Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-12-Speech-3-019"
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"en.20080312.3.3-019"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the real world has caught up with the European Union. At the 2007 spring summit, the EU27 was still free to dream of an ideal world. Europe was on target again in terms of growth; unemployment was falling; employment was on the increase; public deficits were going down; the European Council was introducing a set of visionary targets in connection with the fight against climate change; and at the Bali Conference Europe was set to act as a guide for the rest of the world.
In August, however, the subprime crisis erupted and continues to create havoc. After the banks and insurance companies, investment funds have now entered the turmoil. In showing their disdain for moral contingencies, the central banks have become the speculators’ flame-quellers. The leading central banks have again been forced to inject billions into the financial circuits in order to ‘deal with the pressure on liquid assets’ as one says discreetly in the world of high finance.
It is the general economy that picks up the tab. A general tightening on credit has slowed up economic growth. Recession looms; the ECB urges moderation on employees whose spending power is continuously whittled away by higher prices for energy and food. On the other hand, the failed geniuses of finance and industry are rewarded not quite so moderately. The dollar is at a record low and a barrel of crude oil at a record high. Growth forecasts are increasingly revised downwards.
Despite this changing context, President Barroso clings to the existing integrated guidelines as though they were engraved in Portuguese marble. The Bali summit did not line up with the noble targets proposed by the Europeans. The Americans, the Japanese, the Canadians and even the Australians, despite their new status as Kyoto signatories, did not want any compromising targets; nor did the Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians or the Russians. The roadmap meant to lead to the 2009 Climate Conference in Copenhagen is the flimsiest of documents. The Commission, however, has no wish to adjust the decisions taken at the 2007 summit to the real problems now emerging.
A number of reasonable voices are nevertheless making themselves heard within the Commission. President Barroso speaks out against the illusions of an industry-free Europe. Vice-President Verheugen insists clear flexible decisions must be taken that will not help deindustrialise Europe. Industrialists in the energy sector would, of course, have no problem with CO
certificates being put under the hammer. Since their customers are putty in their hands, they will simply pass on the extra cost to them. In the steel and aluminium sectors and other energy-intensive industries operating in a global market, oncosts will not be reflected in prices, but will certainly affect the only adjustment variable remaining: employment. This option would rapidly cause relocation to countries where social regulations and climate regulations are less strict than in Europe. The gain for the world’s climate would obviously be nil, but the social cost to Europeans would be unbearable.
The 2007 summit took some courageous decisions, but these did not square with the realities of the EU27. Achievement of the biofuels target alone would do the environment more harm than good, and consumers would certainly lose out. The next summit must adjust these decisions to the new economic realities worldwide and define an environmental policy that does not operate under the illusion that the EU alone can bear the burden of the fight against climate change."@en1
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