Volledig verslag van de vergaderingen

Woensdag 13 december 2017 - Straatsburg

20. Agenda 2030 en het verslag van Eurostat over het toezicht op de vorderingen met het oog op de duurzame-ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen in de EU (debat)

  Πρόεδρος. – Το επόμενο σημείο είναι οι δηλώσεις του Συμβουλίου και της Επιτροπής σχετικά με την Ατζέντα του 2030 και την έκθεση της Eurostat με θέμα «Παρακολούθηση της προόδου προς την επίτευξη των Στόχων Βιώσιμης Ανάπτυξης στην ΕΕ» (2017/3006(RSP)).

  Matti Maasikas, President-in-Office of the Council. – Mr President, the EU demonstrated strong leadership in the negotiations that led to the adoption of the 2030 agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015. We must continue to lead the implementation phase as well. After agreeing on what to do, we now have an obligation to do it at national as well as at the EU level.

The joint adoption of the new European consensus last June is certainly a very important step, as it will guide both the EU and its Member States for the next 12 to 15 years. The Member States have been leading by example, notably through voluntary national reporting in the context of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. However, more needs to be done in terms of implementation at the EU level across all policies – internal and external.

The Commission Communication of 22 November 2016 was a step in that direction. However, the Council, in its conclusions from 20 June 2017, urged the Commission to elaborate by mid-2018 a comprehensive implementation strategy to reflect the 2030 agenda in all relevant EU policies.

The Council largely shares the views expressed by the European Parliament in that regard in its own-initiative report that was adopted last July. The EU needs a clear vision of how all relevant EU policies will contribute to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda in a comprehensive and holistic manner.

At this stage, the Council is certainly looking forward to receiving more specific sectoral implementation proposals from the Commission. In this respect, the Council adapted its working methods to be better able to monitor the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals at EU level in a holistic manner.

The Council, under the Estonian Presidency, established a dedicated Council working party that will deal with the Agenda 2030. The mandate of this working party will be to ensure systematic, effective, participatory, transparent and integrated follow-up and review of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at EU level in order to track progress, assess achievements and ensure accountability.

The working group starts its work in early 2018 and will be reporting to the General Affairs Council. Also, in November the Council welcomed the first implementation monitoring report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the EU prepared recently by Eurostat. Even though this is still early days, the report provides useful insights in terms of trends, showing that our performance is on the right track with some goals, but less so on several others. However, there is a need for a fully-fledged analysis of gaps and a comprehensive EU implementation strategy to ensure that all policies are covered, both internal and external. This will allow the EU to remain a global leader in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

  Marianne Thyssen, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, with the signing of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on 25 September 2015, 193 countries from all regions of the world committed themselves to implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 related targets to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity and peace.

The 2030 Agenda prescribes a regular follow—up and review of progress towards the SDGs as a crucial element to support accountability to citizens. Governments have the primary responsibility for follow—up and review at national, regional and global levels. To follow up and review the goals and targets, the 2030 Agenda foresees the development of a reference indicator framework for global monitoring, complemented by indicators at regional and national levels, which will be developed by the Member States.

The European Union has its own monitoring process. The Commission Communication on ‘Next steps for a sustainable European future’ of November 2016 announced detailed and regular monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals in an EU context. It also announced the development of a reference indicator framework for this purpose.

On 20 November 2017, Eurostat released the first monitoring report. This monitoring report is based on the European Union SDG indicator set, which the Commission developed in cooperation with a large number of partners and stakeholders, including the European Union Member States, Council committees, academia, civil society and international organisations. The indicator set will be regularly reviewed to make sure that it includes the most relevant and highest-quality indicators and that it aligns with the UN global indicators.

The European SDG indicator set includes indicators which are relevant from an EU policy perspective and which are already available. They include detailed information on gender, age groups, regions, educational level, degree of urbanisation, income, and disability. Fifty-six of the 100 European Union SDG indicators are also part of the UN set.

Eurostat’s monitoring report builds on Eurostat’s long experience in monitoring sustainable development in the Union. As a matter of fact, from 2005 until 2015, Eurostat regularly monitored progress towards the objectives of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.

