XL - Eiropas Parlaments - Europa

16-02-2011 29
We have launched the microfinance facility. I am grateful to Parliament and the Council for the final consensus that made
this possible last year. Just last week I was present in the Netherlands at the launch of the first EU-supported microfinance
facility and there are more in the pipeline in order to support potential entrepreneurs, perhaps after the experience of being
unemployed: women coming back to the labour market after childbirth or people who have already been working and want
to seek a new form of enterprise beyond 50, or even 60.
When we discuss employment policies – and a good example of this was a couple of weeks ago when the EPSCO Council
was hosted by the Hungarian Presidency in Gödöllő – we focus on how to generate job-rich goals, but also on the groups
in most difficulty. In this case I must mention in particular young people.
Youth unemployment is very dramatic in some Member States. Again we have to be aware of diversity. Luckily, there are
some Member States where youth unemployment is low, but the European average is too high. In some Member States,
like Spain and the Baltics, it is at a tragic level. The governments have been alerted and a complex set of policies, from
education to employment services and other types of measures, is required. But youth is not the only problem group. It is
true that we have to do more with regard to the employment of older workers. That is why we designated 2012 the
European Year for Active Ageing.
On the institutional questions concerning the employment guidelines – which I believe continue to be our focus and
provide guidance and substance – there is a clear role for the European Parliament under Article 148 of the Treaty. The
employment guidelines are to be renewed. This is confirmation that we want them to continue until 2014; they should
neither be subject to major changes nor overruled by annual growth surveys. The guidelines provide long-term orientation,
while the growth survey is an annual exercise that concerns its substance. But it is obviously true that the NRP exercise is
crucial and that the Commission is pursuing it very seriously in the context of Europe 2020. Parliament will be involved in
the discussions in various ways. I should refer here to the multiannual financial framework negotiations. The EU budget
also has to reflect 2020 priorities and we will keep Parliament informed about the preparation of the national reform
programme as the country-specific recommendations develop.
It is clear that there is concern at this early stage about the future of Europe 2020. In a way, a spectre is haunting Europe
2020: that of the Lisbon Strategy. I have had many opportunities in this House to discuss why we believe there is a much
better chance, through a more focused system of targets and also a more focused system of reporting and implementation,
of success with Europe 2020.
Only the Commission can ensure that there is consistency between these initiatives. We have a number of balls in the air
and we have to make sure that none of them falls while conducting economic policies: Europe 2020, economic
governance, the single market and cohesion policy. None of them must be damaged in this exercise. All of them need to be
pursued in a very robust way, ensuring that all 27 Member States are involved. The Commission is obviously against the
concept of a two-speed Europe. We have to ensure that the divided recovery which we are experiencing does not turn into
political divisions in the coming period.
3-101
János Martonyi, President-in-Office of the Council. − Madam President, first and foremost I would like to thank you all
for the very constructive and useful debate. I also would like to extend my special thanks to Mrs Perez for her excellent
report and the very important observations and criticisms that she made.
We may have a different reading of the reality, as referred to by Mrs Danuta Hübner, both for a crisis and for the recovery,
but I believe that we all agree on one point, and that is that nobody is interested in a jobless recovery. We are all striving
for a balance between fiscal consolidation and growth and job creation. Indeed, fiscal discipline and the raising of
employment levels should go hand in hand.
On a more general note, on economic issues, we all know that now we have a comprehensive approach, a comprehensive
‘package’ or ‘Gesamtpaket’, as some people say, most of the elements of which have just been referred to by
Commissioner Andor. As far as the Presidency is concerned, I would just like to underline again that we have to focus
upon two of all the elements of the package. One is certainly the implementation and the application of the European
Semester. This is the first time, it is the first exercise. It will have a major impact on the subsequent development of the
whole European integration process.
Just to mention two things briefly. One is that we have a very tight schedule, so the deadlines must be respected by all, and
the headline targets will have to be achieved. We have to make all possible efforts to ensure that the overall deadlines are
met through the contributions of the individual Member States, in the fields both of employment and innovation, and of
energy.