Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-03-Speech-3-042"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20081203.12.3-042"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, just to focus on the point that was most important regarding my statement – the European economic recovery plan – I would like to say thank you for the very broad support for the plan presented by the Commission, namely the statements made by Mr Daul, Mr Rasmussen, Mr Watson, Mr Crowley – thank you very much for your support. I am sure that with the very active role of the French Presidency – and here I want to underline the commitment of Jean-Pierre Jouyet – I think we can achieve real progress.
Mr Rasmussen spoke about ambition and concluded by saying that you share our ambition. I thank him for his remarks. First of all, I agree that the major point should be employment. This is fully compatible with the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. I agree that it is by measuring employment that we can some time from now assess how effective our response has been. It is a critical, difficult time, a very challenging task. As for coordination, you may count on the Commission: we want as much coordination as possible and we have some instruments for that. As we have said in our communication, we will ask for a new convergence programme for the Member States in the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact and we also have our exercise in the European strategy, that is the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. So with the Lisbon country-specific recommendations – and we are going back to this immediately after the European Council on 18 December – and with the new stability and convergence programmes, we will be sure that Member States will also coordinate the way they implement it.
But now I am going to be, as always, very frank and open with you. You say that you support it. Please also support us, the different political families, as well as your political family, when speaking with some of the finance ministers of our governments. This is very important. It is important to get agreement with our governments in a cross-national, cross-party dimension if we want to succeed.
This is the question because traditionally, as you know, there is great resistance by Member States to the very idea of coordination. When we reviewed the Lisbon Strategy after the Kok report, some Member States completely rejected the very idea of coordination. Some time ago, when this crisis was coming, some very important politicians rejected the very idea of a European plan, still less coordination.
It is fair to say that there is already a consensus about some level of coordination for a recovery plan. But there is not yet, to be honest with you, full agreement on the need, for instance, to mobilise unspent money from the European Community budget. That was discussed yesterday in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, without agreement yet being reached. There was a very important agreement, but it was on our proposal for an increase in the capital of the European Investment Bank. There were also other very important agreements.
To conclude, I would say that we are in favour of reinforced cooperation, but you know that traditionally there is some resistance. My political point is the following: if it is not now in the face of this crisis that we are able to agree on an increased level of coordination, when will it be? That is why I said in my introductory remarks that this is a test for Europe. Apart from the important, concrete economic terms of the response, it is also a test for Europe to see whether Europe does indeed wish to translate this level of concern into real coordination for the future. This will be the position of the European Commission which I will bring to the European Council.
One final point regarding smart green growth. Yes, that is what we have put in our proposal. I thank you for your comments on it. We have made very concrete proposals on energy efficiency, on the rapid take-up of green products, on developing clean technologies for cars and construction, precisely because we want to highlight one point: what we are proposing to Member States is not spending just for the sake of spending.
Spending for the sake of spending is not a solution. The important thing is that it is smart spending: spending that responds to the immediate, short-term needs to stimulate demand – for reasons that I think do not need to be demonstrated – but also spending that is a real investment for the future, for our green agenda, for our fight against climate change, for energy efficiency, for inter-connections, for innovation. That is what we are proposing: spending that in the short term is not in contradiction with the medium and long term. That is the proposal that we will try to get approved in the European Council. I really think that we are now much closer to that and I am hopeful that we will have historic decisions at the next European Council meeting."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples