Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-01-20-Speech-3-012"
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"en.20100120.3.3-012"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the economy, the social field, climate and energy are the major priorities of the Spanish Presidency and they will rightly be the focus of Europe’s attention. That is why Mr Van Rompuy’s first decision, namely to convene a European Council dedicated to the economy and to climate change and now also, of course, to the Haiti strategy – you spoke about this issue and it is one on which I believe that Europe has to show both its heart and its know-how and you must intervene to ensure that the Council has a greater presence in Haiti – is, in my view, a positive position.
This is why the debate that you yourself, Mr Rodríguez Zapatero, launched on a possible European economic government is also welcome, despite and maybe even because of the fact that opinions currently differ on this matter. That is normal; we should not be frightened, ladies and gentlemen, to speak at European level of politics with a capital P, and we have to be honest with ourselves.
We should not fear major debates, and I wish to thank you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, for having made your contribution, because economic and social policy is the major debate, the one that is of most concern to our citizens, the one that demands our response in the short, medium and long term. As Mr Barroso said, this is the right time to raise the question of the economic objectives of the countries of the Union. It is, in fact, a matter of survival for Europe and its social model.
Mr Rodríguez Zapatero, you know what economic difficulties are. They are the record unemployment of almost 20% and a public deficit of almost 11% in Spain. It has to be said, yours is a country that is experiencing problems. I therefore welcome your will to restore growth and to create employment as the be-all and end-all of your Presidency. To be honest though, Mr Zapatero – I said that we have to tell the truth – I am not sure that the solutions that you and the political family to which you belong are proposing in order to end the crisis and to make social Europe a reality are the most suitable.
For the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), an end to the crisis and the creation of jobs cannot be achieved by more public spending but by an economic, fiscal and environmental regime that is favourable to enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. I am specifically thinking of small and medium-sized enterprises where employment in our countries and in our regions is concerned. Social cohesion, which has been greatly tested by the crisis and by the scandals of the bonuses and rewards for the incompetence of some managers, cannot be built on small crafts, but on lasting growth that benefits the greatest number of people.
To conclude, I wish to address the Council, whether the rotating Presidency or the permanent Presidency, to say to you formally that, with the Treaty of Lisbon, times have changed. The Council and Parliament must now work in close cooperation and as equals. This new relationship obviously requires legal standards – and for this, I put my faith in our legal experts zealously to apply the new treaty – but it also requires mutual political trust and symbolic gestures. In this connection, I repeat my wish for the Presidency of the Council to regularly participate in the interplay of spontaneous questions and answers with the Members of the European Parliament, as the President of the Commission, Mr Barroso, has been doing for several months, and as you yourself have done this morning, Mr Rodríguez Zapatero. You have six months to establish this principle.
I therefore offer my best wishes to the President-in-Office of the Council for the coming six months and hope that, together, we can succeed in moving Europe forward during this time. The best of luck to you."@en1
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