The report finds that, over the last five years, the European Union has made progress towards all SDGs. Progress for some goals has been faster than for others and within the goals movement away from the sustainable development objectives also occurred in specific areas. The European Union has made significant progress over the last five years towards the overall achievement of the goals concerning affordable and clean energy, responsible consumption and production, life on land, sustainable cities and communities and good health and well—being.

But let us be clear about this progress. In this way that progress towards a given goal does not necessarily mean that the status of that goal is satisfactory for the European Union. For example, in the case of terrestrial ecosystems, the indicators mostly show good progress, but this should not lead to the conclusion that ecosystems or biodiversity in the Union are in good health. As an example, common bird species have been declining in the Union since 1990 and only recently showed signs of slight recovery.

We also have eight SDGs in which the European Union has, over the last five years, made moderate progress. These concern quality education, partnership for the goals, industry innovation and infrastructure, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, no poverty, zero hunger and reduced inequalities. These results are visually presented on a newly created and dedicated section of Eurostat’s website, which I invite you to consult. There you will find links to additional products, a short brochure, and a series of online articles in the style of Wikipedia, which aim to reach the widest possible audience.

To conclude, monitoring progress towards the implementation of the SDGs is essential to meet the expectations raised by the 2030 Agenda. Eurostat will continue to evaluate and improve the list of indicators and produce annual monitoring reports. Next year, the Commission will present a reflection paper ‘Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030’. It will be accompanied by a ‘distance to SDGs’ analysis to provide, in addition to the trends, an understanding of the distance we still need to cover in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

  Sirpa Pietikäinen, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Mr President, in the sustainable development goals there are two sides – firstly to decide how the European Union is acting towards third countries and the rest of the world to get the goals right, and there, indeed, I think we need quite a lot more and better coherence.

Then, on the other side, when we look inside – and I thank Commissioner Thyssen for mentioning this – when you are getting closer to the goals or you have progress that actually does not mean that you have achieved the goal or that the progress would be anything else than just nominal as we can see in biodiversity or in the state of oceans when we refer to life below the waters for example, and other such matters, with the climate effect actions that are being dictated here in Europe very heavily at the moment.

That is why I congratulate the Commission and Eurostat on being so effective, of having effective indicators and the Eurostat monitoring scoreboard where we can see the actions. What I would hope is that we could have in the future this sort of sustainability or end goal so we could really measure how close or far we actually are from the sustainable achievement or target itself.

The second point is that to be really effective inside the EU, I hope that you could work with the Council in the future so that we could get this monitoring on all of these 17 points to the European Semester so that we could follow up and monitor effectively what the Member States are doing.

  Kathleen Van Brempt, on behalf of the S&D Group. – Mr President, sustainability is not just a buzzword. It is a sine qua non for the future of our planet and for the future of our people. Therefore, reaching the sustainable development goals within the EU is vital. To do that, today we now have the Eurostat monitoring report, which should show us the way in the progress that we are making within the European Union.

Let me be frank. There is something fundamentally wrong with this report. It says that we are making progress and we are moving in the right direction. It gives us nice arrows and these arrows are painted in hopeful green, but when we peel off the green glitz, we are left with an unsatisfactory report lacking the essential data, focusing on the past and missing the point of the universal character of the SDGs by not taking into account their interconnection nor their impact on EU policies.

You could say that, in times of fake news, it is good to have data. Of course that is true, but when you look at the data and you see that, for instance, the 1% is being qualified as progress of the highest category, then we are fooling ourselves. Some say that 15% is a good way forward in the 12 years to come, but if we know that we need 40% to get, for instance, the Paris climate goals in place, then we know that we are fooling ourselves.

Heading in the right direction is not the same as being on the right track fast enough to go in that same direction. As you mentioned, Madam Commissioner, some of these SDGs will not be met. They are in your portfolio – no poverty, reducing inequality, decent work. That is really worrying, because it outlines that we do not sufficiently take into account European policy and governance.

Let me conclude. We need to revise our measuring tools, using better indicators and data and providing a clear plan for the future. You need to do that not just with Parliament, but also with NGOs.

  Charles Goerens, au nom du groupe ALDE. – Monsieur le Président, les objectifs pour le développement durable sont au cœur du débat politique aujourd’hui. Il y va ni plus ni moins de la survie de notre planète.

