Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-15-Speech-4-023"
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"en.20030515.1.4-023"2
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"Madam President, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to discuss the broad economic policy guidelines of the Member States and the European Union, and I would therefore like to start by making one thing very clear. I reject any coordination of Member States' economic policies by the European Union. The Member States must continue to be responsible for coordination. The method whereby, in all areas where the European Union has no competence, conditions are stipulated in the framework of open coordination and guidelines, is fundamentally wrong and moves Europe in the wrong direction. The responsibility for economic policy in Europe must remain with the individual Member States. What we need in Europe is competition between locations, which can be stimulated by the Member States' different economic policies and which in turn strengthens Europe as a location for business and investment and fosters positive development in this area.
In my view, economic policy coordination can take place, at best, where the bases for competition are strengthened and also, of course, wherever this common coordination aims to guarantee currency stability. It follows from this – if we emphasise the Member States' responsibility in this area – that the Member States also have a specific responsibility for taking the action now required. To put it another way, the economic problems which we currently face in Europe's economy are largely the economic problems of large Member States, namely France, Italy and Germany. What we must do is clearly underline that these are not cyclical problems but structural problems. The key question for these countries is this: will they manage to summon the strength to undertake reforms? These future reforms cannot simply mean tinkering with the system. No, the key question is this: will they summon the strength to overhaul the systems
in these countries? When I say ‘overhaul the systems’, I mean the areas which exacerbate the structural problems. I mean the high labour costs, the high taxes, the costly healthcare systems, the inflexible labour markets, the obstructive trade unions, and the soaring costs of pensions. These are the areas where there are structural problems, and these are the areas which must be tackled. I believe that by undertaking structural reforms in the major areas of social spending as well as in the pensions sector, we will also remove the budget risks which in turn have an impact on the debt situation in the various countries. This is a crucial point, also in the context of the Stability and Growth Pact. What we need in these countries is a common-sense majority to ensure that the Stability and Growth Pact is not undermined even more than it is at present."@en1
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