Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-23-Speech-3-501-000"
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"en.20120523.22.3-501-000"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, to be honest, I have a feeling of despair, almost frustration, that I must share with someone. Allow me to do so with you this evening.
This is the third or fourth debate we have held recently in this House on the situation of youth unemployment across Europe. We have had debate after debate, while youth unemployment rates are rocketing, reaching almost 50% of the active population in some Member States; many young people are left with no form of social or unemployment protection; and the situation is shifting from worrying to unsustainable, and from unsustainable to tragic. Yet the Commission presents itself once again in Parliament as if it were a mere political commentator or just another analyst rather than the true executive body of the Union that it is and, moreover, that we need.
Commissioner, governing means establishing priorities and taking the initiative, with the aim of achieving a purpose or goal, and the Commission is failing to do that. Governing does not mean simply restructuring funds, nor even announcing it so as to look good to the public, but instead presenting an ambitious, long-term, fast-acting strategy that can put an end to youth unemployment.
Governing does not mean resigning oneself to a rate of youth unemployment that is above 20% and being satisfied with a pilot project of EUR 4 million, which is derisory given the scale of the problem we are facing.
Governing does not mean giving in to pressure from the College of Commissioners or other Member States in the Council that are trying to convince us that we shall only emerge from this financial crisis and this new wave of recession by giving up salaries, employment rights or compensation, and that a precarious future is the only thing that lies ahead for this generation.
If it were true, Commissioner, that it is only through precarity that we can regain competitiveness and that just by being more precarious we can become more competitive, then Zimbabwe would be the most competitive country, and it is not. Sweden, Finland and Denmark are instead, and they are characterised precisely by their exemplary model of relations and a model of guaranteed employment rights.
Madam President, employment is far more than just a citizen’s right; it is a tool by which people are connected with the system, and an instrument for social integration. Therefore, the more unemployment there is, the greater people’s political disaffection, and that is why, Commissioner, it is of no use to me whatsoever to hear you talking about matters of competence to avoid doing anything about youth unemployment. What is more, Commissioner, when it was necessary to make a loose interpretation of the Treaties in order to create the European Financial Stability Fund, for example, you did so, and when the Treaties had to be revised in order to fulfil or meet the crazed demands of a particular Member State as regards austerity, we also did so.
This, then, is the point I am trying to make. You have, for example, the youth employment guarantee, which needs no explanation. You should fight to increase its budget; use the European Social Fund as an instrument if necessary; design a cofinanced and supportive implementing mechanism that provides greater help to countries with the highest levels of unemployment; put pressure on the worst affected countries to make further changes to the policy of social suffocation; and remember that behind every statistic there is a person suffering.
Then you may think as I do, that deciding who holds responsibility is the least important thing, because for all our citizens, particularly young people, we are the ones who are entirely responsible."@en1
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