Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-08-Speech-3-296"
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"en.20050608.21.3-296"2
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"Mr President, the Stability and Growth Pact crops up regularly in debates on the economy in this Chamber. This is an illustration of the central position this agreement has in EU economic policy-making. In this respect, I wish to congratulate my colleague, Mr Karas, on his two reports on this subject.
The report’s emphasis on a stronger role for the Commission in enforcing budgetary discipline is an absolutely necessary development. Especially now, in their watered-down format, the Commission will have to enforce a clear and strict line with regard to the rules of the pact. Furthermore, the absence of the European Parliament in the decision governing the Stability and Growth Pact is rightly highlighted as a serious structural flaw in European economic governance. As the only directly democratically elected EU institution, this Parliament could play a vital role in putting an end to the political horseplay that goes on in the Council and provide the pact with the much needed credibility that many colleagues want.
However, let us not fool ourselves: even with the improved institutional feedback mechanisms that this report suggests, it is not the Stability Pact alone that will lift Europe out of its economic slumber. Helpful as they are, it is not a set of rules that will help us to put public finances in Europe on a strong footing. What we need is economic growth and advances in competitivity, and these derive not from the rules of the pact but from meaningful economic reform, something which many European Member States have avoided for far too long. So we have a new pact and I hope, with Mr Karas’ reports, a better way of making the rules work in a sensible and equal fashion. But until countries achieve meaningful economic reform, we will soon find ourselves in yet another debate on the inflated importance of the pact. I hope the Commissioner will do his utmost to prevent any further dilution of the commonly agreed commitments of the Member States."@en1
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