Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-16-Speech-4-295"
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"en.20000316.11.4-295"2
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"Mr President, I should like to carry on from the point at which the rapporteur stopped in his report, for which I thank him, and point out once again that, compared with the plethora of resolutions which do not equate with the priorities of this House, increasing foreign reserve assets is an important resolution. What is the legal basis for today’s debate? According to Article 3 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks, owning and managing official foreign reserve assets is one of the tasks of the ECB.
This task is carried out in parallel by the ECB and the national central banks, whereby the national central banks transfer part of their reserves up to the equivalent of 50 billion euros to the European Central Bank, in accordance with Article 30.1 of the Statute. It was decided at the time, in Article 30.4 – which is why today’s discussion comes as no surprise – that the ECB could call up further foreign reserve assets beyond the limit set in Article 30.1. This call must be issued in the form of a regulation by the EU Council. The ECB is currently calling for a further increase of 50 billion euros.
We, the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats and the entire Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, as the rapporteur has already said, welcome this proposal. The reasons are set out in detail and time is already marching on, but allow me to say that we consider that this increase is needed. First, because it will help to increase the financial independence of the ECB, and the independence of the European Central Bank is instrumental to the stability and unassailability of the currency. The return on the capital paid up so far and the official reserves currently represents the ECB’s only source of income for financing its operations.
We know that it sustained a loss in 1999. We must therefore admit that a lack of funds robs the ECB of the ability to formulate an independent and transparent policy. Its financing requirements must be covered so that its independence cannot be called into question.
Secondly, we are in favour of this increase because it will help to foster the credibility of the ECB on the markets. If the ECB is financially independent and self-sufficient, this will increase its credibility on the international markets and, by extension, strengthen the euro
to the third stage on 1.1.2002.
Thirdly: this increase will enhance the ability of the ECB to react and adapt. In the event of a serious imbalance on the markets, possibly doubling its reserves gives the European Central Bank the potential to carry out its task in the form of a stability policy more effectively. It gives it the possibility to react more flexibly because it has the necessary funds at its disposal. Our report also introduces an additional model for strengthening the transparency of this procedure and I would therefore ask that you vote in favour of increasing the reserves."@en1
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