Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-24-Speech-3-039"
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"en.20100224.13.3-039"2
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"Mr President, I hope that the British kindergarten will be kind enough to listen for a moment.
I had intended to start my speech with the EU 2020 strategy, but now I am going to begin by talking about Greece, particularly in light of the intervention from the right of this House. I believe that what is least helpful in the dispute over the situation in, and the prospects for, Greece is an anti-Greek, nationalistic or anti-European attitude. In my opinion, mistakes that have been made for a long time are now being revealed in Greece – often, more comes to light in a crisis than in good times.
I would like to pick up on an issue raised by Mr Verhofstadt. If we do not want anti-European developments, we need to discuss who in Brussels is responsible for allowing these things to be concealed in Greece for so many years – probably even during the entire preparatory period for the monetary union. Mr Barroso, I believe that you have a crucial share of the responsibility in this regard. This, in particular, is something that you need to disclose, because as yet, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of responsibility and we have not seen the system of irresponsibility that lies beneath it.
Secondly, a lot needs to change in Greece, too. We need to have a – preferably friendly – discussion with Greece about this within the euro area. If this help is necessary – which I think it will be – and if European solidarity needs to be employed once again – and I would not want to rule it out in any way at this point – then Greece needs to make some real changes. There is the excessive public sector, for example. If I am to believe the Greeks with whom I have spoken, 25% of Greek workers are employed in the public sector, and it is not even a good public sector. It is definitely in need of reform.
However, it is not only in terms of expenditure that changes need to be made, as there is clearly something very wrong with the revenue side as well. I think that Mr Papandreou has the right idea with his intention to publish the tax declarations of the high earners in Greece. It is not necessary to buy CDs from Switzerland; there is another way to go about this. This will very quickly shed light on the fact that, in Greece too, the revenue can be considerably improved if tax evasion is ultimately prevented and the people in Greece who are living in the lap of luxury pay their taxes like decent citizens.
My colleague, Mr Giegold, will probably talk more about the Eurobonds later. I would just like to say one sentence about the EU 2020 strategy. Mr Barroso, you made absolutely no mention of the failures of the Lisbon Strategy. I believe that the failure to evaluate the Lisbon Strategy does not bode at all well for the success or possible success of the new strategy. As an integrated strategy, it is, in principle, not bad, but ..."@en1
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