Ces objectifs adoptés en 2015 par 193 pays semblent se réduire pour certains de nos États membres à une fonction essentiellement académique. En effet, leur mise en œuvre tarde à démarrer. Cela n’a rien d’étonnant, parce que ce n’est pas la première fois que des annonces faites en grande pompe ne sont pas suffisamment suivies d’effet.

Tel est le cas notamment pour l’aide publique au développement. Annoncée depuis quatre décennies, on en est encore qu’à mi-chemin pour ce qui est de l’objectif de 0,7 % par rapport au PIB. La raison de cet échec? C’est l’absence de méthode obligeant les États membres à rendre compte des objectifs auxquels ils ont souscrit.

Or, les mêmes causes produisent les mêmes effets, c’est pourquoi il importe dès à présent de nous doter d’une méthode pour réaliser des objectifs pour le développement durable. À cette fin, il serait souhaitable de connaître la stratégie de chaque État membre. Par ailleurs, il me paraît indispensable de préciser un axe de temps pour savoir qui fait quoi et à quelle échéance.

Pour que ces efforts ne soient pas vains, la mise en place d’un système de contrôle parlementaire me paraît incontournable. Ledit système de contrôle et de supervision parlementaire devrait répondre aux prérogatives tant des parlements nationaux que du Parlement européen. Les États membres responsables de lacunes importantes en matière de réalisation des objectifs pour le développement durable devraient venir devant le Parlement européen pour rendre compte de leur action politique en la matière. Il ne suffit pas d’aller à New York, de faire le généreux à la tribune des Nations unies, de rentrer dans sa capitale et de tabler sur la mémoire courte de ceux devant lesquels on a pris des engagements très forts.

Cela concerne le volet tant intérieur qu’extérieur et, en matière de développement durable, nous sommes tous des pays en développement, y compris au sein de l’Union européenne. Nous sommes tous logés à la même enseigne et avons tous les mêmes comptes à rendre à nos citoyens.

  Lola Sánchez Caldentey, en nombre del Grupo GUE/NGL. – Señor presidente. Pocos avances se han visto desde que se aprobó la Agenda 2030, hace dos años ya. Urge incrementar la voluntad política, para priorizar los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible. Para ello, la Unión Europea y sus Estados miembros deberían designar líderes políticos que tengan poder y, sobre todo, voluntad política para guiar a todo el gobierno e impulsar esta agenda; establecer un proceso gubernamental estructurado y claro para implementar la agenda, involucrando a todos los ministerios; y llevar a cabo un análisis exhaustivo y honesto de los déficits, indicando claramente dónde existen contradicciones entre las políticas. Y así estaríamos fortaleciendo el principio de coherencia de las políticas para el desarrollo.

También debemos adoptar un plan de implementación para cumplir la agenda que abarque las políticas nacionales e internacionales, especialmente las comerciales, y establecer un marco robusto de monitoreo, en el sector privado también, porque ni uno solo de los objetivos se alcanzará si no somos capaces de regular el comportamiento de nuestras empresas, y para eso necesitamos normas vinculantes en materia de diligencia debida.

Por eso, es incoherente firmar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible mientras seguimos sin desarrollar, por ejemplo, legislación vinculante en cadenas de valor tan mortíferas como la textil, o si seguimos obstaculizando en las Naciones Unidas el proceso para la creación de un tratado vinculante sobre empresas y derechos humanos.

De otro modo, estaremos volviendo a lo de siempre: palabras bonitas, pomposos objetivos y, en la práctica, estaremos obrando en dirección contraria. A este ritmo, ni en el 2 000 ni en el 3 030 alcanzaremos los objetivos.

  Heidi Hautala, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, the SDG agenda is deeply social in the sense that the core and underlying principle is ‘leave no-one behind’, and this is most appropriate following the debate that you have just led, Ms Commissioner, on the implementation of the Social Pillar of the European Union. This is of course what we also have to practise in our external programmes and policies. There needs to be a deep commitment to fighting inequalities and in favour of equality.

Basically, the challenge for me would be that we cannot go on taking decisions as if it were business as usual. We cannot work in silos, and I think this has been understood but not really implemented yet. For instance, in our House we don’t have a mechanism, to my knowledge, to make sure that our efforts for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals are concerted and coordinated. I think we should all together think about a mechanism for how that could be done, because we need to reach true coherence in our policies.

