Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-14-Speech-2-215"
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"en.20061114.36.2-215"2
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"Mr President, European integration is just part of the solution to the question of economic growth in Europe. The Member States themselves, making their own decisions relating to public finance and economic reform, have a key role to play here.
In this respect we have many examples of good practice. The success of domestic reforms in some countries has allowed them to quickly absorb enlargement in 2004 and to adopt the principles of the common market in all areas. The success of countries such as Ireland, Finland, Holland or Great Britain has allowed these countries to regard world competition more calmly.
On the other hand, a social model based on rigid and short working time, and on avoiding competition not just at a global level but at the level of the common market is the road to social and economic crisis.
This political and economic alignment of forces within Europe gives me serious doubts as to whether the oft-mentioned Constitutional Treaty is a good solution to our economic pains. It will give those countries which are less adept at resolving their internal problems increasing influence on EU affairs. We will lose the balance between different models and restrict competition between systems. This diagnosis of the alignment of forces has come as a result of the debates on services, working time and worker delegation. Speaking figuratively, I am worried by a treaty which as regards legislative and regulatory matters will give us less Britain and more Germany and France.
Of all the activities the Commission plans to undertake in 2007, the most important to me are those in respect of better regulation. It is a disgrace that an organisation that has for 50 years given voice to the four basic freedoms enshrined in its treaties, today costs business EUR 600 billion per year. And it is an even greater disgrace that despite the agreements made in the last year, it has been impossible to reduce red tape and or to improve European law.
I hope that 2007 will mark a breakthrough in this respect. However, this will not happen if we cannot honestly answer questions about the reasons for this failure in 2006. How is it that proposals for streamlining, codification and unifying European law face resistance? And who is resisting them? Where are the Gordian knots that we have not managed to cut?
I would very much like to hear an answer to these questions today."@en1
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