Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-17-Speech-3-055"
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"en.20000517.4.3-055"2
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"Mr President, the Group of the Party of European Socialists is convinced by the efforts Greece has made to fulfil the convergence criteria. We support the recommendation and the rapporteur’s report. It is important for the European internal market to at last be properly completed. This will only be feasible if every last Member State of the European Union joins monetary union. It is therefore important from the point of view of business and commerce for all EU States to join, especially those that are able to fulfil the convergence criteria. Only then will it be possible to protect an even larger part of the economic area against exchange rate fluctuations.
A large currency union would also improve our chances of being able to coordinate economic policies, and hence achieve deeper European integration. Like any other Member of the European Monetary Union, Greece will have to continue to make efforts and to acquit itself of its responsibilities. That goes without saying, particularly where the level of debt in Greece is concerned. As mentioned before, Greece, along with Belgium and Italy, have been singled out for monitoring on this aspect. But I would also like to ask you once again to consider that the examination of other States’ stability programmes that took place last year also gave rise to criticism. As such, Greece is not the only State to have to keep proving itself over and over again in this respect.
A permanent Community of solidarity – which is precisely what monetary union is – demands sustained harmonisation activity. That is what the partners of monetary union have promised themselves and they must keep their promise. Both the Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact give expression to this.
Like other Members before it, Greece is going to have to work on being able to sustain its fulfilment of the convergence criteria. The interest rate adjustments that Greece needs to make to bring it into line with the euro zone are making heavy demands on its economy, society and social partners. That is why it is so important for there to be consensus between the major political parties and the social partners. It will enable us to feel confident that Greece will prove to be a successful partner in monetary union.
There is no reason to fear that monetary union will be weakened by Greece joining, because it is the stability of the currency that matters. Any country that wants to join the euro zone must fulfil the convergence criteria. In the long term, internal stability is only crucial to the external value of a currency. The fact that the average rate of inflation in the euro zone is 1.9% is a clear illustration of this. I would remind you once again, in this connection, that the Treaty of Maastricht states that we need a monetary policy that guarantees the stability of the currency. This was achieved in the first few months of the euro zone’s existence. The dollar/euro exchange rate cannot be used to guide monetary policy. What matters is that the internal purchasing power of the euro is very stable, as used to be the case with the Deutschmark."@en1
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