Mr President, we are going to have to wait and see what the Council makes of the points we are raising tonight in relation to the legal basis. I hope the Commission will think again about the acceptability of Amendments Nos 14, 15, 17 and 19 on the statute, concerning the inclusion of the consideration of employment effects in the case of a merger, transfer or conversion involving an ECS, because I think they are entirely justifiable. In the meantime I would like to take the opportunity to look beyond the institutional and legal basis arguments and look at the implications these proposals might have for the development of the social economy in a European Union which is trying to deal with a range of profound changes. The globalisation of markets and the decreased competitiveness of traditional sectors call for the diversification of economic activities and an exploration of new means of creating job opportunities. Technological progress calls for a highly-qualified, flexible workforce, which in turn expects a more participative working situation. Increased female participation rates and an ageing population with longer life expectancy increase the demand for household and caring services. These increasing and more diversified social needs, compounded by budgetary restrictions, have led public authorities to decentralise the provision of services or to reduce the range or level of services they are providing. The social economy can play a part in meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities arising from these and other processes of change, and in a way can help shape a new model of society and an economy based on solidarity, inclusion and participation on the one hand, and innovation and knowledge on the other. I can say these things with certainty because I have been looking back at the evaluation of the third-sector initiative which ran from 1997 to 1998, thanks to a budgetary initiative by Mrs Ghilardotti, who is here tonight. That evaluation underlined the fact that the development of the social economy to satisfy unmet needs could create as many as 120 000 jobs in the United Kingdom, 380 000 in Germany and 100 000 in France. But perhaps one statistic from the evaluation best illustrates the potential scale of future job creation relating to communal services: the gap between employment rates in the USA and the EU is largest in communal services, which include social services, recreation, education, health and social care. Equalising the rates would be equivalent to up to 7 million jobs. The promotion of the third system could contribute to an increased demand for and supply of these services and one, moreover, which could help close the employment gap most among the very social groups where it is greatest. We have a very well-established cooperative sector in my own region of England. It has interests in retail, manufacturing, services, farming, housing, banking and a wide range of other areas. The sector in my own region provides 13 000 jobs in the north-east of England. I know that many there will welcome these new instruments as opening the way for a fresh boost to the social economy and employment through transnational developments. That would be particularly useful in the context of enlargement. I also think that the Commission really ought to look back at the evaluation of that third-sector initiative. It supported us at the time and there was much talk of mainstreaming the results into the ESF, ERDF and relevant programmes. Yet just four and a half years later I was deeply disappointed to see that the modest reference to the social economy under the enterprise pillar of the old employment guidelines had completely disappeared under the heading 'fostering enterprise and promoting job creation' in the new, streamlined employment guidelines. In this case, new and streamlined does not mean better, and that needs to be rectified as a matter of urgency.

Political group: PSE