madam president this is a sad day for the credibility of the european union
the economic recovery package we will vote on is in reality a non-recovery plan which will produce almost no immediate economic stimulus
we have had months of sometimes intense negotiations with the eu council
unfortunately rather than standing up to those governments like germany the netherlands and the uk which adopted a short-sighted i want my money back approach the majority of this house and the commission have simply caved in to their demands
this outcome is very bad and it could have been avoided
we could have built a real solidarity instrument where the vast majority of the funds would have gone to those economies most in need our friends in eastern europe
we could have enhanced the economic effectiveness of this package by using innovative finance instruments like loan guarantee funds and the public banks or the european investment bank
this would have transformed the eur five billion into eur fifty eighty billion in investment which we need at this moment for the european economy
we could have focused our investments on those areas with immediate job creation such as cities in europe investigating in the renovation of buildings and public transport or independent power companies investing in renewables or our industries in europe investing in eco-technologies
instead you have decided to concentrate the bulk of these eur five billion on old-fashioned state aid to those least in need of cash the big energy oligopolies in the uk germany and france
instead of sending a strong signal we are sending a signal of a lack of political courage spineless european institutions that have caved in to the whims of nationally blinkered governments
unfortunately we have no brave and visionary commission president
unfortunately the liberals and the socialists in this house were not ready to fight with the greens to make this recovery package a real first step to a green new deal
before change can happen in europe we must change the president of the commission
in order to make this change happen we need to change the majorities in the european parliament
stop barroso go for a green new deal this is more than ever the right slogan for the upcoming european elections