In fact we do have some ideas already from existing policies. We do have the notion of policy coherence for development, which we have been insisting on very much, Mr Goerens, for at least five years if not longer. We should use the mechanisms that we have been able to put in place for Policy Coherence for Development and expand them to all Sustainable Development Goals. We also have the Commission’s Trade For All policy paper which has been revised recently and it also gives some instruments and indications for how we should combine our efforts across the board. Finally, the High-Level Expert Group on sustainable finance is just about to publish its proposals. We will have to see how we will improve our investment policies so that they are truly sustainable.

  Mireille D’Ornano, au nom du groupe EFDD. – Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Commissaire, la Commission déclarait, il y a un an, que les objectifs de développement durable (ODD) étaient intégrés dans l’ensemble de ses dix priorités.

Pourtant, le rapport d’Eurostat révèle qu’en cinq ans seulement, cinq ODD ont montré des progrès significatifs, comme l’ODD 7 «Énergie propre et d’un coût abordable», l’ODD 12 «Consommation et production responsables» ou encore l’ODD 3 «Bonne santé et bien-être». Pour le reste, on compte huit objectifs qui ne progressent pas significativement. Parmi eux, l’ODD 4 «Éducation de qualité», l’ODD 1 «Pas de pauvreté», l’ODD 2 «Faim "zéro"» et l’ODD 5 «Égalité entre les sexes». Pire, on apprend qu’en raison d’une insuffisance de données, quatre ODD ne peuvent même pas être étudiés.

Soyons lucides, les États restent les mieux à même d’atteindre les objectifs qu’ils ont eux—mêmes approuvés.

  Stanislav Polčák (PPE). – Pane předsedající, cíle udržitelného rozvoje jsou zakotvené v základních smlouvách Evropské unie a začleněny rovněž do klíčových projektů odvětvových politik a iniciativ. Přežití naší planety je skutečně úkolem nás všech, je naší vlastní odpovědností.

Organizace spojených národů, jak zde již bylo řečeno, přijala v září 2015 Agendu pro udržitelný rozvoj do roku 2030 v podobě právě těch sedmnácti cílů. Sdělení Komise stanoví rámec pravidelného monitorování pokroku směrem k těmto cílům v kontextu Evropské unie. Na základě tohoto sdělení má Eurostat vydávat každoročně zprávu a jak již hovořila má předřečnice, vydal tu zprávu právě o plnění těchto sedmnácti cílů letos v květnu. Shromážděné údaje ukazují, že v uplynulých pěti letech učinila Evropská unie pokrok k dosažení všech těchto cílů. Významného pokroku bylo dosaženo u cíle sedm „Cenově dostupná a čistá energie“, u cíle dvanáct „Odpovědná spotřeba a výroba“, u cíle patnáct „Život na venkově“, u cíle jedenáct „Udržitelná města, obce a dobré zdraví a životní pohoda“.

Slabšího pokroku bylo dosaženo u těch cílů, o kterých hovořila má předřečnice, nebudu je opakovat, ale chybí dostatečné informace pro vyhodnocení čtyř oblastí: čistá voda, to mě skutečně překvapuje, rovněž klimatická opatření, život pod vodou a mír, spravedlnost a silné instituce. Chtěl bych se paní komisařky zeptat: Jak můžeme vyhodnocovat oblasti, ve kterých nemáme dostatek informací? Myslím, že by to stálo za zvážení, jak v daném případě postupovat při naplnění těchto ukazatelů.

  Elly Schlein (S&D). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, la pubblicazione del rapporto Eurostat sul monitoraggio dei progressi sugli obiettivi per lo sviluppo sostenibile è una buona notizia, ma siamo ancora lontani dai meccanismi di monitoraggio e di revisione di cui abbiamo bisogno per un'effettiva implementazione degli SDGs.

Stiamo ancora aspettando che l'Unione si doti di una strategia globale per l'attuazione dell'Agenda 2030, una strategia che guardi al futuro, non al trend degli ultimi quindici anni, una strategia basata su un'attenta analisi dei gap. Non bastano semafori e frecce rosse e verdi, abbiamo bisogno di scadenze, obiettivi e indicatori efficaci.

