Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-16-Speech-3-067"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100616.4.3-067"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, I thank Mr Barroso for his recognition and encouragement of the Spanish Presidency of the Council. I thank him very much for his kind words. I really must say – and I am not just saying this to return his praise – that the way that the Commission has worked has been extraordinarily significant, efficient, and in very close cooperation with the Spanish Presidency. I would like to thank the Commission for this in the most formal place that I could do so: in the plenary sitting of the European Parliament.
Some of you have also mentioned this aspect. It is going to be a binding strategy, and the Commission will play a leading role in requiring that the objectives in the 2020 strategy be binding. This is also part of what we call ‘governance’.
I would like to mention the importance of the aspects of the 2020 strategy in terms of the technological modernisation of the European Union, in terms of the social impact of the measures being adopted in economic policy and in terms of the green economy. This is a new strategy for the future, and it is supported by the binding nature of its objectives. I think that this is a fundamental change, which features both in the conclusions for the Council meeting tomorrow and in the motion for a European Parliament resolution.
I do not think that the positions of the Commission, Parliament and also of the Member States have ever been so aligned, which is what the public wants. The EU Member States, represented in the European Council and in the Council, are, of course, a European institution: another of the EU’s institutions along with Parliament and the Commission. Those Member States are currently clearly in favour of economic union and of taking a step from merely monetary union towards economic union and economic governance.
If we look at what has happened in recent months, for example, when help was given to a country like Greece, it was the Member States who took that step. I have said before in this House that perhaps it happened too slowly, but that step was taken and very significant aid was given to Greece. An EU financial stability mechanism was also adopted, which was also extremely important and was absolutely unimaginable a few weeks ago, and it was produced and established by the Member States of the Union.
If we look at the conclusions – for example, paragraph 15 of the draft conclusions that we will be examining in the General Affairs Council on Monday, and which will be discussed tomorrow – we can see that the European Council is making an outstanding commitment to the regulation of financial services. It says that the European Council calls on the Council and the European Parliament to rapidly adopt financial supervision measures. It also says that the European Council calls for legislative proposals to be drawn up, which will come from the European Commission, on ‘alternative investment funds’, which are hedge funds. It also asks for close examination of the Commission’s proposal for the supervision of credit rating agencies and asks the Commission – showing constant confidence in the Commission – for proposals on what are known as ‘derivatives markets’; in other words, what has been described as ‘short selling’ on the stock markets. These proposals go hand in hand with another proposal in this paragraph that talks about the need to establish a tax on financial institutions: not only banks but financial institutions. Once again, I will say that all this was absolutely unimaginable not long ago and it is in a proposal that is going to a European Council resolution tomorrow.
The same of course applies to the 2020 strategy, which will be part of the resolution tomorrow that I hope will launch this strategy on behalf of the European Council. It states that all the EU instruments, including the European funds, the Structural Funds and all the policies, must serve the strategy and the structural reforms that the European Council is going to ask for tomorrow, when it talks about the economic governance of the EU.
That used to be a bad word, a taboo: it used to be heresy to talk about the economic governance of the Union. Now, that is no longer the case. A text such as the European Council conclusions is talking about the economic governance of the Union. Very important steps are being taken by the Member States along with Parliament and the Commission.
The message coming from the European Council tomorrow should therefore be that economic policy in Europe is being led by the European Union, which has been the objective of the Spanish Presidency of the Council since its term began.
The European Union therefore wants coordination of economic policies. It is not led by the markets but by the European Union, and that is the proposal. That is the firm, loud and clear message that should come from the European Council tomorrow.
This is my last intervention from this seat for this past semester in office, and I would like to express my thanks to you, to this democratic House.
I think that tomorrow the European Council will discuss the problem that is most important to Europe: this extremely deep crisis and how to get out of it. Above all, there is going to be a discussion that must focus on the public, who are the ones who are really suffering as a result of this crisis. It must focus on the unemployed, on families and on the people affected by this recession, by this decline in economic activity, by the difficult situation in the public treasuries and public accounts: by all the consequences of this crisis.
For me, it has been an honour to represent the Council here in this European Parliament; to discuss with you, to share ideas, to share thoughts, to share opinions and perspectives. I have learned much this last semester and one of those lessons which I have learned is that this House, this Parliament, represents the values of Europe: freedom, tolerance and solidarity. These values are our real shield, our real protection, our real weapon of mass construction. For me, it has been a real pleasure, an honour to be here during this last six months representing the Council and representing the values of Europe.
However, the EU’s reaction to this situation has not been to shrink back or retreat, but to emphatically set out the objectives for the future. This is what is in the annex to the Council conclusions. The European Union wants to have an active population of 75% in the next decade and it wants investment of 3% of gross national product in research and development, thus influencing the competitiveness of our economy.
It wants the European Union to maintain its leadership in terms of the famous 20-20-20 targets for combating climate change; it wants no more than 10% of pupils to leave school early in the European Union; it wants more than 40% higher education in the European Union; it wants 20 million people to come out of poverty in the next few years.
I think that these are very important, very clear and very real objectives that are clearly aimed at the public. What the public want right now is to see that the EU institutions are united. What they want is for all of our European institutions to work on those objectives and the policies needed to achieve them. They want the institutions to do this in partnership and in synergy and therefore they want cooperation. This is surely the most notable aspect of the European Union: that its institutions function positively, not to cancel each other out but to increase and strengthen the actions of each institution.
I must say that the Commission has never had such a strong presence in terms of putting forward initiatives in response to the crisis. The importance of the Commission’s role has been mentioned here repeatedly, and Parliament is very sensitive to that role as the Commission expresses the general European interest. However, there have never been so many initiatives from the Commission that are so well respected and so positively viewed by the Member States. Commissioner Rehn, who has played a leading role in some of those initiatives, is here with us today.
Mr Verhofstadt was talking about the External Action Service. We are about to reach an agreement on this between Parliament, the Commission, the High Representative and the Council. He was also talking about the financial supervision package. I would especially like to refer to two speeches, by Mr Bullmann and Mr García-Margallo y Marfil, which were positive and constructive, for which I thank them. I hope that in the week referred to by Mr García-Margallo y Marfil, there can be an agreement on the financial supervision package, which is absolutely essential. Both parties do, of course, need to get moving on this: both Parliament and the Council. We are naturally going in that direction, because both parties have already started to move. I believe that we can conclude this agreement. It is essential that we secure this agreement.
As I said, the Commission, and also Parliament, have never played such an important role. I must say that the motion for a resolution that is going to be voted on immediately after this debate, signed by various parliamentary groups and the vast majority of Members, has the Council’s full support. We agree with this motion for a resolution. We are heading in the same direction as Parliament in terms of combating the crisis.
Parliament is also in agreement with the 2020 strategy, which is an essential and central element of the motion for a resolution. The core elements of the strategy are probably modernisation and competitiveness measures to be taken by the European Union as objectives for the EU and its Member States. It is a binding strategy, which makes it different from the previous one."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples