XL - Eiropas Parlaments - Europa

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