Due esempi: salutare come positivo un aumento dello 0,09 per cento degli aiuti pubblici allo sviluppo a livello europeo, dal 2011, è una presa in giro. Stiamo parlando di risorse che servono ora, non dopo il 2030, così come utilizzare il PIL come unico indicatore per una crescita economica sostenibile, e potrei continuare. Progresso in un'area non significa per forza essere sulla buona strada, e in alcuni casi ragionare senza obiettivi quantitativi sulla base di meri aumenti percentuali può essere molto ingannevole.

Ci siamo dati una scadenza, il 2030, purtroppo pochi politici lavorano su orizzonti temporali che vadano al di là delle prossime elezioni, ma qui è il caso di fare uno sforzo. L'Agenda 2030 è unica nel suo genere, è universale e gli obiettivi sono profondamente interconnessi tra loro, questo ci impone di rispondere a nuove sfide, nuove sfide cui possiamo rispondere solo con nuovi dati, indicatori innovativi e nuovi strumenti di monitoraggio.

Il rapporto non ci permette dunque di trarre conclusioni sull'effettiva possibilità che l'Unione riesca a mantenere gli impegni che ha preso con l'Agenda 2030. Manca un'analisi attenta dell'impatto delle politiche dell'Unione sullo sviluppo sostenibile, che è essenziale per sviluppare una strategia di attuazione globale a livello europeo.

Infine una cosa dovrebbe farci riflettere: il rapporto dimostra che su temi come lotta alla povertà, alla fame, alle disuguaglianze, l'Unione europea arranca, è molto indietro, non dimentichiamo che su questi nuovi obiettivi siamo tutti paesi in via di sviluppo.

  Jo Leinen (S&D). – Herr Präsident! Ja, der Eurostat-Bericht ist sicherlich hilfreich, um Erfolge und Misserfolge festzustellen. Wir brauchen aber drei weitere Instrumente: einmal ein Mainstreaming aller Politiken hin auf die SDG-Ziele, zweitens eine ausreichende und kohärente Finanzierung und drittens auch politische Führungskraft, damit die SDG als Priorität auf der Agenda bleiben.

Ich frage die Kommission: Gibt es eine Governance-Struktur für die SDG checks? Was ist da in der Kommission denkbar? Dasselbe gilt natürlich für den Rat und – wie die Kollegen gesagt haben – auch für uns. Auch im Parlament brauchen wir eine Struktur für das Monitoring, wie Herr Goerens gesagt hat, und für das Begleiten der SDG.

Dann die Frage an die Kommission: Wird der neue multilaterale Finanzierungsrahmen respektieren, für was wir unser Geld ausgeben? Das ist ein Test beim nächsten MFR.

Und zu guter Letzt brauchen wir auch Partner in der Welt. Wir reden über Klimadiplomatie, eigentlich brauchen wir auch eine SDG-Diplomatie, damit wir nicht allein in Europa das machen, sondern andere auch.

  Julie Ward (S&D). – Mr President, the Eurostat assessment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) progress in Europe shows that good progress has been registered on the sustainability of cities, cleaner energy and responsible consumption. This proves that when the EU has a strong collective strategy, progress is possible. However, at the other end of the spectrum, we find the reduction of inequalities and the elimination of poverty, plus gender equality, remaining at moderate progress only.

So what does this say about our societies? These results show that Europe must focus on improving the lives and well—being of the most vulnerable. Growing inequalities are not only a lost economic potential, as this report demonstrates, but they are also at the root of rising populism and extremism, which sows division in our communities and threatens European values.

Years of austerity politics have only made things worse, in particular in my country, as well as in Greece, Portugal and Spain. I want to reaffirm that the number of children living in, or at risk of, poverty in our societies in 2017 is simply shameful. We need to adopt the EU Child Guarantee now.

  Doru-Claudian Frunzulică (S&D). – Mr President, I welcome as well the Eurostat report, but at the same time I stress the importance of regularly revising the EU SDG indicators set, so that the latest remain in line with future policy developments and progress. According to the findings, overall the EU made progress towards the 17 SDGs over the past five years, with progress for some goals having been faster than for others. However, we have to remain cautious because advancement towards a given goal does not entail per se that the status of the respective goal is satisfactory for the European Union.

