Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-16-Speech-2-533"
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"en.20081216.46.2-533"2
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"Mr President, the global economy has been turned upside down in the past few months. We are now left with an appalling vista of insolvency, bankruptcies, nationalisations, the massive destruction of wealth, and stock market write-down. The core institutions of our financial infrastructure have been shaken to their core. Our banks are on their knees, engaged in begging-bowl pleading to national governments.
National governments cannot turn a blind eye due to the strategic importance of banks in oiling the wheels of the real economy. It is shocking and frightening to see that one Irish bank, for example, has lost 97% of its value in the past few months alone.
Deposit-guarantee schemes have therefore been of crucial importance in protecting investors from the worst of the financial crisis currently assailing the world economy. The figure of EUR 100 000 is psychologically as well as economically important, as it reassures investors that their life savings are not under threat.
I congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Ehler, on his work, and I welcome in particular the increase in scope to include guarantees for SMEs. SMEs are our main hope and should be our priority as we look towards the light at the end of the tunnel, as we look to recover quickly from the current recession.
I also echo the call for a more coordinated response in future. The Irish Government acted unilaterally to guarantee Irish banks. In future, there should be an official instrument in place to ensure better coordination between Member States.
To conclude, on a broader note, we must not forget the immense importance of our close economic integration here in the EU and in particular in the euro zone, which has sheltered us from the gale-force winds of the financial crisis. This point is especially relevant for smaller Member States such as Ireland. We need only look north to our island neighbours, Iceland, to see the havoc that can be caused by standing alone in splendid isolation: its currency has collapsed and its economy is in ruins. There is no guarantee that this would not have happened if Ireland and other smaller Member States had not been in the euro zone."@en1
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