Strasbourg, 09/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 March in Strasbourg, the Swedish Social Democrat Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, appealed to the European Parliament plenary session for greater cooperation and solidarity between the EU28 to tackle the migration crisis and strengthen democracy in the EU and social Europe.
Need to share responsibility among EU28 to tackle refugee crisis. Lövfen explained that “There have never been so many displaced people in the world and very few European countries are prepared to act. Sweden has welcomed refugees - 80,000 - a rate equivalent to 25,000,000 people at an EU level over 12 months but our system is about to explode” and warned of the risk of the EU losing its Schengen system if member states “do not act rapidly… A lot of nice words have been said but there has been too little action. We need to guarantee control of the EU's external borders, cooperate more with Turkey to tackle the traffickers and develop a European migration policy. We need to shift from chaos to control”. He also added that “The Dublin Convention must be replaced. If we fail to build a reliable common asylum system, we will not be able to respond to the current crisis. European asylum policy must be the subject of a reflection of what has been done in Sweden”.
He also posed the question of “If we have to share a common border, we have to share a system that enables us to take in refugees. How can countries that are not participating in the European asylum policy cooperate with the Schengen system”? The head of the Swedish government hammered home the message that “There will always be refugees in the world. Some say that this is Sweden's problem but the problem is in fact Syria's. If countries do not want to share in taking refugees, they should not participate in Schengen. They should not exclusively participate for their own economic interests”. He also called for a “sharing of responsibilities between the EU 28”. At the end of the session he concluded that “If we want a Europe that functions, we also have to cooperate on the difficult subjects”.
Social Europe, giving hope to new generations. On the home front, Löfven called for Europe to get down to a fundamental task, that of giving the new generation the same hope as that of Europeans of his own generation, born in 1957, particularly in terms of jobs and good working conditions. “We need to build a social Europe that strengthens people through more secure jobs and living conditions and strengthens enterprises through more secure access to citizens with purchasing power,” he said.
“In a social Europe, the EU is a prime advocate for good terms and conditions for everyone working in the union. Making sure that workers never are forced to compete against each other through lower wages or poorer working conditions. Ensuring that in a tricky world of global subcontractors, there is always someone who is responsible for ensuring that you are safe at work,” explained the Swedish prime minister, calling for equality between men and women at work (which he said could increase the EU's GDP by 12% by 2030). “In a social Europe, the EU should take a collective stand against the youth unemployment.”
“We should prioritise investments in education (…), create the jobs of the future for young people via social investment and (…)digital internal market,”said Löfven. “This is the kind of social Europe that can win the hearts of the European people,” added the former leader of a trade union in the steel industry, proposing that Sweden hold a summit in 2017 to promote social Europe.
The prime minister said that the revision of the directive on the secondment of workers would demonstrate to European entrepreneurs that we are able to build a European labour market that works well in Europe, that respects collective agreements and the fundamental rules of the labour market. He said that greater equity among citizens was needed and the European Commission's proposals went in the right direction - that of greater protection for European workers.
Defending democracy and never accepting populism. Finally, Löfven urged European countries to get down to an even bigger task than the “joint actions, tough, but necessary” taken in the winter of 2015/16 to combat terrorism, which is the “work to defend democracy.” “Defending democracy is standing up for the safety of our Jewish citizens at a time when anti-Semitic threats, hatred and violence once again echo throughout Europe. It is never accepting or spreading populists' and extremists' demonisation of Muslims. It is working for the rights of the Roma and of all minorities. Defending democracy is also defending free and independent media, freedom of reporting and freedom of the press. Defending democracy is respecting every person's right to meet, to be tried in free and fair trials, to move freely in society and to love whoever they want. If we do not defend these democratic values, we will lose Europe as we know it,” he said. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)