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Verbatim report of proceedings
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 - Strasbourg Revised edition

Rio+20 earth summit (debate)
MPphoto
 

  Vittorio Prodi, on behalf of the S&D Group. – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the resolution on the Rio+20 summit highlights the crucial principle of fairness.

Fairness on an international scale that guarantees developing countries their right to development; intergenerational fairness that does not make those who come after us pay the price for our decisions; fairness that thus develops into genuine solidarity and a vehicle for a new kind of sustainable development. We must reject the old concept of the three independent pillars – economic, social and environmental – and instead recognise the interdependent nature of these elements, because they are indivisible.

Determining the conditions for genuinely sustainable development requires us not only to develop new standards, such as the Beyond GDP project, but also to guarantee the active involvement of all parties at all levels of governance. It is precisely by focusing on the indivisible nature of fairness, solidarity and global governance that we can break out from behind the barrier of false freedoms and return to social models based on the individual and the common good.

Rio+20 is therefore an appeal for a noble ethics and it is in such a context that both the financial and the technological proposals made by the European Parliament gain value. These span the tax on international financial transactions, support for environmental conservation projects, a broader horizon of comprehensive fiscal reform replacing taxes on labour by taxes on resource use and assessment of the impact that production of biofuels can have on food supply and biodiversity, with the focus on global assessment of impact of technology on the environment and society.

Our proposals are intended to prepare the ground for an international conference that would mark a true political turning point in planning the development of our planet.

 
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