Pervenche Berès, rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. − (FR) Mr President, Commissioner, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs sees this end-of-year meeting as of major significance, since in order to achieve a genuine economic and monetary union we must revisit its foundations, which clearly did not withstand the crisis in which we find ourselves.

The work done by this Parliament, under the responsibility of Ms Thyssen – whom we all thank for the excellent quality of the work – is meant to make clear, to define, Parliament’s position with a view to this major European Council meeting in December. I am therefore surprised by the absence of Herman Van Rompuy, its President, for whom this work is intended.

In addition, I consider that the result of our vote here will give our sherpas a mandate to represent us in the negotiations in preparation for this work. We also consider that this meeting cannot be downplayed or underestimated in the light of the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework. Rewriting a genuine economic and monetary union must remain the priority.

In this area, it is necessary to raise the social issue: we have been greatly struck by the fact that the document put on the table by Mr Van Rompuy in June defines four pillars, without ever mentioning the social dimension. Yet if you look at the Treaty of Maastricht, if you look at the current state of economic and monetary union, it is obvious that there is an imbalance between the economic policies defined in Article 121 and the employment policies defined in Article 148. However, if you rebuild economic and monetary union on the basis of Mr Van Rompuy’s proposals, without taking account of this original balance, you will destabilise the entire mechanism.

Moreover, Parliament, our Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, also sets great store by parliamentary control, democratic control, and therefore the chance for Parliament to participate, under the ordinary legislative procedure, in the Annual Growth Survey establishing the framework for this European Semester.

A final point, Mr President, to highlight an element not mentioned often enough. If we want the troikas to succeed, they must be expanded to include the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which has today denounced the failure to abide by the ILO fundamental conventions in Greece, following the work of the troika. A genuine economic and monetary union cannot ignore the very foundations of the European social model.