Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-03-Speech-3-098"
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"en.20031203.7.3-098"2
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"Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to start by quoting Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the Professor of Economics and former Prime Minister of my country, under whose leadership Portugal joined the euro. His words might be harsh, but they are right: ‘the Stability Pact was a stab in the back for the Franco-German axis, which changed from being a boost for a Community-based Europe to a factor for instability. The Stability Pact is now dead, at least as regards its power to impose penalties. This is an indication that the Community-based Europe has lost its direction’. I do not wish to contribute to the debate as to whether or not the Stability Pact was stupid. We saw how, in the space of a few days, those who considered it to be intelligent decided not to comply with it and those who believed it to be stupid protested when it was ignored. I admit that other indicators are needed and that mechanisms that apply to periods of growth might need to be qualitatively different to those that must be complied with in periods of recession. There is one thing I am sure of, however: we need mechanisms to discipline public finances in the interest of the euro and of Europe. What we cannot accept are the double standards of the criteria: some countries are obliged to comply with things that others are allowed to get away with. What is damaging to European unity is the feeling that the small countries are not allowed to act in ways that the large countries can. What is unacceptable is seeing those that have acted improperly making contemptuous and crude remarks about those who have honoured the commitments they have given. One example is the deplorable attitude of the French and German Finance Ministers towards the Portuguese Government’s courageous budgetary stance. What is worrying is that the backsliding on complying with the rules of the Pact could lead to an increase in interest rates, as Mr Solbes admitted. This is a worrying scenario for highly indebted families and individuals.
Madam President, our aim should be to strengthen the instruments for European integration, not to weaken them, especially in the context of the debate on the new Constitutional Treaty and on the completion of enlargement."@en1
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