Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-16-Speech-4-186"
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"en.20060216.20.4-186"2
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"Mr President, as a rule we do not go in for plain speaking in this House. We tend to prefer euphemisms and diplomatic niceties, but today I will venture to call a spade a spade. The report before us is basically a scathing criticism of the International Monetary Fund.
Today, the European Parliament has the opportunity to say what critics of the Fund have been saying for years. The report rightly highlights the fact that, I quote, ‘the stabilisation policies implemented by the IMF have not always achieved the objectives hoped for and whereas stabilising economies too suddenly is likely to result in undesirable social adjustments’. We also agree that, I quote, ‘the monitoring of these programmes should be the subject of transparent democratic supervision’.
The Fund sometimes acts as if it were operating in the middle of the jungle, though it is a jungle whose rules it has itself created.
The number of conditions poor countries have to comply with in order to obtain assistance has been growing year on year. An example is the absurd situation that sub-Saharan African countries find themselves in, where they have to fulfil an average of 114 conditions in order to have access to funding.
The rapporteur has rightly emphasised the need to set up new financial tools. The Fund has too many priorities when it comes to reducing the debt of the poorest states. The IMF has to go back to its original role. Its main aim used to be global exchange rate stability, and this should still be the case today, as a previous speaker mentioned a short while ago.
In his report, Mr Hanon is right to state that the increase in the Fund’s tasks has not been accompanied by any significant reform of its management. We are therefore entitled to demand enhancement of the Fund’s legitimacy.
The rapporteur quite correctly points out that the Fund, and I quote, ‘has sometimes failed to prevent crises from becoming infectious and recurring’.
We wholeheartedly agree with the criticisms levelled at the Fund. We agree that its policy fails to take account of the fact that inflation is not the only economic problem facing developing countries, and that the Fund should focus on achieving macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth. Finally, we are pleased with the conclusions drawn in the report, namely that macroeconomic stability is not at odds with the fair distribution of growth."@en1
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