madam president things rarely happen at convenient times and any crisis by definition is going to be inconvenient
the financial and economic crises currently confronting us are unwelcome in themselves but they also come in the closing months of the parliament and the final year of the commission when all of us might normally be thinking of the next election and new appointments
this commission work programme almost has the feel of a business as usual exercise yet the situation demands fresh thought on how to head off what threatens to be a deep recession
it presents europe with a big challenge because most measures of fiscal policy need to be taken at national level yet the eu has a crucial role of coordination
the magnitude of the challenges facing us makes that particularly important
in the field of energy we have a pretty good idea of things that need to be done but most of them are on a timescale well beyond the next year or two so perhaps the only area where swift action which could help could be taken is in the field of energy efficiency measures
specifically allowing lower vat for improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings and launching an information campaign to encourage a change in people's behaviour are two specific ways to help the situation
beyond that it seems to me that there will never be a better time to set up one of the eu's famous groups of wise people and in this case i suggest it should be wise men and women to reflect on the challenge we face and come up with original solutions beyond the short-term remedy of throwing money at tax giveaways
i hope that council and commission will give this idea a fair wind
