Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-23-Speech-2-008"
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"en.20030923.1.2-008"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the vast majority of the Group of the Party of European Socialists will give its vote to Mr Trichet.
Mr Trichet was one of the architects of the Maastricht Treaty and is clearly qualified to head the European Central Bank, but because he is to some extent one of the inventors of the Maastricht criteria which led to 12 of the Union’s Member States adopting the euro, he knows better than anyone that there is nothing scientific about these criteria, which were transferred largely unchanged into the Stability Pact: they are the product of a political compromise that reflects the economic reality and balance of political power of that time.
The Stability Pact is not the outcome of an exact science: like any agreement entered into freely, its terms must be complied with. Nevertheless, this pact is not as sacred as Mr Karas would have us believe. It can and must be improved, as Commissioner Monti stated in an interview: it is high time that we made what is an intelligent Stability Pact an even more intelligent Stability and Growth Pact.
The Group of the Party of European Socialists is in favour of a stability policy. The fight against inflation is crucial for protecting Europe’s poorest citizens in particular. As, however, the Italian President, Carlo Ciampi underlined, there can be no stability without growth and no growth without stability. This dual policy is, therefore, necessary.
The European Central Bank must fight against inflation, but also against recession. The Bank has objective criteria for combating inflation, but none for combating recession. Furthermore, the European Central Bank must support the Union’s other economic policies: in this regard, combating inflation is extremely important but not enough.
Europe must pull itself together. We cannot confine ourselves to constantly calling for stability. We must also invest in growth and allocate more money to research and development, to infrastructures in Europe, and to lifelong learning and training. We hope that the European Central Bank, with its new President, will give such a policy the appropriate support."@en1
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