Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-05-Speech-2-213"
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"en.20090505.22.2-213"2
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"Mr President, the summit on employment was actually planned for 7 May in Prague. As we all know, in recent years employment has been a regular item on the agenda of the spring summit. Here the leaders of the Member States discussed the so-called Lisbon strategy, which is the EU’s plan for more and better jobs. It is also the forum at which representatives of the parties in the labour market had opportunity to present their views on employment. However, it was not to become a major joint summit on the rising unemployment in Europe. Instead there will be a Troika summit, which is far less ambitious. Those at the top of the EU have thus chosen not to send out clear a signal ahead of the elections to the European Parliament. It could almost have been done on purpose!
At a meeting with the General Secretary of the ETUC, John Monks, I was given to understand that the announcement is a very bad signal to workers. Mr Monks is in no doubt that it gives the impression that the leaders of Europe are not sufficiently concerned about unemployment. Workers feel they have no opportunity to have their voice heard at the highest level. According to the Commission – a number of my fellow Members have touched upon this – unemployment will rise by 11% in 2010 and the budget deficit will increase substantially to 7.5% of gross domestic product. This is not an overestimate of the situation; rather the contrary. It represents a significant challenge to the present single currency system.
A number of countries are having very great problems with the euro. These include Ireland, the Mediterranean countries and the countries of Eastern Europe, and the problems have been significantly exacerbated by the international economic crisis. Countries that are outside the euro zone, such as the UK, Denmark and Sweden, are coping well. Consequently, I believe that a summit in June may avoid adopting a position on the fact that there are so many internal tensions in the euro system. The June summit must make a statement on how the countries having particularly significant problems can extricate themselves from the iron grip of the euro.
Naturally one can choose to create ‘economic government’, but I have yet to hear of a country wishing to hand over substantial chunks of its financial policy to the EU – not even the strongest nation in the EU, Germany. I would therefore ask: how many people in the EU will have to suffer under a euro system that in reality means that people in Europe must suffer under the hopeless criteria of the stability and growth pact? As mentioned previously, the situation is particularly acute in Ireland, Greece and a number of other states. I believe that these countries need to know that they can of course extricate themselves from the strict requirements of the euro, even if there is no clause concerning withdrawal. I believe that it is time that the countries were able to set their own employment policy."@en1
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