"The European Union must be active in shaping globalisation", says ALDE group

12.30.00pm GMT Wed 14th Nov 2007

The European Parliament debated today the challenges of the global economy and how Europe as a whole must project its Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs onto its external policy priorities.

Graham Watson, ALDE group leader believes that the concept of national sovereignty is rendered increasingly obsolete by the need for supranational solutions to tackle supranational problems:

"If Europe sits on its hands because national leaders contest the EU's agenda we will miss the chance to steer globalisation in Europe's collective interests."

The Liberal Democrat group leader criticised the Commission's document as too narrowly focused on the Lisbon Agenda alone, calling for a more holistic approach which "brings together the Lisbon Agenda, the Cardiff Agenda of social policy and the Gothenburg Agenda of environmental sustainability."

Moreover he predicted that the challenges of globalisation would prise apart and re-fashion Europe's political families, warning Commission President Barroso that although he could rely on a majority backing from the Parliament for his approach to globalisation "it is not a majority based on one political family alone. Even within the Commission President's own political family, there are conservative pressures to retreat, in the face of globalisation, to a form of economic nationalism and from Christian democracy to Christian autocracy."

"The divisions in our politics is no longer between left and right on economic policy but between those who respond to global challenges by pulling up the drawbridge and those who, like Liberal Democrats, advocate an open society," concluded Watson.

Margarita Starkeviciute (LCU, Lithuania), who authored the resolution tabled by the ALDE group, underlined the role of the EU as a global player and increasingly so since it had enlarged to 27 Member States making it the largest exporter and importer of goods in the world:

"The EU must play a dynamic and pro-active role in the global economy. It is still too hesitant and productivity is lagging behind potential as a result of the failure to complete the Internal Market and to fully exploit global market opportunities."

"Europe's Internal Market now needs to be externalised, creating more opportunities for growth and jobs. The European Union must become a champion of self-improvement rather than state-dependency."

Bernard Lehideux (UDF, France) underlined the importance of not sacrificing the social dimension of the Lisbon strategy which he considered would be "a handicap for competitiveness." "The Europe of Citizens, but also that of business has great need for a social Europe too. The former because they expect Europe to address their concerns and the latter because they have everything to lose from generalised social dumping."