madam president we are indeed living in extraordinary times but mr barroso's response to the economic crisis lacks strength and impact and his promises on social europe have not been kept
mr barroso your political guidelines provide little illumination as to your plans and drag out much of the same rhetoric used five years ago
of course we need a strong and vibrant internal market bringing jobs and prosperity but this must go hand in hand with improved social rights in europe for workers and citizens not at their expense
despite strong pressure from this house to correct this imbalance and calls for a review of the posted workers directive for social impact assessments and for a more ambitious economic recovery package we are still waiting
earlier you referred to union membership and the right to strike as sacred
across the uk unions are once more in talks over strike action in response to problems associated with the posted workers directive with fears of the undercutting of wages and undermining of collective agreements
your answer to my question on this issue last week sounded like warm words yet you admitted that the directive falls short of its aims
the problems lie in implementation and interpretation by the european court of justice ecj
you promised to make amends through a new legal instrument but the ecj judgments have shown we need to strengthen the directive to stop the undercutting of wages
at this time of financial crisis we need clear legal guidelines and mr barroso we need the same wage for the same work at the same place regardless of gender
what guarantees can you give us that this will be the case