Moreover, I would like to put forward some remarks. The report does not provide enough information to develop conclusions on whether the European Union’s efforts will be successful in attaining the SDG targets by 2030, and fell short on measuring the EU’s impact on sustainable development from a global perspective. Therefore, this shortcoming sends a strong signal on the need to revise the indicator set, to fill the existing gaps and to put in place a more ambitious and comprehensive monitoring system.

Διαδικασία catch-the-eye

  Krzysztof Hetman (PPE). – Panie Przewodniczący! Od proklamacji celów minęło nieco ponad dwa lata. Cieszy więc, że w pięciu z siedemnastu z nich już teraz odnotowany został znaczący postęp. To dobry prognostyk, który daje nadzieję na to, że do 2030 roku założone cele zostaną zrealizowane. Pierwsze pozytywne sygnały nie mogą być jednak impulsem do tego, by popaść w samozadowolenie. Przede wszystkim raport Eurostatu wskazał, że niemal w każdym z poszczególnych celów istnieją wskaźniki, które utrzymały się na niezmienionym poziomie lub wręcz uległy pogorszeniu w ostatnich latach. Szczególny niepokój budzi zwłaszcza brak postępów w redukowaniu nierówności i biedy.

Unia stawiana jest innym krajom za wzór dobrze prowadzonej polityki społecznej. Widać jednak, że także w tym obszarze mamy jeszcze szerokie pole do poprawy. Ponadto Unia Europejska powinna skupić się nie tylko na realizacji celów na własnym obszarze, ale także współpracować z ONZ i innymi krajami na rzecz osiągnięcia zrównoważonego rozwoju w krajach rozwijających się.

  Arne Lietz (S&D). – Herr Präsident, sehr geehrte Frau Kommissarin! Ich war 2015 zusammen mit den Kommissaren Timmermans und Mimicaund Frau Mogherini bei den Vereinten Nationen, als die entwicklungspolitischen Ziele 2030 ausgerufen wurden, und gleichzeitig wurde dort verkündet, dass es eine Strategie geben wird. Diese liegt leider noch nicht vor, das ist sehr zu bedauern.

Es ist höchste Zeit, dass wir einen europäischen Fahrplan entwickeln, da Europa 2019 in New York seine Ergebnisse präsentieren muss. Das heute zur Diskussion stehende Monitoring von Eurostat ist viel zu kurz gegriffen. Ich mache das beispielsweise am Ziel 12 nachhaltiger Konsum und Produktion fest – sehr lückenhaft und noch nicht stark ausgearbeitet.

Die globale Bedeutung und Auswirkung von Lieferketten, insbesondere der Textillieferketten, böte die Chance, unter anderem die Aspekte des Verbraucherschutzes für EU-Bürger, der Arbeitsbedingungen in Europa, und insbesondere der Arbeits- und Umweltbedingungen in den Produktionsländern aufzugreifen und zu verbessern.

Als ich dieses Jahr erneut zum Thema SDG bei den Vereinten Nationen in New York war, haben dort Dänemark und Estland anhand der Textillieferkette ihre SDG und ihre Arbeit daran vorgetragen.

Ich bitte die Kommission, endlich in diesem dringend notwendigen Bereich die ursprünglich angekündigten Fortschritte zu erzielen und hier endlich Aktivitäten zuentwickeln.

  Νότης Μαριάς (ECR). –Κύριε Πρόεδρε, η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση ασχολείται με την εκπλήρωση των 17 στόχων της βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης και με την εξάλειψη της φτώχειας σε όλον τον κόσμο, τη στιγμή που ακόμη και τώρα η Τρόικα επιβάλλει στον ελληνικό λαό σκληρές μνημονιακές πολιτικές, πολιτικές που έχουν μειώσει τις συντάξεις τουλάχιστον κατά 40%, πολιτικές που έχουν πετσοκόψει τους μισθούς, πολιτικές που έχουν οδηγήσει το 40% του ελληνικού λαού στο να ζει κάτω απ’ τα όρια της φτώχειας. Επομένως η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση πρέπει να παύσει τη διγλωσσία.

