Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-16-Speech-3-010"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100616.4.3-010"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, first of all, a word of thanks to the Spanish Presidency. The Spanish Presidency has accomplished a very difficult task at an exceptional moment in the European Union. I think it is fair to recognise their commitment and their European conviction in times of crisis. Through Minister López Garrido, I want to convey to the Spanish Government my sincere thanks for all the relevant contributions he has been making, especially during this six months, for our common European project.
Tomorrow’s European Council should signal to people that we have a new perspective for growth with the Europe 2020 strategy. But I believe that agreeing the strategy, including the targets – and I am happy that now, a consensus appears to have been built around the targets, including the targets of achieving a greater degree of social inclusion – is, relatively, the easier part. Where we really need to invest and work together is on the delivery, year after year. The Commission will play its full role, using all the possibilities offered by the Lisbon Treaty, and I look forward to discussing this in more detail with the European Parliament.
People also need to see that financial markets are actually being repaired and that promises are kept. We need agreement on financial supervision before the summer to back up our intentions with action, and we need a clear signal from the European Council that the Commission’s forthcoming proposals on financial market regulation will be adopted by the end of 2011. It is important not to lose momentum on financial reform.
We must also show that the crisis has not dimmed our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals or our determination to lead on climate change. This Parliament has given the Commission full support for an ambitious European approach. Europe played a key role in shaping the global response to the crisis. It was the EU that pushed for the G20 to become the global forum for economic recovery.
Now we need the summit in Toronto to reinforce the message that the G20 remains committed. That does not mean that we all face the same challenges or must respond in the same way, but what we all know is that none of those problems can be effectively tackled at home without a collective response at international level.
I have explained in my letter to the European Council what should be the three key areas in Toronto.
First, to agree common principles for exit strategies in terms of fiscal consolidation. We have already done this at European level, but a global approach would help the many economies around the world facing the same challenge.
Second, the world needs to be working on developing new sources for growth, as we are advocating internally. All the major economies need to play their part to achieve the agreed objectives of strong, balanced, sustainable growth. Coordination at global level is critical for optimising growth prospects. We need both the supply and demand side, worldwide, to spur productivity and unleash the potential for growth. A strong message here would be a big boost to confidence globally, namely I think we should keep in mind that trade can be – and should be – one of the elements to spur new sources of growth.
We also need to drive forward the global agenda for financial reform and repair. 2010 is the crucial year for implementing what the G20 has already agreed, and for keeping the momentum for further reforms. This means improving both the quantity and quality of bank capital and discouraging excessive leverage, improving supervisory and crisis management processes, ensuring convergent international accounting standards, and increasing the transparency of derivative markets.
We cannot be seen to be stepping back from reforms or from ensuring that the financial sector and those who work in it are playing their full part in these efforts. This is why I will continue to call for a common framework for a bank levy at global level. It is only fair that the financial sector, where irresponsible behaviour triggered this crisis, makes a contribution to solving the crisis. As I have said before, I am personally convinced that we will also need to work on a financial transaction tax or a financial activities tax.
The situation is serious and, in fact, extremely challenging. Wages are being cut. Unemployment remains very high. The pressure on people, especially the most vulnerable, is intense. At the European Council and the G20 summit, we must show that Europe is part of the solution.
Ahead of tomorrow’s European Council, I would like to draw some lessons from the past few months and set out the direction that I believe the European Union needs to take.
We are facing a very difficult moment – in fact, one of the most difficult moments in recent history – but, by tackling these difficulties, we are laying the foundations for a better future. Once again, we can see that a crisis can accelerate decision making when it crystallises political will. Solutions that seemed out of reach only a few years or even months ago are now possible.
As the history of European construction reminds us, it is usually in times of crisis like this that we can make progress in the European project. The reality is that Member States are now ready to accept some proposals that some years ago, or even some months ago, were simply not acceptable, and I can give you a lot of concrete examples. So, if we keep our commitment to give the facts to our citizens, to work with our Member States and to explain that we need Europe more than ever, I think this crisis can be a platform for a common European response and for a stronger Europe.
