madam president it would not be far-fetched to liken the crisis in the financial markets to a hurricane once the wind abates there is an illusion of calm but the devastation left behind takes years to clear up and so it will be with the economic and social consequences of the turmoil we have seen
we have to strike a balance between continuity and adaptation in the light of changed circumstances
in terms of energy policy that means sticking to strategic aims on security of supply sustainability and competitiveness while considering whether we need to change the tactics the means
energy is vital to our way of life and standard of living
it is a long-term industry where building new capacity takes five ten or fifteen years and obviously cannot be a short-term answer to short-term challenges of the sort we face
in the same vein tackling climate change is a long-term matter and there is no silver bullet or simple solution
as regards tactics there are those who have reservations about the level and timing of the targets within the climate-energy package
there are those who were anxious about carbon leakage or the offshoring of european jobs well before the financial crisis
maybe we have to look at the detail if not the principle involved again
however my main concern at this time is what we should avoid doing and that is falling into the trap of overregulation because overregulation could precipitate something much worse a re-run of the nineteen thirties slump
i know well the importance of good regulation for making markets function well and for transparency but let us not kill off the goose that lays the golden egg
