Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-25-Speech-4-064"
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"en.20100325.3.4-064"2
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"Mr President, I have to say that I have been addressing Parliament for six and a half years now, and this is the first time that I have noted so many speeches, so many analyses, so many suggestions and so many proposals.
And I must stress this: all the members of the euro area know that average inflation in the euro area will be less than 2%, or close to 2%, in the medium and long terms. They must draw consequences from this nationally. They benefit from belonging to the euro area. They must not put themselves in a national context, in terms of national inflation, since that would be far from what we guarantee, because that has been asked of us, because we are faithful to our remit and because it is a contribution to the prosperity and stability of Europe.
Mr President, allow me to conclude – if I can, in a few words – on the matter of transparency. As I have often said to MEPs, we are the most transparent in the world when it comes to the immediate publication of our studies, the introductory statement. We are the most transparent in the world when it comes to the press conference that immediately follows the Governing Council.
The only area where this decision does not stand – and we have a good reason – is that we are not giving the names of those who are voting for this and of those who are voting for that, because we consider that our message is that we are not a collection of individuals. We are a college. The Governing Council is the pertinent entity. It is the Governing Council which counts.
I have already said that it is not business as usual and we must absolutely reform the financial markets in a very profound way, in order to be sure that we do not start another crisis of the kind that we have had to cope with.
A last point on Poland and Hungary: one MEP mentioned Poland and Hungary and told us that they were not treated as they should be by the ECB. I think the MEP is not well-informed; I would encourage her to go to the national central banks of the two countries and it will be demonstrated to her that the ECB has a very intimate cooperation with those two central banks to the benefit of all of us.
I am very impressed by the wealth of what we have just heard and very impressed also by the diversity of views that have been expressed.
I will try, if I may, to summarise my main points after hearing these remarks, which were all interesting and relevant, and to which the European Central Bank will, of course, attach the utmost importance.
First of all, I would say that I have heard a lot on the challenges the ECB faced and praise for the ECB for having been able to react in real time in very difficult circumstances. Let me tell you that I think my colleagues and I tried to do our best in very exceptional circumstances: the worst since World War II, and it would have probably been the worst since World War I if we had not acted promptly.
The challenges were faced by all; many of you have said that the challenges existed for other central banks in Europe and in the rest of the world. So we all had to face up to enormous responsibility and I fully agree with those who have said that we cannot say that the difficult times are over. We are not over the difficult times. We are not going back to business as usual. We have to remain extremely alert.
I also got the message on growth and jobs, which is a very strong message from Parliament. I fully agree with that. By delivering stability, by being credible in delivering stability in the medium and long run, we trust that we are contributing to sustainable growth and sustainable job creation. But you know that our message is structural reforms; structural reforms to elevate the growth potential of Europe and the job creation capacity of Europe are absolutely essential.
A firm message coming from you, which we fully share in the ECB is – and I do not want to respond in the place of the Commissioner – governance of Europe of the 27, governance of the 16 members of the euro area is of the essence. We call for the utmost level of responsibility from countries, whether members of the 27 or of the 16, to exert their responsibility, to exert surveillance on the peers. We absolutely need full and complete implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact. Surveillance of fiscal policies is at the heart of EMU, and I must also include surveillance of structural reforms and implementation of structural reforms, and surveillance of the evolution of the cost competitiveness of the various economies, particularly, members of the euro area. This is a key issue.
I do not want to elaborate more on Greece and the various issues at stake. I have already had occasion to respond to many questions in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and in front of Parliament. Let me only say that Greece has a role model, and the role model is Ireland. Ireland had an extremely difficult problem – this was said by one of the MEPs here – and Ireland took its problem very seriously ex ante, with extreme determination, professionalism and capacity, and this has been recognised by all. I want to stress that. That being said, I repeat: the judgment of the ECB on the new measures which have been taken by the Greek Government is that they are convincing and, I would add, courageous.
A word on the long-term situation inside the euro area: during the next 10 or 20 years, we will deliver price stability in line with the definition we have delivered since the inception of the euro. You can trust us. We can prove that. This is not theory. These are facts; these are figures."@en1
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