Text tabled : A7-0072/2011

  Harlem Désir (S&D), in writing. – (FR) Too often, the European Union is distant from its citizens, its policies seem far removed, and the European project lacks meaning in the eyes of Europeans. If the Single Market is only to be a conduit for rampant liberalisation, deregulating public services, social systems and workers’ rights by submitting them to fierce competition, this is a cause for concern, even though it has and may have several positive specific consequences for consumers and in the everyday lives of our fellow citizens. With Mr Correia de Campos’s report, the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have fought for better regulation when it comes to strengthening the Single Market, and for this strengthening to serve the general interest of Europeans and not just that of businesses. Such interests include consumers’ rights, the protection of workers’ rights against the tendency towards social dumping, with an explicit recognition of collective labour agreements in all the Member States of the Union, the call for a recognised framework for public services, and universal access to these services. The integration of the Single Market must now go hand in hand with the advances of a social Europe, which is needed more than ever at a time when the recession continues to affect Europeans.