Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-03-Speech-2-091"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010703.6.2-091"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Mr Duisenberg, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the debate that we are holding today has the virtue of enabling both a discussion on the macro aspects of the euro and the practical aspects of the euro and I believe that this is the right time to hold it. Is there one person in my group that questions the independence of the European Central Bank? No, there is not. Does this prevent us from discussing monetary policy? It does not. And I even believe that the changeover to the euro, if we can make a success of this final phase, assumes that we are discussing economic policy as a whole, including monetary policy and, from this perspective, I can only congratulate our rapporteur, Mrs Randzio-Plath, the chairperson of Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on the proposals that she has made, and I can only regret some of the votes that were cast in committee. If we want the euro to be the tool of the future that we hoped for, to enable Europe to be in harmony with prospects of growth for all, we must also discuss the monetary policy that you are implementing, Mr Duisenberg, and this is a subject that the people of Europe have a duty and the power to tackle.
Next, to turn to the practical aspects of the euro, I would like to congratulate Mr Maaten on his report, and to remind him that some of the authors of the amendments are here to discuss them and to go over two or three points.
With regard to the issue of frontloading, Mr Duisenberg, I understand that this is very much like a rearguard action; as proof of this, I refer to the agenda of the recent Ecofin Councils and, once again, as I said to you in committee, this is something that I regret. As well as the symbolic changeover to the euro on D-Day, there was a psychological aspect regarding the time between Christmas and New Year which meant other provisions were required. You decided against these and we are sorry to see this.
As for everything else, we still have some months left during which we can run a major publicity campaign so as to ensure that the changeover to the euro is as smooth as possible. In order to do this, the campaign that will be run must emphasise two main points: first of all, the issue of sensitive groups of people and, secondly, the psychological aspects of the changeover. I believe that the aim of the whole campaign should be that as many citizens as possible take on board the idea of the changeover from day one and that they cease using two currencies, mentally as well as physically. To this end, I hope that Parliament will be able to adopt an amendment that we re-tabled on behalf of our group, which would ban dual pricing after a period of one year. This year should give people time to adapt – a real changeover should occur if dual pricing is banned after one year. We must eliminate ambiguity from the changeover to the euro, which we must ensure is an experience shared by all citizens, whilst hoping that they will all join us in using the common currency."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples