Mr President, ours is the enormous task of creating a new synthesis of the goals our society has set itself whilst at the same time remaining committed to the ideals that are characteristic of Europe and for which it is known. We have to create a new synthesis between work as a factor in social integration, equality of opportunity and the economic demands of competitiveness and job creation. What I have quoted from Jacques Delors’ 1993 White Paper is no less relevant today, and I believe that the failure to transpose this White Paper, despite the praise heaped upon it by all the Heads of State or Government and by this European Parliament, and despite the endorsement they gave it, demonstrates how important it is that the Lisbon process should no longer be allowed to stagnate, but that, instead, we should do everything possible – which, fortunately, the Irish Presidency of the Council is willing to do – to implement it at national and local level. I regret the failure to make progress in implementing it, and the primary reason why we should all share in that regret is that all the Member States are hiding behind the argument that there is that further progress is financially unsustainable. I believe that this excuse should no longer be considered appropriate, firstly because we now have the investment initiative – even though it is quite modest and will certainly not have the effects that the Marshall Plan, with even less money, did in reconstructing Europe – and, secondly, because we are giving no thought to how better coordination by the Member States can recover lost revenue, not only through the fight against organised crime and the black economy, but also – and primarily – by combating tax evasion. From VAT alone, it would be possible to raise an extra EUR 100 billion per annum, with which we would be able to manage to provide far more credible funding. I think it is also high time that we thought, when it comes to raising funds today, no longer only in terms of the European Investment Bank and its contributions to the organising of growth – valuable though they indeed are – but also to reconsider and examine the possibility of the European Union at last applying an instrument we debated as long ago as 1993, and inviting subscription to Eurobonds. Although this year’s Spring Summit must indeed create confidence – which is what we demanded that the Thessaloniki Spring Summit should do – it must also make it clear that we, in Europe, can be seen to add value by all pulling together. Vitally important though investments in the computer field and in information technology most certainly are, there are other areas in which we can invest: in the environment, in saving energy, in alternative energies, in order to generate sustainable growth accompanied by job creation, and – as has rightly been said – there is such a thing as investment in people, the European Union’s most valuable raw material, not only in early childhood but also in tertiary education and lifelong learning. One thing, though, I do not want to omit, and that is our need, alongside investment in people’s education and training, for investment in social services. To take one example, we will never be able to reconcile work and family life in Europe unless childcare provision is improved. This is where Europe, in most but not all of the Member States, has a lot of catching up to do. The World Commission on Sustainability and Globalisation too, backs up our demand in its report, published this week, and I think this shows us that what is needed today is no longer merely prescriptions of what is to be done, but the political willingness to join forces. No longer can Europe wait for growth in the United States; it must pull itself by its own bootstraps out of the swamp of mass unemployment, inadequate investment and inability to coordinate. I believe this to be a challenge for this Spring Summit, and I very much hope that it will succeed in persuading governments that the action they have taken to date will not be enough to prepare us for the future, which is vital to all of us and to generations yet to come. (Applause)

Political group: PSE