Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-10-26-Speech-4-012"
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"en.20061026.3.4-012"2
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"Mr President, allow me to begin by saying that – as can be seen from the report – we generally endorse what the European Central Bank has done over the past year. It is particularly important that the independence of the ECB has been, and remains, secure.
It has proven to be the case that the Bank’s moderate interest rates policy has contributed to the invigoration of the economy, even though that same policy has very often been criticised in recent years. That being the case, we believe that it would be absolutely right to raise the current level of interest rates, which is very low in historical terms, a little, if the situation so requires it, in order to control inflationary trends.
We also welcome the ECB’s comments with regard to the necessary structural reforms in the Member States that it is constantly calling for. It is quite right to do this, as inflation would hit those on middle and lower incomes particularly hard. Higher inflation would make these people poorer. We are opposed to that.
We also welcome the clear statement by the President of the ECB in relation to the development of European stock exchanges. It is imperative that we ensure that European stock exchanges are consolidated within Europe and are not simply taken over from abroad – from the US, for example. That is the only way that we can prevent the US Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act being implemented in Europe via the back door. We have sound and transparent market regulations in Europe that are suited to our European situation, and they should not be undermined.
As regards the report, we have resolutely advocated that the ECB does not become politicised. We, the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, are thus very clear in our rejection of the publication of ECB voting results. Doing so would lead to politicisation, because voting results would then be discussed. We are also opposed to a publicly debated nomination process, as qualified candidates would be discussed to death. We thus do not feel that we can support these two elements, as they would mean politicisation of the ECB.
We would, on the other hand, like to point out that, if the ECB becomes a market operator in the areas of settlement and the clearing of payments and instalments within the framework of TARGET 2, it must also subject itself to appropriate corporate governance. Corporate governance of this nature still has to be developed. The independence of the ECB will then be ensured and that will result in a stable economic policy that will call for structural reforms in Europe."@en1
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