Mr President, Commissioner, I am speaking on behalf of my fellow Member, Robert Goebbels, who is unable to attend due to a political commitment. Within the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Jonckheer report has given rise to bitter controversy on the subject of the operation of the market. A slim right-wing majority succeeded in removing any reference to market failures. Even if the majority in this House were to adhere to this ultraliberal idea of a supposedly perfect market, it would not make any difference to the real world. Economic relationships in the real world adequately demonstrate that eliminating all public intervention in the market does not in any way bring about perfect competition and the optimum distribution of resources. While, since the dawn of time, the market has been the key forum for human interchange, it has never been perfect. The market favours the short term and immediate profits. On the market, the balance of power between supply and demand are generally to the detriment of the weakest parties, consumers and workers. In order to function, the market needs rules. The necessary and valuable spirit of initiative must be offset by a sense of responsibility towards society. We European Socialists are in favour of a market economy with a social purpose. The market is not an end in itself; it must help to improve the human condition. The European Union or individual States must not take over from economic operators, but public authorities must define the rules and objectives which enable the economy to develop in a sustainable fashion. Finally, aid can enable restructuring, offer training, save jobs and thus know-how. The main objective of the Union’s competition policy cannot be to reduce the overall level of aid. This aid must be aligned with the objectives of the Union, particularly economic and social cohesion, sustainable development and research. The Commission must track down the illegal aid and the aid which actually hinders the internal market. It would be a serious mistake to eliminate all public aid. The Internet is not a product of the market, but the result of research financed by the American army. The World Wide Web, which has enabled the meteoric development of the information society, was developed by CERN in Geneva, once again with public aid. The German Government’s intervention to save the Holzmann group was criticised as an unjustifiable constraint upon the market economy. President Duisenberg even attempted to attribute the weakness, the entirely relative weakness of the euro in relation to the dollar to this state interventionism. I did not hear Mr Duisenberg criticising the intervention of the American monetary authorities to save the hedge fund, LTCM. Wishing to save 60 000 jobs is, apparently, a sin against the market, but saving capital does not seem to present any problem for the advocates of the free market. Public monies are used in order to repair the damage caused by international speculation, as was the case in Mexico, Asia and Brazil. Human labour, on the other hand, is considered to be a simple factor in the equation. We Socialists reject the liberals’ naïve optimism on this point. We want a true culture of competition in Europe. The state hand must still be clearly seen to regulate the market and the Commission must act as judge.

Political group: PSE