XL - Eiropas Parlaments - Europa
XL - Eiropas Parlaments - Europa
XL - Eiropas Parlaments - Europa
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28 16-02-2011<br />
c'est la réforme du marché du travail. On sait bien, dans la pensée dominante au sein de la Commission européenne dont<br />
vous n'êtes sans doute pas un représentant, que lorsqu'on parle de réformes du marché du travail, on parle de flexibilité,<br />
même pas de flexicurité, mais de flexibilité.<br />
Or, les dix années écoulées, avant même la crise, nous apprennent que cette façon de penser – il suffit qu'il y ait de la<br />
croissance pour qu'il y ait de l'emploi – ne suffit plus. Le vrai défi qui est devant nous, c'est celui de l'emploi, que ce soit<br />
pour nous, que ce soit pour les pays autour de nous.<br />
Or, lorsque je vois le débat qui s'engage autour de la compétitivité, je vois un débat qui tourne le dos à cette priorité autour<br />
de l'emploi et je m'en inquiète.<br />
3-100<br />
László Andor, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, I would like to thank Members for this very substantial,<br />
inspirational and stimulating discussion. I would like to answer all the major points that have been raised as questions or<br />
comments and observations concerning the annual growth survey, the Economic Semester and Europe 2020 in general.<br />
The most important thing is that we get the picture right, both about the documents and also about the economic situation<br />
in the European Union. The inconvenient truth is that Europe is experiencing a recovery. Last year we already had<br />
economic growth in the European Union – but not in every Member State – and that is where the second part of the<br />
inconvenient truth comes. We are experiencing a very fragile and divided recovery. The Commission has looked at this<br />
situation very thoroughly and developed policies accordingly.<br />
We need to maintain and strengthen the recovery, and we have to address the current division. This will not, however, be<br />
possible without addressing the weaknesses that have been exposed by the crisis in economic and monetary union, which<br />
we will do by developing further the architecture of economic and monetary governance in the European Union. That is<br />
where the complications begin and where it may be true that the priorities are not always immediately recognised by<br />
everyone.<br />
For us, economic growth is the priority and all other policies in this phase serve this. We need to strengthen growth and<br />
make it more robust, but in order to do this we need a greater level of financial stability, and for that we also need fiscal<br />
consolidation. It is inevitable that, in the coming years, fiscal consolidation will remain on the agenda in the interests of<br />
stabilisation and of being consistent with the kinds of cyclical intervention which the Member States implemented against<br />
the recession in previous years.<br />
We need a smart consolidation which does not undermine demand in the economy and which preserves the integrity of the<br />
EU economy as a whole. This lesson has to be learned. This must begin by stabilising the euro. I could obviously use<br />
stronger expressions here, but let us just stick to this one. We need to stabilise the euro and economic and monetary union.<br />
The lesson we share is that, in order to do that, we need to strengthen the economic leg of this Union and the economic leg<br />
of policy coordination at European level.<br />
Let me just ask a question and leave it as a question on this. The question is whether the strengthening of the economic leg<br />
of governance can succeed without a collective effort on wages, on coordinating wage developments in the European<br />
Union. When I say that, and when we include suggestions in this area in the annual growth survey, it does not mean that<br />
we would question the importance of the social dialogue – quite the contrary. We have praised countries with a tradition<br />
and culture of strong social partnership. We recognise that they suffered less from the crisis and, in particular, suffered<br />
fewer losses in terms of human resources. Unemployment remained lower in these countries. We advocate the<br />
strengthening of social dialogue in other Member States which have suffered more and which responded to the crisis with<br />
less flexibility than countries like Germany, the Netherlands or Austria.<br />
We have also increased the level of social dialogue at European level. We recently held macroeconomic dialogue with the<br />
social partners and we will have a new tripartite social forum in March in order to enhance coordination and dialogue with<br />
the social partners.<br />
I would like to reject very categorically the notion that the Commission is doing business as usual. In the last year the<br />
Commission has introduced a number of qualitatively new initiatives. We are pursuing a robust agenda for Financial<br />
Regulation. Commissioner Barnier’s work should not be underestimated.<br />
As part of Europe 2020, we outlined a new concept for industrial policy at European level which does much more for<br />
competitiveness and the sustainability of jobs in the European Union. We are pursuing a number of innovative approaches<br />
to boost investment and to find funding for it. A group of Commissioners has been working to develop innovative financial<br />
instruments. The first example of this is going to be an outline for supporting developing energy networks in Europe. This<br />
is absolutely necessary in order to develop the energy markets and the necessary infrastructure that is vital for it.