Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-22-Speech-3-171-000"
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"en.20110622.16.3-171-000"2
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".
Mr President, before I go into the substance, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the rapporteurs, the shadow rapporteurs and all representatives of the political groups who actively participated in the process for all their valuable contributions. I am equally thankful to the Commission, and the Commissioner himself, for their efforts to facilitate discussions, not only during the trilogues here in Parliament but within the Council too.
The Presidency believes that the compromise reached during the trilogues reflects a good, balanced and comprehensive approach. We think that all parties have a strong interest in reaching a swift agreement. I regret that the proposal put forward to the plenary is different from the compromise we arrived at after a series of negotiation rounds and does not take into account the final compromise offer of the Council. At the same time, I am grateful for your wise approach that the Parliament still leaves open the possibility to have a first reading agreement shortly. It is high time that Europe joined forces and the Union is ready to live up to expectations. All the markets and investors are vigilant and would like to see whether we can deliver or not. The swift and timely adoption of the package is a must for all of us.
The six legislative texts on economic governance have been the number one priority of the Hungarian Presidency. I must emphasise that it was not the individual decision of the Presidency to designate this file as the top priority. The Commission’s initiative has also been supported by the Heads of State and Government of the 27 Member States. If we want to build a stronger euro, this governance package is an essential building block in that process.
The world economy, including Europe, has experienced the worst crisis since the Great Depression and we have had to draw the necessary conclusions. We have to realise that the shock would have long-lasting effects unless we eliminate the core roots of the crisis. Many of the lessons to be learned are addressed by the six legislative proposals put forward by the Commission last September. More emphasis will be put on prevention in order to avoid the need for harmful procyclical policies in bad economic times.
So far the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) has concentrated on deficit but this has not prevented the accumulation of high debt, so from now on more attention will be paid to the debt criteria. The lesson was learned that procedures have not been stringent and automatic enough. That is why we are also addressing these questions here, in order to strengthen the credibility of the Pact. We have also realised that coordination of fiscal policies through the SGP might not be sufficient in a Union sharing a single currency so we have agreed to introduce a new mechanism to tackle macroeconomic imbalances, which will be treated on the same footing as fiscal imbalances.
In order to better and more deeply reflect the requirements of the Treaty in national procedures of Member States, we are about to adopt rules improving the quality of national budgetary frameworks.
I am confident that the objectives of both Parliament and the Council are the same, namely to strengthen the economic governance of the EU and the euro area, prevent future crises and build a stronger framework for economic governance in the euro area and the EU as a whole.
After an intensive round of trilogues with the rapporteurs and discussions at the Council, the Council modified its general approach on Monday. The result of this process was communicated to the European Parliament by a letter sent the next day, 21 June. I share the view that during the trilogues the quality of the text has improved a lot, and that the package has become stronger and more coherent. This is especially the case in terms of increased transparency and accountability and the more stringent and automatic application of the procedures.
Firstly, let me mention the major elements as regards increased transparency and accountability. We are to describe the European semester in the legal text including the ample involvement of Parliament in the process. We have added provisions specifying the process of economic dialogue among European institutions including the European Parliament, the Council and individual Member States. The European Parliament would be involved on the same footing as the Council in the setting up and functioning of the scoreboard of indicators for an alert mechanism in the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances. Regarding the governance cycle and the surveillance procedure, we fully respect the very important role of relevant national stakeholders, including social partners.
Secondly, turning to the issue relating to a more stringent and automatic application of the procedures, let me mention the following: an additional sanction, an interest-bearing deposit for Member States in the excessive imbalance procedure, would be introduced. This has been a missing link in the procedures and it completes the procedure in a very logical way, similar to that provided for in the budgetary surveillance. An additional fine for Member States falsifying their fiscal statistics is also provided for, at the initiative of the Parliament. The application of reverse qualified majority voting is expanded to the recommendation on prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances. Moreover, in the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, we make provision for a review of the expansion of reverse qualified majority voting. At the same time, the already existing comply-or-explain procedure would be enhanced. In deciding on the staff in the SGP, the Council is expected, as a rule, to follow the recommendations and proposals of the Commission or to explain its position publicly."@en1
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