Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-059"
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"en.20090422.5.3-059"2
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"I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, Mr Almunia.
I would like to conclude by saying that I agree with the statement in your draft motion for a resolution that the current international situation proves the relevance of the euro and that all Member States outside the euro area should be encouraged to fulfil the Maastricht criteria in order to join it.
The proposal on the table today concerns one of the core values of the Union, namely solidarity. Against the backdrop of the international financial crisis, the Commission proposes further reinforced solidarity with the Member States that do not yet benefit from the protective umbrella of the euro. The facility for supporting Member States’ balances of payments is, by definition, foreseen for exceptional circumstances and was only used on a few occasions in the past. We do, however, live in exceptional times.
As you know, the Commission proposed last year an increase in the ceiling of outstanding loans that the Community can provide to support Member States’ balances of payments. The ceiling was raised from EUR 12 billion to EUR 25 billion, but a substantial part of this amount has already been earmarked. At the request of the countries concerned, the ECOFIN Council decided to provide balance of payments support to Hungary of up to EUR 6.5 billion in November. On 20 January it decided to grant up to EUR 3.1 billion to Latvia, and the decision to provide up to EUR 5 billion to Romania is in the pipeline.
Already earmarked financial assistance under the regulation thus adds up to around EUR 15 billion. There is, moreover, no immediate end in sight to either the financial crisis or global deleveraging, and ongoing financial stress in other Member States could result in further needs for financial assistance.
The European Council of 19 and 20 March therefore welcomed the announcement by President Barroso that the Commission intended to make a proposal for increasing the ceiling of the Community’s balance of payments support to EUR 50 billion. The doubling of the ceiling will provide an important signal to financial markets of the European Union’s strong commitment to helping Member States under financial stress. The extension of the total possible credit line to EUR 50 billion will provide a large buffer to cater for further possible needs for financial support.
Such strong signs of solidarity among Member States should also help to calm financial investors’ fear of further financial market deterioration in the Member States outside the euro area. By reducing the incentive for capital withdrawal, it would decrease the probability of balance of payments problems in the concerned countries.
In this context I would like to express my gratitude and respect for the excellent spirit of cooperation at the European Parliament and, in particular, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. The Commission adopted this proposal just before the Easter holidays on 8 April and only two weeks later you are now about to vote your legislative resolution and motion for resolution in plenary.
Thanks to your swift and efficient work, the ECOFIN Council will be able to adopt the amended regulation on 5 May. The European Union will thus be well equipped to react rapidly should the need for further balance of payments support arise. This is a powerful signal to Member States that the European Union is willing and ready to help and should be turned to in the first instance in case of balance of payments problems.
This obviously does not exclude that a Member State would also ask for assistance from other international organisations such as the IMF, with which the Commission has been closely cooperating on the latest financial support packages."@en1
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