Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-297"
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"en.20070711.27.3-297"2
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"Madam President, I would like to end this very interesting debate by making a very brief comment on the application of the Stability and Growth Pact, because in this debate — as in many other debates that we have held inside and outside of this Parliament — some people are calling upon the Commission and the Council — upon the Commission in particular, and quite rightly — to apply the Pact firmly. And I entirely agree.
Perceptions of the euro are undoubtedly affected by the citizens’ perception of economic development, and we must tell them the truth. When the economy is going badly, we must say so, but when the economy improves, we must also let that be known. We must not forget that now that the economy is improving, we must also communicate those improvements to the citizens, whose individual economic situations do not perhaps provide them with a view of the overall development of our economies.
However, that perception of the economic situation, of the effect of European integration, of economic and monetary integration, on individual economies, is also affected by uncertainty about the future, uncertainty about the future of social protection systems, uncertainty about the consequences of globalisation and ageing of the population, and we must respond to those uncertainties without jeopardising the foundations of the Economic and Monetary Union that we have been analysing today.
The Commission and myself intend to propose to the Council that the Pact be applied as it stands, as it has been agreed. So a firm application, without exceptions, without breaking any rules, which does not mean a rigid application. We have had bad experiences when firmness has been confused with rigidity. Firmness does not mean rigidity. Firmness means rigour, and rigour, in the face of different and difficult situations, requires a combination of firmness and flexibility if the aim is to achieve the results of budgetary discipline, which is a necessary condition for economic growth.
I now come to my second consideration. Some of the honourable Members have referred to other efforts that we need to make in order to sustain growth and prolong growth and employment. We must carry on developing the internal market, and there will be a debate on that before the end of this year.
The Commission has promised the Council that it will present an analysis on the functioning of the internal market and how we believe it should continue to develop. This is an important debate which is going to follow on from debates such as those that have been held in this Parliament and in the Council on the Services Directive - and we will now have to see how it is applied - a debate that is linked to the increasing integration of financial services, which is crucial in terms of improving the functioning of the Eurozone in particular.
We must carry on talking about the Lisbon Strategy and over the coming months we are going to discuss the review of the integrated guidelines, of the broad economic policy guidelines and the employment guidelines.
The structural reforms within the context of the Lisbon Strategy are beginning to bear fruit. The good results, the wonderful results in employment terms, that the President of the European Central Bank has just mentioned, would not have been possible without the labour market reforms that have been included within the framework of the Lisbon Strategy, and neither do I think — although we do not yet have all of the analytical elements in our hands — that it is going to be possible to explain some of the productivity improvements over recent quarters without relating them not just to the economic cycle but also to certain reforms in the product markets, in the services markets, to certain processes, or without the, once again, firm and rigorous but not blind application of the competition rules that the Commission has to oversee in particular.
My final comment, which has been mentioned on several occasions and to which Mr Juncker has already replied, relates to the issue of wages. I have mentioned it here in Parliament on several occasions, and in discussions outside of it.
I entirely agree with the position laid out by Mr Juncker. Wages must develop in line with productivity. While there are improvements in productivity, those improvements must be reflected in the development of wages. We cannot recommend the negotiation of wages in line with productivity when productivity is not growing and then forget that recommendation when productivity increases.
My feeling is, however, that at the same time we cannot forget the need to moderate the development of wages, not to lose competitiveness and, in the case of the Eurozone, to analyse very thoroughly the reasons for, and alternatives to, the divergent development of unit labour costs between Member States of the Eurozone that can create significant problems in terms of the functioning of countries that are losing competitiveness by this means. I therefore suggest that we expand this debate a little further. We must not just focus on wages but also talk about the development of inequalities, because – and I shall link this to the final idea I wish to mention in this debate – the citizens’ perception of the euro is a significant element of their perception of Europe and the idea of Europe."@en1
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