Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-03-Speech-3-194"
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"en.20011003.6.3-194"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner Solbes, we need more Europe, and the Stability Pact is a tool for building Europe. It is a complex and anomalous tool, not found in textbooks and universities; in fact, it replaces a true economic and budget balance policy on a federal scale. But in order to be effective, such a tool must be credible and based on definite rules and obligations that are respected by all. Changing the rules during the difficult process of convergence, less than one hundred days before the birth of the euro proper, would therefore be a serious mistake.
The Stability Pact must not, therefore, be relaxed or have its deadlines or targets changed; any such approach would be merely short-sighted opportunism and disastrous for the building of Europe.
The Stability Pact should, rather, be strengthened, improved and made more efficient; targets that only refer to budget balances are no longer enough. Budget balances are a necessary but not sufficient objective, because there will be a growing need to aim at quality in public spending and the medium to long-term sustainability of public finances in the individual euro countries; in this connection, it is sufficient to think of the pension deficit.
Commissioner, even a Stability Pact interpreted in the most responsible, far-sighted manner possible would do nothing for the credibility of our currency if there were not a massive acceleration in the process of completing economic union at the same time, with greater genuine convergence, greater social cohesion, greater development, greater liberalisation, and a greater market for services and energy.
Though we need therefore to comply with and value the Stability and Growth Pact, as much attention should also be devoted to the subject of the Lisbon agenda. Unfortunately, the Stockholm European Council was a step backwards in this respect. Commissioner, Minister, for the sake of the euro and our Europe, let us avoid similar steps backwards in future."@en1
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