Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-26-Speech-2-091"
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"en.19991026.3.2-091"2
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"Mr President, President Duisenberg, rapporteur, I would like to outline five thoughts briefly.
Firstly, we have heard that this is the first report of the ECB and first position that we have been called upon to express on it. It can be discerned immediately that the report describes the status quo of a year that has now passed and does not definitively clarify the work of the ECB and our relationship to the ECB. Cooperation between the European Parliament and the ECB, as well as the operating methods of the European Central Bank, are in a process of evolution. Much of our criticism or our requirements today will seem self-evident in a while. I would, however, like to say on behalf of our group that we consider the fundamental conditions to be sacrosanct. The Group of the European People’s Party/European Democrats sees itself as the political group which says yes to the independence of the ECB, to reinforcement of the stability policy, regarding both price stability and currency stability, and which also says yes to further reduction of the public debt, to new growth and employment and to the credibility of monetary policy.
These fundamental positions of ours, in addition to the tension between autonomy, confidence, a transparent public record and the essential intensification of monetary dialogue with the European Parliament, are crucial for us to be able to assess the work of the ECB, but also for the preparation of our own report and the operating methods of Parliament.
We have already heard briefly today that the main theme of the report is the year 1998, a year in which it was announced which countries had met the convergence criteria – eleven of them, the location of the ECB was decided, the EMI was taken on, the third phase of economic and monetary union was introduced and the ECB Governing Council decided on the stability strategy, based on the two recognised pillars.
It has to be said, a lot happened in the course of this year. In spite of some currency turbulence on other continents, the euro has already demonstrated that it can earn confidence, and the conversion of existing currencies to the new currency on 1 January 1999 was achieved smoothly.
At this point, therefore, I would like above all to offer congratulations and thanks. Congratulations and thanks to the European Monetary Institute, the national banks, the European Central Bank, represented here today by President Duisenberg, but also to all the Member States who, by means of many politically necessary reforms, drove forward further structural and institutional reforms and fulfilled the convergence criteria, and not forgetting the citizens who support this necessary step towards European integration with increasing approval.
Permit me to say in conclusion that fulfilment of the convergence criteria has led to price stability, exchange rate stability and to improved public finances. These three successes are the prerequisite for economic growth, on the one hand, essential investment in the future, on the other hand, and creating jobs and making them secure. Considering that the report contains all our fundamental conditions, my hope is that it will meet with wide approval."@en1
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