Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-19-Speech-3-300"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Commission, and of President Barroso, I should like to make a few comments about the 2020 strategy and echo the very interesting reports from Mr Grech and Mr Hoang Ngoc; next, my colleagues and friends, Commissioners Hahn and Andor, will speak in turn – in this debate in which we are participating – on the other oral questions which affect other sectors: cohesion, employment, the social dimension, research and development.
In addition to these flagship initiatives, European instruments, in particular the single market, financial levers and foreign policy instruments will also be mobilised to eliminate certain obstacles. I should also like to commend the Monti report presented a few days ago, and I wish to pay homage to the intelligent work of Mr Grech, who is giving a humanist and more concrete dimension to the internal market, as I myself should like to do.
There are also certain requirements where implementation is concerned. Therefore, more efficient governance mechanisms have been proposed, which require the involvement of the Member States, as well as the Commission, at every level of the monitoring process. Europe 2020 also means adopting reforms to be implemented within the Member States themselves. The latter will have to submit national reform programmes between now and the end of the year in a coordinated fashion, with a stability and convergence programme, while also showing respect for the Stability and Growth Pact. Mr Hoang Ngoc, I should like, if I may, to point out that this pact has been supported for about 10 years now by both left- and right-wing governments.
Finally, the Commission is calling on the European Parliament to do what it does so well and play a still greater role in this new strategy. During a crisis, we wish to send out clear messages to the Member States. This is the purpose of the integrated guidelines proposed by the Commission. These will only be adopted once you have tabled your opinions. However, bearing in mind the urgency of the situation, we must implement this strategy. We must aim for a political agreement at the European Council meeting in June.
Let us be clear, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen: in the rest of the world, socio-economic strategies are already being implemented for the medium term. Europe cannot be left behind.
To conclude, the European Parliament is playing its role, and we thank it for doing so, for mobilising the citizens, in particular, via the national parliaments; I was very impressed by the initiative taken by the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and its Chair, Malcolm Harbour, on the Services Directive, which brought together national parliaments and the European Parliament. There are other examples, and this is a very important undertaking.
To conclude, I should like to confirm that the Commission will do as you wish and play its role in a purposeful manner so as to implement this strategy and to build, with you, this new, higher quality, more sustainable and fairer growth, which the citizens expect.
On behalf of all three of us, please allow me to thank all the rapporteurs and Parliament for this initiative, which is being taken at an extremely serious and challenging time for all of us, at a time of economic crisis, with the recent difficulties of the euro, which clearly highlight the interdependency of all our Member States and the need to coordinate our countries’ economic policies. This is the time to respond and to act and, as far as possible, together, in this context of uncertainty and crisis. The decisions taken over the last few days are – we think – very important.
I will not go back over the long debate which was held this morning with my colleague, Commissioner Rehn. It is obvious that we have to put in place instruments for improved coordination of our economic policies, and we think that this Europe 2020 strategy may be the first instrument of a new, strengthened and coordinated economic policy.
In its proposal concerning this strategy, the Commission had already emphasised, at the beginning of March, the need to stabilise our public finances. The euro crisis which we have just been through proves to us just how relevant this position still is. Like my colleague, Commissioner Rehn, I have taken note of the proposals in Mr Hoang Ngoc’s report on these issues.
Moving on, there is, ladies and gentlemen, a second preliminary requirement for the success of 2020, which is putting our economy, our economies on a sound or improved footing. I am, of course, thinking about the need to supervise and regulate the financial market, so that it serves the real economy and not the other way around.
I promise you that the Commission will keep to its roadmap in these areas. Within the next year, we will have put all the necessary legislative proposals on the table, so that we can formalise the commitments we made together at the G20 on four major issues: transparency, responsibility, supervision and crisis prevention. With regard to several of these issues, which have already been considered in the legislative debate, I truly hope that Parliament and the Council will be able to rapidly overcome their differences with regard to the texts under discussion. I am thinking about the ‘financial supervision’ package and the hedge funds document.
We must restore confidence. We must also utilise every single resource to free up the growth potential of our economy. This work clearly comprises many aspects. The debate, this afternoon’s debate in fact, demonstrates this: the relaunch of the internal market, regional policy for all the regions, including the most distant ones, such as the outermost regions, cohesion, economic governance, the viability of public finances, employment, education and research.
When we talk about Europe 2020, what are we talking about? I think that this 2020 strategy must enable us to have a better perspective on the economic policies of our Member States, in order to avoid certain imbalances or even certain instances of competition in the future. These imbalances have been very obvious in the current crisis but, at the same time as urgently addressing this crisis, we must work on the economy in the medium and long terms. This is why, on the basis of the Commission proposals, the European Council adopted five common objectives: an employment rate of 75%, 3% of GDP invested in research and development, as well as a restriction on leaving school too early, increasing the number of people with a university diploma to 40%, and the 20-20-20 targets in the field of energy and climate change. Finally, there is also the promotion of social inclusion by combating poverty.
Quantified indicators for education and social inclusion will have to be set at the June European Council. Work on these two objectives is in progress in various forums of the Council. It is very important to clearly understand that the 2020 strategy is not merely a vision. It is, above all, a concrete programme of reforms to be implemented, and that is why we are proposing seven flagship initiatives as part of this strategy."@en1
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