Publié mardi 19 février 2008 à 17h29
par
helmar
dans La nouvelle Europe sociale (vu 429 fois et 2 commentaires)
I have translated a comment written for the Swedish Social Democratic newspaper Aktuellt i Politiken. It deals with how important it is that we Social Democrats don't give up the idea of a New Social Europe just because it takes time to achieve our goals. We cannot avoid addressing important policy areas, such as labour market and health care, on an EU level if we really want to make a change. I would be happy to discuss it with you.
It takes time for a new Europe to develop
A Catalan, an Estonian, a Welshman and me. No, this is not the start of a joke about national characters; it is a normal dinner in Brussels and no stranger than when I spend time with friends from all over Sweden when I am in Stockholm. It would be absurd if I told my friend from the South of Sweden that I think we should not have national labour market policies, since we have both higher salaries and lower unemployment in Stockholm. I would probably be punched if I said to my friend from Gothenburg that Stockholm hospitals cannot accept patients from other regions since they have different bacteria and viruses in their hospitals. And I would definitely get into an argument with my friend from the North of Sweden if he said that he does not care if we have congestion charges in Stockholm or not, since they have no problem with pollution or congestion in the North. It is obvious that our visions reach over the regional borders, but is it as self-evident that this...
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