Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-06-Speech-4-340"
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"en.20000706.13.4-340"2
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"Mr President, the 1999 annual report of the European Central Bank is not terribly forthcoming on the subject of the main question that all observers are asking: why has the euro, which was presented as a strong currency, turned out in the end to be a weak currency? Out of nigh on two hundred pages, the bank devotes just a single page to this subject, plus a tiny graph showing only the observed decline in the strength of the euro. The only explanation given is the difference in economic health and structures between Europe and the United States.
Although that is true, it is not a sufficient reason. It should be mentioned, first of all, that Europe is not a single country, with one people, one state, and one economic government and that, consequently, the euro is generally considered to be more vulnerable than a national currency. Furthermore, it was launched at too high a level at the outset, precisely because it was evaluated in relation to the existing rates for genuine national currencies, even though it has none of their intrinsic qualities.
How do European leaders intend to combat this depreciation? Firstly, indirectly, by means of policies to promote growth, an approach we can only endorse. At the same time, however, we see the European Central Bank raising interest rates, officially in order to combat a non-existent risk of inflation, but in reality in order to support the parity of the euro. It is a double-edged sword, because, if it is used at the wrong moment in the cycle, it may cancel out the growth that they are trying to stimulate by other means.
The other dubious solution is the headlong rush to strengthen the eleven members of the euro zone, which is supposed to lead gradually to a single European economic government. This will not change a great deal in the short term. In order to deal with the root of the matter, we should have to deny the nations of Europe any autonomy whatsoever, but this is patently impossible. In any event, a deadlock is being imposed on the system at the same time. As I explained at a recent symposium of the French National Assembly, the Charter of Fundamental Rights is intended to serve, among other things, to put an even greater stranglehold on the peoples of Europe in relation to Community law and hence also in relation to the single currency. This venture is helping to take us to a point where we lose our freedoms."@en1
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