Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-13-Speech-2-025"
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"en.20090113.5.2-025"2
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"The next item is the formal sitting and debate on the 10th anniversary of the euro.
Monetary union represents a hopefully irreversible step towards deeper economic and political integration; it means being part of a ‘Union with a common purpose’. Like a family, all the members of the euro area talk to each other and adopt the best approach to benefit each and every one.
However, the creation of the euro was not just a decision with economic and financial effects; it also sent a very clear signal that the European Union is in a position to implement far-reaching decisions in order to build a common, prosperous future.
Today, the single currency is seen, by many citizens in the euro area, as one of the most positive results of European integration. In order to ensure that this continues to be the case, we must hold tight to the stability of our common currency: it is the only way of making sure that the euro continues, in future, to be a stabilising factor and a point of stability in a turbulent world.
Today, well over half of the Member States of the European Union have introduced the euro. A few days ago, we welcomed Slovakia as the 16th member of the euro, and I am confident that, by the time we are celebrating the next big birthday of the euro, it will have even more members. The aim must be for all the Member States of the European Union ultimately to join our single currency, on the basis of the stability criteria.
I am convinced that this step-by-step expansion will help to strengthen the entire euro area, as well as being a symbol of a common, peaceful European future, particularly for young people in the European Union.
The former President of France, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, is here with us today, and he is very welcome. Together with the former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the former Luxembourg Prime Minister Pierre Werner and others, he is one of the architects of our single currency. A very warm welcome, Mr Giscard d’Estaing.
I agree with Helmut Kohl, who, along with François Mitterrand and Jacques Delors and others – we just saw Jacques Santer in the film – contributed to the ultimate introduction of the euro, when he said in 1998 that ‘... a currency is of course a means of payment. But a currency is also far more than a means of payment. It has something to do with cultural identity and it is a measure of political stability ... Imagine what a marvellous achievement it is that in the European Union ..., with all our intelligence, creativity and colourful variety, and in spite of all the difficulties ..., millions of our people should have a single currency.’
On behalf of the European Parliament, I would very much like to thank all the architects of the euro, and all the people who prepared the way for it, in particular the European Central Bank, its current President Jean-Claude Trichet and his sadly departed predecessor Willem Duisenberg for their historic achievements. The importance of the European Central Bank simply cannot be overestimated.
Our thanks also go, in particular, to Alexandre Lamfalussy, the President of the European Monetary Institute, whom we met yesterday evening, and who is also taking part in a colloquium now.
The European Parliament and its committee responsible for such matters, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, chaired at the time by Karl von Wogau and then by Christa Randzio-Plath, have also had a part to play as a driving force in this historic project over the years leading from the currency snake to the creation of the single currency. The same applies to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in its current incarnation, chaired by Pervenche Berès, to whom we are grateful for the idea of this celebration.
Since the euro was launched 10 years ago, the European Central Bank and the Eurogroup have cultivated an increasingly close relationship with the European Parliament. I would like to thank the presidents of the two institutions, Mr Juncker in his capacity as President of the Eurogroup and the President of the European Central Bank Mr Trichet, most warmly for their excellent cooperation with the European Parliament.
On the occasion of its 10th birthday, we wish our single currency, the euro, many more successful years with a bright common future for our continent of Europe.
Mr Juncker, Mr Giscard d’Estaing, Mr Trichet, Mr Almunia, Mrs Berès, ladies and gentlemen.
The first of January 2009 was the 10th birthday of our currency, the euro. Here in the European Parliament today, we are celebrating one of the most important and historic decisions that the European Union has taken so far. In a European Union that was growing ever closer economically, the creation of the euro was a logical development in strengthening the common market and simplifying trade within the internal market; even so, when the currencies of 11 sovereign states were replaced by a single currency 10 years ago, there was a great deal of scepticism as to whether the planned single currency would be a success. Its introduction required courage and decisiveness.
Ten years on, we can see not only that the euro is just as trusted as the currencies previously used in the euro area, but also that it has, without doubt, brought about considerable advantages for people and businesses in the European Union.
The euro area has become a rock of macroeconomic stability. In view of the size of the economy of the euro area and the fact that the majority of its trade is internal, the euro area has proven to be much better equipped to withstand economic shocks than the Member States previously were with their national currencies.
Particularly in the recent months of the global financial crisis, the euro has proven to be an important stabilising factor: the single currency has protected us from the worst effects of the most serious financial crisis since the 1930s.
Without the European Central Bank and the European System of Central Banks acting as a stabilising factor, the situation in the European Union last autumn would have been considerably worse.
Just look at Ireland, a country that was particularly badly affected by the financial crisis: its membership of the monetary union protected it from a crisis of even greater proportions."@en1
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