Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-13-Speech-2-031"
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"en.20090113.5.2-031"2
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Mr President, Mr Juncker, Mr Trichet, ladies and gentlemen, everyone who has been involved in creating the European currency is grateful to you, Mr President, and to you, ladies and gentlemen, for this very fine initiative which you have taken in commemorating the 10th anniversary of the birth of the euro.
I would like to finish with two remarks. We must be careful not to try to give the euro a global dimension, which would flatter our vanity, but would multiply the risks we face. The euro is Europe’s currency and must express its distinct culture, promoting a rational and stable model among the world’s other currencies.
Finally, I do not think that the general public will need to wait too long for banking regulation to be restored in the euro area. It seems to me that we could call on the European Central Bank to carry out this process of restoring order and supervise its implementation, according to Article 106(5) of the Maastricht Treaty. Indeed, we need a strong impetus, expertise and a decision timetable which the European Central Bank could draw up and which the Council of Ministers for the euro area, presided by your good self, Mr Juncker, could then adopt and implement.
I will conclude, Mr President, by saying that the symbol of integration represented by the euro’s success must give us the courage to take the next step in creating this increasingly united Europe as recommended under the various treaties and which we are endeavouring to achieve. Let us counter the inevitability of failure with the energy of success. That success today goes by the lovely name of the euro.
I am one of those people who think that it is better to avoid the ever-increasing number of commemoration ceremonies, but this one is justified because it marks the greatest contribution to European integration since the election of the European Parliament by universal suffrage in 1979. We have certainly come a long way and perhaps this pleasant, friendly gathering does not paint the whole picture.
I would like to pay tribute to all those who mapped out this course and those who have followed it. We can find its distant origins in the report from the Luxembourg prime minister, Pierre Werner, your predecessor, in 1970. It was, however, the monetary crisis in the years that followed and the currency flotation which triggered action in this area. As long as the currency exchange rates were fixed, the monetary system did not upset our attempt to create a common market. However, as soon as they were floating, this problem raised its head.
After the unsuccessful attempts to create a monetary snake, the strong momentum from France and Germany between 1975 and 1980 led to the meeting in Bremen, in northern Germany, and the decision to create the European Monetary System and introduce the ecu, the euro’s precursor. This move had the backing and support of our partners in the Benelux countries and Italy.
After a period of little activity between 1980 and 1988, the process was given new impetus with the creation by the Council of the committee chaired by Jacques Delors, resulting in the signature of the Maastricht Treaty.
Let us salute the pioneers who have been involved in this along the way, as you yourself have recently, Mr President, as well as my friend, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and his Secretary of State, Manfred Lahnstein; Bernard Clappier, the governor of the Banque de France at the time and co-author of Robert Schuman’s Declaration in 1950; Alexandre Lamfalussy, who provided us with his great, almost unique expertise during the work of the committee on European monetary union which we set up with Helmut Schmidt to relaunch the project; Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, who took over; and, last but not least, the negotiators and signatories of the Maastricht Treaty who drafted an excellent text, which has not actually been touched since then, headed by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President François Mitterrand, whose determination must be mentioned in particular, along with their other colleagues. Today we must say a big ‘thank you’ to all of them.
On this occasion of the 10th anniversary, being celebrated at a time of crisis, what can we say in support of the euro? What fine words can we use in our anniversary toasts? First of all, the euro’s success has exceeded expectations, not only of all its opponents, of course, but even of all its supporters. I will not go into detail as you have only given me five minutes. During the conversations which I had with the most eminent monetary experts between 1995 and 2000, they were all sceptical about the possibility of introducing the euro and making it a success.
In 10 years the euro has become the number two currency in the world and, as has been mentioned just now, one of the most respected currencies. Its sound management has provided a protective shield against the crisis and a platform for non-inflationary growth. Without the existence of the euro, mainland Europe would be currently turned upside down by a monetary tornado, which would deepen the economic crisis.
We are expecting the monetary policy to try to contain, within the limits of the currency’s power, the depressing impact of the crisis and to pave the way for the return to non-inflationary growth, which we are not tackling yet, by which time the sizeable public deficits and level of debt triggered by the crisis ought to have been cleared. In this respect, we are putting our trust in the managers and staff at the European Central Bank, who have demonstrated their considerable expertise since the start of the crisis. We also respect their determination and independence."@en1
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