Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-08-Speech-2-662-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110308.29.2-662-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, the Commission, together with the ECB and the IMF, recently concluded the third review of the Economic Assessment Programme for Greece. Our joint overall assessment is twofold and I will outline it briefly.
Firstly, the programme has made further progress towards its objectives; and secondly, there remain considerable challenges to be overcome in order to secure fiscal sustainability, restore competitiveness and ensure a viable banking sector.
While there have been delays in some areas, the underlying fiscal and other reforms necessary to deliver the programme’s medium-term objectives are now being put in place. However, major reforms still need to be designed and implemented in order to build the critical mass necessary to secure fiscal sustainability and economic recovery.
The challenging efforts of consolidation will be supported by a bold privatisation programme, as indicated by Prime Minister Papandreou. The government has expressed its commitment to substantially scaling up its privatisation programme with a view to realising EUR 50 billion in proceeds from privatisation by 2015. This has the potential to cut the debt ratio by more than 20 percentage points of GDP over the next five years. Furthermore, determination in implementing the privatisation programme will increase economic efficiency and support higher investment and exports.
For all these reasons, the government’s full commitment to this process of privatisation, and not least its determination to tackle privileges and vested interests, will indeed be critical to realising the ambitious objectives and thus utilising the potential for substantial improvement in the market sentiment vis-à-vis Greece. The Commission therefore encourages Greece to show resolve in its privatisation programme.
This relates to a comment made by the OECD Secretary-General: this year, 2011, is the decisive year for Greece in terms of restoring the credibility of its economic policies and that is a prerequisite if it is to regain market access in the course of next year.
To this end, the authorities should achieve, or even surpass, the fiscal target for this year and articulate a robust medium-term budgetary strategy.
In addition, Greece should achieve a decisive breakthrough in structural reforms over the coming weeks and months. Determined implementation of the programme should strengthen credibility and the confidence of citizens and investors alike.
To conclude, through the combination of these policy measures – i.e. meeting the fiscal targets and implementing the privatisation programme – and the EU measures of extending the loan maturities and revisiting the pricing policy in the light of debt sustainability, concerns about debt restructuring can, and will, be addressed."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples