European Parliament
Duin (PSE ).
(DE)
Mr President, the errors of management have been sufficiently described, and, rather than enlarge upon them, I want to talk about what we – the Commission, the Council, and also this Parliament – can do. We have to get away from making some laws on the environment – albeit very comprehensive ones – followed by laws on the protection and safety of pedestrians and others, and then laws on mobility, while neglecting, as we did in the past, to put together a truly cohesive and uniform strategy for this sector. That is what is urgently needed if we are not to be helpless spectators while jobs in European industry are wiped out.
I believe that we can gain some optimism from what Mr Rehn and Mr Verheugen said in the hearings. One cannot but welcome the setting up of a high level group of this sort, but ‘high level’ means not just this or that chairman of this or that company’s board, but also the workers’ representatives; it must involve not just the Commission, but also the European Parliament. I think we can find examples of this in shipbuilding too.
There is just one more thing I would like to say, and that is that what the outgoing Commission, as regards jobs in the motor industry, has covered itself with is not just glory. I would cite not only the Volkswagen legislation, but also the Design Directive, as examples of how urgently amendments are needed.

