madam president the great investor warren buffet once said when the tide goes down you kind of get to see who is not wearing a bathing costume
last year the uk economy contracted four point eight so did italy's
the german economy contracted five and eu trade much more so
i am going to focus on the third question which is what strategy does the commission intend to pursue to enable eu industry to become more competitive
well before there was the lisbon treaty there was the lisbon strategy and in the lisbon strategy the eu intended and i quote to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world
now one prerequisite for a competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy is to have a flexible work force
so what has the eu done to bring this about
well they have brought in the agency workers directive in two thousand and eight and this has been like pouring glue into the most flexible part of the labour market
the agency workers directive is yet another ill-thought-out and inappropriate eu directive which has yet again disproportionately and adversely affected the uk which has a third of all eu agency workers
and incidentally it is by having a flexible workforce that you raise people out of poverty
the eu's series of ill-considered directives stand in the way of a competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy emerging in the member states
the eu economic crisis reveals that the eu has as it were no bathing costume
