Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-09-Speech-3-014"
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"en.20050309.3.3-014"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I agree with Commissioner Verheugen that the realisation of the Lisbon strategy will, over the coming five years, be the most important of the Commission’s projects. I also share the view – taken not only by the Commission, but also by all the European institutions and all the Member States of the European Union – that the project is complete in itself, and that, in order for it to succeed, all alike must play their parts in it.
I want to join in thanking the members of the ad hoc committee – my colleagues Mr Désir and Mr Goebbels, as well as Mr Klaus-Heiner Lehne – and of my own group, for all of them did very intensive work and made a very constructive contribution to the broad and consensual text that we have before us today. We spent a long time discussing what we should emphasise when talking about the achievement of the Lisbon goals. What I hear said today echoes in a positive way the messages we sent out from our debate. I agree that Lisbon will fail if people come to feel that it aims to recast the European social model, and if possible to downgrade it, but if, as a project, it enhances Europe’s prosperity by making it a more competitive continent, while at the same time maintaining the social framework conditions that can make it possible for every person in this Union to live decently, by creating jobs and social security for young and old: if that is what Lisbon leads them to feel, then it is a project that the people will accept.
It is on that that its success depends – on whether a project gains popular acceptance or not. For forty or fifty years, the whole point of the European Union was that it kept the peace in Europe, achieving a balance between the poor and the rich, bringing a divided continent together and overcoming division. All these things we have achieved. For as long as it was a success, the people regarded Europe as their project, but that period of history is coming to its end and people are asking more and more what the point of Europe is. For more and more of them, this is a very personal question. People want to know, not only about Europe’s values, but also about the European Union’s economic benefits, and the European Union is of economic benefit in that, being an integrated Europe and an internal market with the capacity to unleash its own economic and social power, it is this continent’s organised answer to the challenge of globalisation; making social and economic sense of it is precisely what the Lisbon strategy is about, and that is what made it a good start and a good decision. The fact that we have been engaged in this process for a number of years now, and are not satisfied, must not prompt us to give up; instead we must muster our courage and press on. I think the text we will be adopting today shows that a broad majority in this House will join the other institutions – the Commission and, I hope, the Council, as well as the individual Member States – in their efforts, for what both Commissioner Verheugen and the President of the Commission have said today is crucial: it is not we alone, nor the institutions of the EU alone, but, above all, the Member States must pull their weight. I am very much in agreement with Commissioner Verheugen’s view, and would like to make that clear on behalf of my group. I was also delighted to see the President of the Commission smile with pleasure when Commissioner Verheugen pointed out the connection between the Financial Perspective and the Lisbon process. If this project is going to succeed, it will not do so on the basis of ever more tasks with ever fewer financial resources; that will not work.
Those who want this project to succeed while leaving the resources unchanged must not be left without an answer when they want to reallocate them for the benefit of the Lisbon goals. People may say that we are capping; fair enough, but if an upper limit is imposed when no more money is available, a qualitative decision will have to be taken as to which investments under the Lisbon strategy will have to be stopped, and to the detriment of which other tasks. So far, the Council and the Member States have maintained a dignified silence as to what these might be, but, at some point, they will have to be put to the test. I expect from the Commission the sort of commitment we have heard today from Commissioner Verheugen and from the President of the Commission. Let the Heads of State or Government be told that the point of the Financial Perspective must be none other than to help achieve the Lisbon objectives, where these are taken seriously. This connection is, in our view, important, as are their three points: better regulation, the strengthening of small and medium-sized enterprises and a pro-active industrial policy to secure both industrial jobs and the environmental standards and quality of our products, thereby making us better able to compete in export markets. Yes, we, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, are all in favour of that, for all these things, above all else, create one thing, and that is work, which, in its turn, creates social security. That, for us, is the starting point. I am grateful to all those on the ad hoc committee who helped to bring about a broad majority in this House on this crucial issue. As we see it, one thing is clear: if this House adopts resolutions that bear the stamp of the Right, the Left will have no part in them. If this House adopts resolutions reflecting what we Social Democrats think, then they will enjoy our support."@en1
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