Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-08-Speech-2-479-000"
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"en.20110308.25.2-479-000"2
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"Madam President, first of all, I think that we can now say that after years of not accepting the idea of economic union, we are finally accepting the idea of an economic union alongside monetary union, which does represent a step forward. Naturally, this is not the case for Mr Farage, but for everyone else, it does represent a step forward.
Nevertheless, Madam President, I do not think that the term that has been used is the right one. What does the word ‘pact’ mean? A pact is an agreement between States. An agreement between States is not what we need. What we need is a Community act, an initiative at the level of the European Union, and not a pact between Member States, which is, by its very nature, an intergovernmental pact. Therefore, this is not the right term to use as it is misleading.
Secondly, there is the approach. There is no need for anything at intergovernmental level. Intergovernmentalism has never worked within the European Union. The Lisbon strategy was intergovernmental and it failed. When Germany and France failed to respect the rules governing the stability pact in 2003-4, this proved that the intergovernmental approach was not the right one. We must use the Community approach.
Thirdly, I believe, Mr Barroso, that what is on the table is not enough or it focuses rather on very specific measures. Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy’s competitiveness pact comprises six specific measures. For example, in the case of pensions, it focuses on pension age. However, the pensions system is much more complex than that. It is not only a question of pension age, there is also the number of years of pension contributions, pre-pension schemes, and the existence or not of a second pillar.
Therefore, what we need are not six specific measures in an intergovernmental pact, which will never come into being or work. What we need is broad economic governance (pension schemes, labour market, wage policy, fiscal policy) within the European Union which is decided upon by the Commission and which, through a convergence code – that is the term you used – is provided to Member States so that they can apply the rules from the convergence code. That is what we must do as quickly as possible.
My request is a very simple one. I saw the paper of 25 February that you prepared with the President of the Council. I think that it is now for the Commission to prepare its own initiative. This must be done now. There is still time in the weeks to come for you to prepare these Community acts for economic governance and convergence and to table them at the Council and the European Parliament. It will then be up to us to decide and to support you in this respect. However, what I think we are doing at the moment is being reactive. In this document of the 25th – I have it here – I can read that
‘monitoring by the Heads of State and Heads of Government’, ‘the concrete commitments undertaken by the Heads of State and Heads of Government’.
That is not how it is going to work. The States and the Prime Ministers are not going to regulate themselves! It has never worked in the past, and it will not work in the future!
Finally, and this is my last point, I also think that it is time, Mr Barroso, to present, at the earliest possible opportunity, an initiative on a crisis mechanism for banks, not at national level, as stated, but at European level. You have the right to do so as you are, in effect, the guarantor of competition rules within the European Union and you are in a position to suggest such an initiative."@en1
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