Brussels, 20/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - At the European Parliament plenary session on Wednesday 20 January, MEPs took Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at his word, asking him to obtain swift results on the many urgent issues the current Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU is facing - including the refugee crisis (see other article), protection of the Schengen free movement area, and economic growth and jobs.
During the first six months of 2016, the Dutch Presidency intends to focus on areas in which European Union action can bring real added value and can enable credible and visible results to be obtained (see EUROPE 11467).
“Europe needs to produce the expected results”, warned Manfred Weber (Germany), the leader of the European Parliament's EPP Group. Weber spoke out against the Council's “big problem of credibility” in agreeing to €3 billion in aid to Turkey as part of the refugee crisis but then blocking when it comes to payment of this funding. “The decisions that have been taken must be applied”, he added, with particular reference to managing the refugee flows that are converging on Europe. In Weber's view, “a pragmatic approach is particularly important”. Pragmatism was also underlined by Syed Kamall (UK) on behalf of the ECR Group.
In Kamall's view, the EU has reached a “crossroads”. “By the end of your Presidency, we will choose which route to follow. Will we continue to see refugees arriving? Will we continue to insist on the European economy? Will we see my country leaving the EU? Or will we put the EU back on the path of recovery and relaunch? There's a policeman at this crossroads, and that's you”, he told Rutte.
On behalf of the EFDD Group, David Borrelli (Italy) said that “a Europe that is able to focus on the essential is a Europe that is able to bring an essential notion under control - time”. But “time is short for saving the lives of desperate people”, he said.
“You want to be the leading figure in the renewal of the EU, and the S&D wants to help you on the path of recovery. The economic recovery needs to be supported. It's not only important to strengthen the internal market but also to make a substantial change in social policy”, said leader of the S&D Group, Gianni Pittella (Italy), who highlighted the notion of “flexibility” - be this in terms of the possibility for states to invest so as to create jobs, or in the management of the refugee crisis. The leader of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium), wanted the Dutch Presidency of the Council to be able to agree on a timetable “so that in 2019 the internal market might be totally completed”.
Taxation must be a Presidency priority. While MEPs backed the Dutch Presidency's work agenda, several of them also mentioned the issues on which Rutte was silent during his presentation - the referendum planned for April in his country on the association agreement with Ukraine, and taxation. “The Netherlands is the European champion in the area of tax evasion”, said the co-leader of the Greens/EFA Group, Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), adding that the Netherlands “was robbing” its European neighbours. He called for a more community approach in terms of fighting corporate tax evasion. “The tax must be paid where the profit is made”, said Pittella. In the view of Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France), who is the chair of the special parliamentary committee on tax rulings, “the principles and rules that the EU practices in all other areas - fairness, transparency and loyalty” must also be applied to taxation. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)