Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-07-Speech-3-026"
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"en.20080507.11.3-026"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in the past there have been various attempts by politically sovereign states to organise common monetary unions. These attempts lasted varying amounts of time but they all failed in the end.
Most importantly, the euro area must present a united front to the world and to organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the OECD.
Therefore, it was no wonder that in the 1970s the rest of the world was very critical of suggestions that Europe was going to undertake such a venture. Pierre Werner, a former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, along with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and Helmut Schmidt, when they were still Finance Ministers, submitted blueprints heading in this direction.
Even in the early 1990s, setting up an economic and monetary union was regarded very critically. Many experts, including Nobel Prize winners from the United States, dismissed it as being unrealistic. Nevertheless, contrary to all expectations, the euro was introduced after all – and it became a success.
The European monetary union is indeed something of a minor political miracle, an example of
. To that extent, former Commission President Hallstein’s statement has once again proved true: he said that anyone who does not believe in miracles in matters relating to Europe is not a realist.
However, the introduction of the euro was greeted very sceptically by people in many countries. If there had been a referendum in the first 12 Member States in the euro area at that time, we would not have the euro today, at least not in any of those countries. Since then, however, citizens have developed a more positive opinion of the euro. Perhaps not 100% of them are in favour of it, but probably the majority are. Most of the sometimes wistful memories of the old currencies, whether the mark, the guilder, the schilling or the franc, have given way to the conviction that the introduction of the euro brought advantages not only for the economy as a whole, but also for individual citizens.
Naturally, this is most evident when people travel. Passport checks are a thing of the past within the Schengen area and there is no longer any need for expensive, time-consuming currency changing. Most citizens have also understood that we would not be able to deal with the financial crisis that we are currently experiencing nearly as well as we are now doing without the European Central Bank and a single currency. In addition, increases in commodity prices have been slowed down somewhat by the strong currency.
Despite all this, there are still some citizens who associate the euro with negative experiences. Price increases, in particular, are often blamed on the
which translates as the ‘expensive euro’. However, the fact is that the euro is stable. It has proved to be a stable currency. The inflation rate in the last 10 years was lower than in the previous 10 years, even in very stability-conscious countries like Germany. Thanks not only to this stability, the euro has become increasingly significant internationally and is now the second most important international reserve currency after the dollar.
We have the independence of the Central Bank to thank for the stability of the euro, and that makes it difficult to understand why attempts are always being made to undermine this independence. The first presidents, Wim Duisenberg and Jean-Claude Trichet, did exceptionally good work here.
Nothing has changed: a common currency without common fiscal and economic policy is and remains a risky undertaking. The EU faces significant challenges: ongoing high unemployment, demographic change, migratory pressure, the increasing poverty of certain groups in society and tougher competition as a result of globalisation. The euro area can meet these challenges only if the economic politicians of the Member States are linked together even more closely. The appointment of a President for the euro area was a first step in this direction, but that is all it was. Further steps must follow."@en1
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"Teuro"1
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