Strasbourg, 20/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the European Parliament was briefly addressed by the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, on the Commission's work programme for 2009. The programme comes at an interesting time in the life of the EU, a few months ahead of the European elections and a new European Commission, and against the backdrop of financial meltdown and a severe economic crisis. For this reason and while approving the European Commission's objective, several MEPs called for the Commission to take a more pro-active role and come up with tangible solutions to get out of the crisis.
Barroso did stress the Commission's catalyst role which has to be played with, rather than against, the member states and European Parliament. He said that he wanted to avoid announcing measures early that might not be implemented, describing this as populism, he said that work was already ongoing on how to tackle globalisation. Barroso said the other priorities for next year would be combating climate change and seeking sustainable development, along with opening up to Russia (which he described as a “sometimes difficult” partner that had too be communicated with rather than isolated). Barroso said the new American Administration provided an extraordinary opportunity because the Obama team might share a common vision with the European Union.
Regulation is not an end in itself but should work towards specific targets, particularly in times of crisis, said German MEP Hartmut Nassauer on behalf of the EPP. He said the European Parliament would back the European Commission's proposals on how to get out of the crisis but said that by not unveiling the ideas until December, which the EP would then have little time to react to, he was asking a lot of MEPs. The new rules should make it possible for everyone to take advantage of open markets, said Austrian MEP Johannes Swoboda on behalf of the Socialists, adding that the Commission - or some members of it at least - had believed for too long that the market would solve everything by itself. He said it had also believed this about services of general interest, a crucial domain that is in crisis in some countries, partly because people tried to squeeze a profit rather than supplying services. British ALDE MEP Diana Wallis said Europe was the best equipped group for dealing with these questions and challenges and the EP itself had come up with proposals on financial crisis management in June of this year, following the work of the committee investigating the collapse of Equitable Life. Wallis said she wanted an open, green, enterprising, free Europe. Polish MEP Ryszard Czarnecki (UEN group) said the Commission's action programme had a mixture of important issues and others that are now less important because of the crisis, and he said the focus should now go on combatting unemployment and encouraging growth rather than dealing with climate change. French MEP Hélène Flautre, speaking for the Greens-EFA, slammed the Commission's attitude on GMOs. She said the Commission called for transparency and information but asked whether people knew the toxicity of GMOs and whether they were prepared to provide this information to citizens? German MEP Sylvia Kaufmann (GUE/NGL) accused the Commission of refusing to make social justice a priority despite the need for social justice being felt ever more painfully in times of crisis. French IND-DEM MEP Paul Marie Coûteaux said the solution to the crisis was simply to return to protecting borders and the primacy of the truly legitimate body, namely nation states.
Countries taking up their role again as regulators of the market is a good thing but not a return to “selfish states” and a nationalism that claims it is not nationalist, said Luxembourg Socialist Robert Goebbels. People do not understand why their money is being used to save banks rather than to create jobs, said Danish Socialist Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, adding that the Commission had the duty to present a simple programme which did not force countries to pay for others, but committed all countries instead to invest together at the same time 1% of their budget on measures to tackle the economic recession. Fellow Socialist, French MEP Pervenche Berès, called for Rasmussen's advice to be followed. She said she was astonished that Barroso seemed to believe that when the Commission used its “right of initiative,” it was dabbling in “populism”. Swedish Socialist Jan Andersson criticised the temptation of reducing investment in social affairs and the environment because it is the exact opposite that should be done in order to protect the future. British Conservative Malcolm Harbour shares this view, saying that what was needed now was action in areas than can have positive outcomes, like green projects and innovative projects. Dutch Socialist Ieke Van den Burg called for a “genuine EU emergency action plan” to solve the crisis.
British Liberal Andrew Duff said the time had come for Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom to join the euro because the 5 conditions set by Gordon Brown in 1997 for the pound joining the euro had now been met, partly due to the economic crisis.
British Conservative Philip Bushill-Matthews said the Commission tells us that cutting red tape for SMEs “remains” one of its objectives for 2009 but he couldn't see any great achievement in this domain. Bushill-Matthews called on Barroso to visit the EP's employment and social affairs committee. He joked that Barroso saw the committee as part of the problem but if Barroso were to heed the committee's advice, he would see that it was part of the solution. Finnish EPP-ED MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi called on Europeans to stop flagellating themselves because the crisis had started in the United States rather than in Europe and the EU has already taken measures to tackle the crisis.
The vice-president of the Commission, Margot Wallström, said that the Commission had not been fiddling while Rome burned since the start of the crisis but had instead reacted with unusual speed and must now strike a balance between all the different measures. She said that SMEs would be a key part of any solution to the financial crisis and drew attention to the EU's Small Business Act. Wallström also mentioned the four priorities decided upon for 2009 in her domain (communication), namely elections, the environment and the climate, the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, employment and growth. (L.G./transl. fl)