Bourlanges (PPE-DE). – (FR) Mr President, Mr Herzog’s report, caught as it was between the rapporteur’s ambitions and the wariness – in my view the excessive timidity – of the parliamentary committee, illustrates how difficult it is for us to sit down together and define a model for European society. I believe we have to escape from this dilemma, but we must leave in an orderly manner by the front door. First of all, it is necessary to affirm the fundamental legitimacy of services of general interest. There is a set of public assets that must be organised more or less in the form of exemptions to the rules of the market, either because they need to be subsidised by the public authorities if everyone is to have guaranteed equal access to them or because the principle of equality is incompatible with excessive price fluctuations. There is therefore a need to reaffirm the axiom that we are in a market economy, not a market society.

Secondly, a legal framework is necessary, otherwise we should all have to give up our common ambition. This framework must begin by specifying where competence lies in accordance with the subsidiarity principle, in other words the level – European, national or local – at which services should be organised. The legal framework must also specify the scope of services of general interest – how far their definition may legitimately be extended. And, lastly, it must define the principles governing the way in which they are to be organised. In particular, care must be taken to ensure that no service of general interest is abused or becomes a monopoly, generating a secure income for those who provide the service rather than its beneficiaries. All these things have to be said.

Finally, the legal framework must be democratically structured. We in this Parliament cannot abdicate our responsibilities. We cannot be like the frogs who demanded a king. This is a matter that concerns the public, the peoples of Europe. Together with the Commission, we must establish a legal basis that enables us to set this issue within a democratic framework on the basis of a proposal from the Commission and with the Council and Parliament acting by codecision, otherwise we should be failing in our duty.

(Applause)