Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-25-Speech-3-013"
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"en.20090325.2.3-013"2
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"Mr President, for all the real suffering there is a light-hearted definition of recession. It is when you go to your bank machine to withdraw money and a sign flashes saying: ‘Insufficient funds available’– and you are not sure if it means yours or theirs!
For all the dark warnings about splits and strife, this European Council has produced a positive package and I congratulate the Czech Presidency on that achievement.
We have a pledge of more money from the IMF, a promise of more support for Europe’s most troubled economies and an agreement on moving ahead with European supervision of the financial system. All these are welcome. And I was particularly pleased to see that the Council has saved Mr Barroso’s bacon by transferring five billion unspent euros into the recovery plan. Investment in transport, infrastructure and broadband connections will create jobs now and prepare Europe for the future. Meanwhile, money going to the Nabucco pipeline will ease our troubling energy reliance on Russia.
We need a clear assurance from the President-in-Office that funds from the EUR 5 billion will actually reach that project, but also that investment in gas supply infrastructure will not be a substitute for renewables research. Green growth remains essential for our citizens’ security now and in the future, and so do the principles embodied in the Lisbon Strategy: flexicurity, the knowledge-based economy, employment regulations that are fit for purpose – these are key to a competitive economy and a successful single market. It is to the Council’s great credit that the protectionist language of the past cast no shadow over its conclusions.
But for all the apparent agreement, a niggling nuance remains over Member States’ priorities. On the one hand, we have those who focus on robust regulation at international level, and on the other, those who lay stress on a strong stimulus package. This is a false choice. Of course we need supervisory structures with real regulatory bite, but so too do we need counter-cyclical measures to deal with the realities of recession. The long term and the short term: both must be addressed.
Our leaders must be clear about that at the G20 Summit. If we cannot agree on our common cause then we cannot hope to punch at our collective weight. America will come to the G20 with her own agenda. We must arrive with ours and together reach a deal that delivers for all.
President-in-Office, last week at the Council you barely discussed the legal basis on which the next Commission will be formed, but it is no longer only Ireland which is unlikely to ratify Lisbon. I therefore urge you to convene the leaders of Council, Commission and Parliament before this House rises in May to agree on how to compose Parliament and Commission with legal certainty.
There is a moment, President-in-Office, in the famed melody in Smetana’s
where cello and bassoon rise in crescendo from lugubrious depths to reach a seemingly impossible high note. That moment has passed for your Government. For Europe it is yet to come. See to it that domestic difficulties do not sap your stride."@en1
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"Má Vlast"1
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