Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-26-Speech-4-036"
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"en.20050526.4.4-036"2
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"Mr President, Commissioners, let me remark on three points. The first concerns methodology. The European Parliament is fully aware of the importance of national ownership with regard to the matters under discussion. This is why, on 25 April, we organised a meeting with our colleagues from the national parliaments. I believe this was a first which ought to be repeated if this is to be a real policy debate on the broad guidelines defined at the European level in association with the Member States and applied by the Member States themselves.
Still on the subject of method, you will be aware that there is uneasiness on the part of Parliament, which fears that it will not always be able to contribute to the formulation and adoption of these broad guidelines because of the session calendar. I hope that we shall arrive at a satisfactory agreement on this point for the future.
My second remark concerns the general climate. Confidence cannot be created to order, and it is absent at the present time. We can therefore talk as much as we like about structural reforms, but they will be unwelcome; the public will not accept them in the present climate. The first priority is to rekindle growth, and with growth restored we shall be able to tackle the necessary structural reforms. I should like to say to my honourable colleague Mrs Kauppi, and I am sure she knows this, that the reform issue is not the same for large and small countries. This fact of life must also underlie all our plans for our collective entity. When the OECD sends signals to the European Central Bank and the ECB responds as it just has done, it is time to express concern about the nature of the macroeconomic debate at the European level.
My third remark is that, in the prevailing climate, this instrument of ours, the broad economic policy guidelines, should be the basic
assessment
tool. All too often, however, the guidelines appear to be empty words that are not followed by action. We must make these guidelines a rigorous instrument for the coordination of economic policies if the Lisbon strategy is to prove successful and if we are to avoid the sort of bland appraisal we used to receive before the revision of the strategy.
The broad guidelines are a support instrument for the overall strategy, but they will serve no useful purpose if they are not bolstered by a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact which grasps the nettle as well as by a Financial Perspective that serves to finance solidarity for the benefit of everyone."@en1
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