Of course, the game is not over. It is an extremely delicate moment, and that is why I would like to thank Parliament for its steadfast support for the strengthening of the Community method at this point in time. I would like especially to thank the most important political forces in Parliament that stood up and said that, more than ever, we need a European approach and the reinforcement of the Community method. We sometimes have the reflex to look for new institutions and structures when a problem emerges, but the reality is the Community method has stood the test of time because it is more adaptable than some might think.
I believe that Europeans want us to concentrate on substance. They do not want more divisive discussions about institutions or processes. They want results. This is also what the rest of the world is expecting from us. In fact, we are at a specific moment in time where Europeans, the markets and the global community are asking Europe to be better coordinated and better organised to achieve greater levels of convergence and coherence. This is why I think we need to work through the institutions that we have and use them to their full potential. This House has repeatedly emphasised the central role of the Commission. Yes, the Commission, in the areas in which the treaties give it the competence, is indeed the economic government of Europe. The Commission, which is fully accountable to the European Parliament, exercises this role in cooperation with the European Council and the Council of Ministers, in respect of their competences.
This is not only about European Union competences. We also need a better coordination on issues under national competence. It is in such a spirit of cooperation that we can help the Member States to chart the way forward. Let me be clear: this is not about a Brussels power grab. This is not a new round in the debate over the division of powers. Today’s task is to add value – European value – through the vigorous, responsible and complementary exercise of our respective roles. The European Union will do it in full respect of the Community method and reinforcing a European response. You can count on the Commission to fully assume its responsibilities. We are doing our job. We count on the decisive input and support of Parliament.
In the last few months, we have taken decisions which would have been difficult to imagine just a few months ago. We succeeded in reinventing our economic response to meet urgent needs in a way that respects our most cherished principles: solidarity and responsibility. So we were able to bring support to our fellow Europeans in Greece, in the framework of a mechanism that contains the necessary rules and obligations. It took some time but the system is now in place. Both the system itself, and the European Union, have proved equal to the task. Moreover, we are also succeeding in designing a crisis response for the euro. This was a major effort, accomplished in a very short time and unmatched anywhere in the world. With this European mechanism and this European facility that together amount to EUR 500 billion, supplemented by EUR 250 billion from the IMF, we have ensured that we can face any further difficulty, should such a difficulty arise.
This was uncharted territory, but the European Union has been doing what is necessary to address the risks to financial stability. And, although those who like to speak loudly about Europe’s problems are reluctant to admit it, this is the reality: when action is needed, provided the political will of the Member States is there, we are able to take up the challenge.
Moreover, we have not stopped at short-term stabilisation. We have embarked on a far-reaching exercise of fiscal consolidation and modernisation of our budgetary and economic surveillance. I hope the European Council will give backing to the Commission’s proposals to strengthen fiscal discipline and macro-economic surveillance which, in the meantime, have been constructively discussed in the task force led by President Van Rompuy.
We have started to deliver on our Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs. In other words, we are adding dynamism to the economy, for instance, through the digital agenda, in addition to the stabilisation and consolidation efforts. We are striving to avoid a decade of debt and build a generation of growth.
In fact, the potential growth of the European Union has been severely affected by the last financial crisis, so the most important priority now is growth. Growth is the answer, but not any kind of growth. We need intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth. I want to underline this last point – inclusive growth, because I think it would not be fair that the most vulnerable in our societies, those who were not the cause of this crisis, will be those who have to pay much more during this crisis. For this growth to happen, we need fiscal consolidation and structural reform.
It is obvious that, without serious efforts in these areas, confidence will not come back and without confidence, we cannot have growth. So, in fact, we now have the opportunity to go further in our economic policy efforts. We have to advance on several fronts at once and this is a most important lesson to come out of this crisis. In fact, faced with the problem with monetary union, the result should not be going back on our monetary union, but should be going further in economic union. This is the important point. We need a real effort for an economic union in Europe. That is why there is a holistic approach combining several instruments: of course, fiscal consolidation and structural reform, but also sectoral reform for growth. That is why the Europe 2020 strategy places at its heart the elements of growth – intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth.
But this is not the whole programme. The programme is about growth but also in terms of structural reforms, financial reform and the new economic governance for Europe. Yesterday, during the Question Hour, I had the opportunity to discuss this issue of economic governance. I will not go into detail now but I want to say that we are committed to using this opportunity to reinforce economic governance at European level."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples