Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-20-Speech-3-062"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070620.3.3-062"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Mr Gloser, Commissioner, this is actually the fourth time that the European Parliament has been called upon to make a decision on the euro area, in its initial setting up or on the occasion of its enlargements. The issue of the euro is no small matter for our fellow citizens: it is, in their hands, one of the European Union’s most valuable assets.
Since last year, however, since the opening of the debate on the accession of Lithuania, we have had the impression that it has become a debate from which any political issue must be removed and where only purely technical arguments can be raised.
In this debate, the European Parliament is asking to be able to come to a decision of this kind in the normal way. For that to happen, like any other institution, it needs time. That is the spirit of the letter that our President sent to the Presidents of the other two institutions. The answer we have received from the President of the Commission springs from a spirit of cooperation and conciliation, we appreciate that. On the Council’s part, it is a work in progress. We need to go beyond that, Mr Gloser. We need you to show the same spirit of consultation and conciliation as the Commission, otherwise we shall find it difficult to carry on in this way.
Beyond the technical arguments, I should not want the whole of the discussion to take place without at any time our raising the problems of governance of the euro area. What situation are we in today, after all, with two countries that have a permanent opt-out clause and countries that have to sign up and belong to this area, without at any time our questioning the governance of the area?
We are approaching the time when rotation of the authorities of the European Central Bank (ECB) takes place. It is a mechanism that we have criticised here, in this Parliament, and that, I think, we continue to criticise. We think also that the functioning of the Eurogroup is not quite satisfactory and that we must do even better.
Tomorrow we shall have the accession of Slovakia and then after that, until 2012, our timetable will be noticeably lighter. Let us take advantage of this time to improve the governance of the euro area, otherwise our fellow citizens will no longer have confidence in their own currency, the geographical extent of which is being enlarged without first of all improving its functioning.
With your permission, Mr President, I shall say a word finally about the inflation criterion. I know that this criterion was defined in 1992, at a time when Europe was very different from what it is now. If, however, we want to revise the Maastricht criteria on a strictly economic basis, independently of any political conditions which would allow this debate to be reopened, then there are other aspects of the Maastricht criteria that ought to be revised."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples