Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-065"
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"en.20010214.3.3-065"2
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"Mr President, at the outset I want to take the opportunity of congratulating Mr Gasòliba i Böhm on the preparation and presentation of his report. I wish during this debate to take the opportunity of addressing economic growth, in particular in my own country of Ireland.
Let me immediately state that I support the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam which call for the need to coordinate broad economic policies of the various participating Member States within the single European currency. However, any proposals which are brought forward in this regard, whether it be via the European Commission or otherwise, must be fair and they must be balanced.
Ireland has consistently supported the European Union and this has been borne out in all of the referenda in my country, where the citizens – and it does not happen in every country – have been given the right to express their views in relation to Europe. I do not believe that the proposals which were put forward by the European Commissioner, Mr Solbes, were particularly balanced with regard to these proposed recommendations concerning the workings of the Irish economy at this time. It is important to substantiate this and it is important to note that for a number of years the economic growth in my country has been between 10 and 12% – in sharp contrast with the late 1980s when it was 0%. The provision for the current year is for a growth of around 8%. Unemployment figures are as close as you will get to full employment in today's Union.
We are one of the few Member States making massive provisions for future pensions. We are proud of the fact that many countries in the world are desperately trying to improve their economic situation and they are using the Irish model as a reference. And yes, Mr President and Commissioner, our inflation is falling. It is falling significantly – and am I wrong in stating that other Member States have higher inflation rates than ours? I did not hear that mentioned recently.
It seems to me that the biggest sin we have committed in our country is to reward the people with tax cuts and increases in salary. Here, the Commission conveniently forgets that before the economic boom the citizens of our country were required to make major sacrifices in order to achieve that boom. But according to the Commission there can be no question of them reaping the benefits. Are we to be the victims of our own success?
It is for these reasons I believe that those detractors who are voicing concerns about the operation of the Irish economy are over-reacting. The majority of the people in my own country support our Minister for Finance and the only people who do not are those in opposition in my country and they are using the recommendation of the Commission for what they deem to be short-term political advantage. Any suggestions from any quarter that Ireland should suffer as a result of the success of the Irish economy is a very serious threat."@en1
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