower VAT for improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings and launching an information campaign to encourage a change in people’s behaviour are two specific ways to help the situation.
Beyond that, it seems to me that there will never be a better time to set up one of the EU’s famous groups of wise people – and in this case I suggest it should be wise men and women – to reflect on the challenge we face and come up with original solutions beyond the short-term remedy of throwing money at tax giveaways. I hope that Council and Commission will give this idea a fair wind."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples