Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-09-15-Speech-3-133"
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"en.20040915.6.3-133"2
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"Mr President, a Community with a shared destiny, such as this Europe of ours, cannot function unless freely accepted rules are complied with.
This was the essence of the Court of Justice’s message on the case relating to the Stability and Growth Pact. The Court’s ruling confirmed that the Member States have discretional power at their disposal and that they have no obligation to follow the Commission; the Court also helpfully supported the Commission’s sole right of initiative. The Commission recently took an initiative aimed at altering the existing rules. We must welcome this political act by the Prodi Commission and must thank Commissioner Almunia.
Socialists advocate a policy of stability and of fighting inflation, yet stability without growth leads to a sacrifice of future expenditure and to an austerity policy, on account of which the poorest sections of the public will be the first to suffer. Even though the two pillars of the Pact, the famous 3% and 60%, are not based on pure science, the aims must not be changed. The individual situation in each of the twenty-five Member States varies markedly. According to the evidence, a State with a debt of around 60% of its GDP has more room for manoeuvre than a State saddled with a public debt of over 100%.
Socialists would like to give Member States a margin of flexibility in the event of an economic downturn, so that they can pursue a structural policy of regeneration, even if that means – and on this point I agree with Mr Radwan – imposing tighter budgetary discipline during times of strong growth.
We must, above all, assess the quality of public spending. We must choose between consumer spending and expenditure for the future. Borrowing must be restricted solely to productive investment. This is based on a premise of better economic governance at EU level and of more thorough coordination of economic policy. Whilst one must welcome the fact that the Eurogroup has a permanent chairman in the shape of Mr Junker, it nonetheless remains the case that a chairman simply presides over meetings and does not make decisions. For the Stability Pact to become a Growth Pact too, coercive measures must be implemented in the area of national budgetary practice.
The ECB has reacted negatively towards the Commission’s proposals. I am grateful to Mr Zalm for responding somewhat frostily to what was said by the European Central Bank. The ECB’s independence is, and will remain, set in stone by the Treaty. Whilst the responsibility for monetary policy lies solely with the Central Bank, the responsibility for economic policy lies solely with the Member States. European economic policy must be coordinated by political power, not against the ECB, but independently of a world view that is limited solely to monetary considerations."@en1
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