Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-01-Speech-3-066-000"
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"en.20120201.12.3-066-000"2
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"Mr President, first of all I would like to thank the House for a very lively, interesting debate which raised a lot of new ideas. I think it underlies the clear sentiment that this summit was very important and crucial because, after a certain period of time, the primary focus was on growth. It was very important for us to address the greatest concern of our citizens, which is growth and employment, in this way.
As regards Eurobonds and stability bonds, you know that the Commission believes that this is an excellent stabilising and investment tool and a very good instrument. I think this was clearly shown in our options paper and now we see that the discussion is ongoing. It is very difficult, but I believe that these new efforts in fiscal consolidation will actually increase mutual confidence among the Member States in how responsible we are in managing our public finances. I personally believe that we will see the day when we will use the Eurobonds, the stability bonds, as a very important financial and investment tool in the European Union.
Coming to the last piece of information: co-financing. I agree with Mr Verhofstadt that this is a very important tool in helping countries in distress. As you probably know, we have already increased the co-financing rate from 75% to 85% – at first temporarily for Latvia, Greece, Portugal and Romania and we did something similar for Ireland. Now we have increased it even further: 95% in the case of Greece. Moreover we are helping the Greek authorities to better absorb these funds on the ground.
Of course a very important element of the summit was to continue our work on guaranteeing stronger economic and fiscal governance. I would like to use this opportunity to thank Parliament’s negotiators, Mr Verhofstadt, Mr Gualtieri and Mr Brok, for an excellent job and for the good cooperation with the European Commission.
Coming back to the outcome of the summit – and I believe Mr Van Rompuy would testify to this – I think there was a consensual approach to the discussion on growth and to the importance of growth and of streamlining our policy to achieve that goal. I cannot agree with those who believe that we can create new jobs by dismantling the European social model. We had such a situation here in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries; let us not go back, please.
As regards the focus on youth, I think that the measures adopted during the European Council to help our young generation – those 7.5 million young people who are not employed, not in education and not in training – are absolutely crucial. Action on this is immediate: letters have been sent to the eight Member States, the joint action teams will meet in February, funds are mobilised and these new job plans for the young generation should be debated by the European Spring Council. I believe we cannot act any faster; what we need is your support and good cooperation from the Member States.
Turning to the very important issue of economic and fiscal governance, I think it was quite clear from this debate, and I think this is echoed by the European Council, that we cannot have consolidation without growth. Last year we were very much breaking new ground when we were trying to save the euro; trying to save the European monetary union. Now we are moving beyond that. We see a certain stabilisation. We can focus on growth, which will bring hope to many families in the European Union.
There is one thing which it is important to underline. When I was listening to the debate some of the speakers were describing the outcome in much bleaker terms than it really deserved. I think that Parliament and the Commission acting together have been instrumental in upholding the Community method and guaranteeing that the European Parliament would be involved in economic governance, that the European institutions would be central in economic governance, that we will have no new European institutions and that this treaty will be incorporated in European law within five years. I think these are very important positive gains and we should look at them in this positive light.
Some very quick remarks on the specific questions. I absolutely agree with Mr Daul as regards the importance of the Services Directive. The full implementation of this directive would increase trade in commercial services by 45%. It would increase foreign direct investment by 20%. It can bring about an increase of 0.5 to 1.5% in GDP. Where else can we find such an easy potential for growth? It is lamentable that this directive is not yet in operation; we have started infringement procedures against the remaining two Member States which have yet to transpose it correctly.
Mr Verhofstadt mentioned patents. I can assure you that this was highlighted very forcefully by me in the General Affairs Council and also by the President of the Commission in the European Council. It is true that, having the chance to decrease costs by 80%, we should do it as soon as possible. We have been discussing the patent for decades, and I am pleased that we now have a deadline and that we should definitely solve this issue before the June European Council. I would plead with the three countries which cannot agree where the seat will be to find a solution, because our innovation community, our scientists, are really waiting for it.
As regards Mr Swoboda’s comment on the financial transactions tax and Mr Verhofstadt’s comments on the Eurobonds, the financial transaction tax is a very important proposal. I would like to assure you that the Commission is not going to give up. We had one difficult political debate on this issue and it was definitely not conclusive but, if we gave up after each difficult political debate at Council level, there would be no European law. We are going to continue and we will need your support. I believe that in the end, in all Member States, they will realise how useful this measure can be, the kind of fair burden-sharing it could bring from the financial sector, and the kind of healthy regulatory effect it could have on the financial industry. I believe in rational arguments and these arguments are very rational. I believe they will prevail."@en1
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