Οι δείκτες δείχνουν ότι στην Ελλάδα και στην Ευρώπη οι λαοί δυστυχούν. Δείχνουν ότι στην Ευρώπη των 28 τουλάχιστον 123 εκατομμύρια Ευρωπαίοι απειλούνται από τη φτώχεια, ενώ το 9,6% του πληθυσμού αντιμετωπίζει σοβαρή υστέρηση. Η επίτευξη λοιπόν των στόχων της βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης απαιτεί αλλαγή πολιτικής στην Ευρώπη, απαιτεί κονδύλια για την κοινωνική Ευρώπη, απαιτεί δραστηριοποίηση των ευρωπαϊκών ταμείων αλλά και της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας, η οποία οφείλει να κατευθύνει τα δισεκατομμύρια ευρώ της ποσοτικής χαλάρωσης στην ενίσχυση της πραγματικής οικονομίας και όχι της οικονομίας καζίνο.

  Κώστας Χρυσόγονος (GUE/NGL). – Κύριε Πρόεδρε, η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή μάς παρουσίασε εδώ μια υπεραισιόδοξη θεώρηση της κατάστασης σε ό,τι αφορά την επίτευξη των στόχων βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης για το 2030. Δυστυχώς η πραγματικότητα δεν ανταποκρίνεται στη θεώρηση αυτή. Η φτώχεια και η κοινωνική ανισότητα επιδεινώνονται, η καταστροφή της βιοποικιλότητας συνεχίζεται, ο άνθρωπος επιδεινώνει διαρκώς το φυσικό του περιβάλλον και στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση αλλά βέβαια και εκτός Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και –ξέρετε– στον σημερινό παγκοσμιοποιημένο οικονομικό χώρο ό,τι συμβαίνει στη γειτονιά μας έχει επιπτώσεις και σε μας.

Χρειαζόμαστε λοιπόν έναν ισχυρότερο μηχανισμό επιτήρησης της προόδου προς την κατεύθυνση της επίτευξης των στόχων της βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης και βεβαίως και μηχανισμό χρηματοδότησης των κρατών μελών, για να επιτυγχάνουν τους στόχους αυτούς με αναδιανομή από τα ισχυρότερα προς τα ασθενέστερα κράτη μέλη, όπως επίσης χρειαζόμαστε και έναν αναπροσανατολισμό στην εξωτερική μας οικονομική πολιτική, ούτως ώστε το ελεύθερο εμπόριο να συντελείται μόνον μέσα σε στόχους και περιορισμούς που θα θέτει η ανάγκη επίτευξης βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης.

  Nicola Caputo (S&D). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, dall'analisi dei dati Eurostat sull'attuale situazione dell'Europa rispetto ai 17 obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile, emerge un quadro non proprio incoraggiante.

Alcuni passi in avanti, pochi per la verità, sono stati compiuti nell'ambito della sostenibilità, soprattutto con riferimento ad ambiente, energia pulita, consumo e produzione responsabili, salute e benessere, ma troppo pochi sono stati i progressi sociali. La qualità dell'istruzione, l'occupazione e la lotta alla povertà, alla fame e alle disuguaglianze non hanno compiuto progressi significativi, e questo vuol dire che stiamo lasciando indietro ampie e troppe fasce di popolazione dell'Unione europea.

Ben venga dunque l'iniziativa del pilastro sociale, a patto che non si limiti ad essere una dichiarazione di intenti. Purtroppo per carenza di dati, non siamo in grado di fare una valutazione su alcuni dei più importanti obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile: lotta contro il cambiamento climatico, pace e giustizia.

Come ho già accennato in altra sede, vanno migliorati i nostri sistemi di monitoraggio per evitare che politiche impostate male non possano essere riviste per l'impossibilità di un fact checking.

(Λήξη της διαδικασίας catch-the-eye)

  Marianne Thyssen, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, I would like to thank the Members of Parliament for their engagement in this important debate. I would like to stress that for the Commission the importance of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is beyond dispute.

The Council has invited the Commission to prepare for the first EU report on the internal and external implementation of the 2030 Agenda by the EU at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum by 2019. We are starting to prepare for this report with the Reflection Paper due in the second half of 2018. The Reflection Paper is part of the discussion on the future of Europe. It will include the reflection on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as well as the reflection on economic and societal changes. I repeat that this Reflection Paper will be accompanied by a ‘distance-to-SDGs’ analysis to provide, besides the trends, also an understanding of the distance we still need to cover.

