Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-08-Speech-2-478-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110308.25.2-478-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen – the few of you who are still here, for weeks, we have been discussing a paper from Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy that, apparently, never existed. Despite the fact that the paper was non-existent, a press conference was held on the subject during the European Council summit. We now know for sure that the paper did exist and made for some interesting reading. In the meantime, however, the content of the paper has somehow got lost. The key elements of this paper will never see the light of day. Nonetheless, in the end, we shall have a result, namely, an expansion of the safety net. So, a non-existent paper with elusive content, presented at an artificial press conference, has led to an expansion of the safety net. This is great. However, the situation is Kafkaesque to put it mildly. This is no way to rescue the euro.
I would like to tell the President of the Commission that I found his statement to be good. It was good because you have revealed the lack of social balance in these proposals. I am sometimes a little surprised: Germany with its Chancellor, like President Sarkozy, France’s prince of the opinion polls, is demanding measures that Germany itself has never taken in this form. The Greek budget, and in fact all budgets, wherever they may be, are to be cut. Are you in agreement with this, Mr Rehn?
What did Germany do in its hour of deepest crisis? It came up with a so-called scrapping premium, in other words, it used the national budget to finance a scheme to stabilise the automobile industry. The subvention for reduced working hours, which helped keep unemployment in Germany under control, was an interventionist measure by the state. Why should other states be prevented from implementing similar measures to deal with their specific situation?
Rating agency Moody’s recently downgraded Greece to a ranking below Belarus and Egypt. One really does begin to wonder whether there are any signs of green shoots in the economy. I do not know. The country is ranked even lower than Vietnam. This particular drama is always played out three days in advance of a European Council summit. Something like this always happens three days before a European Council meeting. However, people listen to what Moody’s has to say. Do you know what Moody’s says? It says it is going to downgrade the country because it is no longer able to invest as a result of the cuts and therefore cannot generate economic growth.
So what we are talking about here is a ‘hair cut’. If you look at me, you will realise that I am well qualified to tell you that a hair cut will not solve every problem. Quite the opposite in fact, because what actually happens as a result of the hair cut? The aim seems to be to improve a country’s credit rating by telling those who are to provide the credit that they will lose all write-downs. Where will this eventually end? In the safety net, of course. That is why it makes sense to increase the safety net and to do everything that we can to stabilise the euro. That is why the pact itself makes perfect sense. However, an imbalance exists there. Commissioner, if your ideas are incorporated in this pact, and the economic and social balance is restored as you suggest, then the pact will be on the right path again. That is why I welcome the excellent proposal you have brought forward.
I do not want to spend any more time talking about the issue of the institutions. In institutional terms, the entire concept was wrong from the start. If it is now restructured in such a way that all operational decisions will be made by the appropriate responsible authority, in other words, the Commission, ensuring democratic legitimacy through the involvement of the European Parliament, then all is well and good. So, although we got off to a bad start and there have been a few alarms and excursions along the way, the safety net is to be extended, which is wonderful. The German Free Democratic Party has also come onboard, which is welcome news. Madam President, I am sure that your party in Germany will also support this pact, so that we have also gained ground here. If we can now succeed in giving the pact an appropriate name, namely the ‘Pact for the Euro’, then we may perhaps finally have achieved something worthwhile."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples