mr president i am sorry the socialists have chosen to vent their old prejudices about profits and social issues in what is essentially an economic and industrial question
clearly oil price rises are serious for the real economy especially any volatility or instability in those prices but let us remember the lessons that we learned from the nineteen seventies
those lessons include the fact that higher prices will encourage more exploration and the development of resources
they will discourage excessive consumption and they will drive efficiency
i submit the issue of fuel poverty is an important one but it should be tackled via social security measures and not through market distortions such as seeking to cap prices
let us also remember that prices can come down as well as rise and that markets always tend to overshoot before settling down at a realistic level
establishing a truly competitive market is an essential prerequisite for pursuing other policy objectives
this prices issue underlines the fundamentals of eu energy policy and the eu energy situation the three pillars namely the essential need for truly competitive markets markets which will deliver the lowest prices and the most efficient services the security of supply issues in our dependence on imported fuels and the convergence of sustainability objectives with the other two elements of our policy
let us beware throwing out the baby with the bathwater because we are concerned about price rises last summer and forget that prices come down as well as go up