The Commission also established, as you know, the SDG multi-stakeholder platform, and there the European Parliament and the Council will be closely associated with the work. You will be engaged via the relevant institutional fora. Moreover, in relation to development policy, the Commission will produce a joint synthesis report with Member States on our implementation of the consensus, including the impact of their actions in support of the 2030 Agenda in developing countries, as a contribution to the EU reporting to the High-Level Political Forum.

Some honourable Members mentioned that there are no data for four indicators. It is true that those data are missing. Eurostat is working on it, together with the United Nations, to define those missing indicators. I can tell you that in Europe we have much more data than is available at the United Nations. However, in some cases, data series do not exist and therefore we cannot now show progress in the last five years – I hope it will be progress we can show and not regress, of course. I can tell you that in the future this will be possible, and it will also be possible – I say it again, also possible – to look at the distance from goal. Let me tell you also that the current list of indicators is not fixed in stone; indicator development will continue and the EU framework will be adapted accordingly.

Mr President, dear Members of Parliament, Mr Minister, having said this, the SDGs are sharply formulated goals, and those goals address the main questions of our time. We all know that. Making progress on them is not easy and does not come quickly. That should not be a surprise to any of us. But we also know that we have to measure to know, and indeed monitoring our performance is the first step to knowing where we stand, which in turn is the first step to making progress, and that first step is now taken. I am looking forward to continuing to work together with all of you on the many, many next steps on our way.

  Matti Maasikas, President-in-Office of the Council. – Mr President, the debate today shows the key importance of coherent and objective monitoring if we want to be serious about implementation of this transformative 2030 Agenda. But we need to have a truthful and objective measure and assessment of our performance and progress in line with the United Nations requirements. To that end, future reports should provide indications about the gaps to targets and not just about trends. This is key.

I can assure Mr Leinen that the new dedicated working party in the Council will also look at the issue of accountability. I am very happy to hear the Commission being responsive to the Council’s call to prepare a fully-fledged strategy outlining timelines, objectives and concrete measures to reflect the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in all relevant EU internal and external policies.

  Πρόεδρος. – Η συζήτηση έληξε.

Γραπτές δηλώσεις (άρθρο 162)

  Bogdan Brunon Wenta (PPE), na piśmie. – Sprawozdanie Eurostatu w sprawie postępów w realizacji celów zrównoważonego rozwoju w UE pokazuje, że udało się nam w tej materii wiele osiągnąć, jednakże sporo pozostaje jeszcze do zrobienia. Z zadowoleniem należy przyjąć postęp w ramach celu 3, który obejmuje wzrost średniej długości życia oraz spadek liczby zgonów w wyniku chronicznych chorób. Coraz lepsza realizacja celu 7, związanego z mniejszym zużyciem energii oraz ze zwiększonym wykorzystaniem źródeł odnawialnych, jest również dobrą prognozą na przyszłość. Z drugiej strony sprawozdanie pokazuje, że musimy zrobić więcej dla osiągnięcia celu 1, szczególnie w kierunku redukcji liczby osób zagrożonych ubóstwem. Mam nadzieję, że obecne polepszenie koniunktury gospodarczej pozwoli na uporanie się ze skutkami kryzysu finansowego, które ciągle jeszcze odczuwamy. Niesatysfakcjonujący wynik w tej i innych sferach dowodzi, że Unia Europejska i jej kraje muszą dołożyć wszelkich starań, aby osiągnąć cele zrównoważonego rozwoju do 2030 roku, nie zapominając o wspieraniu w tym zakresie państw partnerskich.

Z badań przeprowadzonych przez organizacje pozarządowe wynika, że prawie 40% państw członkowskich nie planuje przyjęcia krajowych strategii wdrożenia celów zrównoważonego rozwoju. Dlatego chciałbym zwrócić się do rządów państw Unii o stworzenie planów i struktur koordynacyjnych na rzecz implementacji celów, co pozwoli na osiągnięcie postępu tam, gdzie był on do tej pory niewystarczający.