Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-04-Speech-3-011-000"
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"en.20120704.3.3-011-000"2
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".
Mr President, I just have one brief comment to make to Mr Daul. I would be happy if you were half as critical of Hungary as you are of Romania. However, as far as breaches of European law are concerned, we support European law and European values, regardless of the country in question.
When Turkey boycotts the Cyprus Presidency, then it is boycotting the European Union. We hold on to the vision of a shared Cyprus where Turkish and Greek Cypriots can live together in peace, because all of them are citizens of Europe. This vision will help us to move forwards.
Mr President, I would like to welcome you very warmly, together with your Minister for Europe who will definitely do a very good job, because he shows the right level of commitment. We cannot promise you that this will be an easy presidency. We can promise you our help in resolving the problems, but nevertheless this will not be an easy presidency. The economic crisis and the banking crisis will still be with us.
I am very grateful to Mr Barroso for making it clear that Parliament will be fully involved in the establishment of the new banking supervisory mechanism, which is something that we have been calling for over a long period. Of course, we need to have specific rules for the euro area. However, we must not forget, and Cyprus is one example of this, that even if a country is not in the euro area, and this is clear in Greece and Romania, massive damage can still be caused. The incidents at Barclays Bank show that there are still many bankers who are speculating with other people’s money and who believe that they can manipulate the market without it being noticed. This must stop. We need an efficient banking supervisory mechanism in Europe, together with greater transparency in all banks, and these things must be put in place over the next few months.
In this context, Mr President, I would, of course, like to mention the financial transaction tax. We have recently adopted Ms Podimata’s report here in Parliament with a large majority. I know that people in your country are sceptical about this, but it is essential for us to introduce a financial transaction tax. Of course, it will not solve all our problems. However, Mr President, you have spoken about the fact that economic and social burdens must be distributed more fairly. The financial transaction tax will make a small but not insignificant contribution to the fairer distribution of the economic burdens and will help to ensure that the financial sector plays its part in overcoming the crisis. I believe that this is essential.
That brings me to the budget. Mr Daul said that there would be a Christmas present. I hope he is right. I hope that it is a present and that we will not be celebrating Christmas with a poor compromise. There are supporters of better spending and supporters of cohesion. If the supporters of better spending think that what is needed is less spending and drastic budget cuts, then they will not have us on their side. This is what Mr Cameron believes and this is being put into practice with great success in the United Kingdom. It clearly has the approval of the population.
If the supporters of cohesion think that they simply need to spend more money and the job will be done, then they will not have us on their side. We in the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, and I believe that is the majority in this House, want a budget which is effective, does the job, contributes to growth – that is essential – and, of course, promotes productivity and competitiveness. However, you cannot make cuts and, at the same time, say that we must do more for growth, while reducing funding, except for the funding that is actually needed. If Mr Cameron needs a major institution in his constituency or in the neighbouring constituency, he will, of course, want funding for it. However, when it comes to stimulating growth in the cohesion regions, where we really have work to do and where help is needed, regardless of whether they are in Poland, as the President mentioned in his speech, or in Lithuania or in other countries, then suddenly we want to make big cuts. That is where we have to say ‘No’, because this is inappropriate. We cannot say that we need more investment, more growth, more employment and then focus on reducing spending.
I am very pleased that France is moving away from this simplistic method of making cuts. I am very pleased that Ms Merkel in Germany has recognised, following talks with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), that the budget needs to be of a certain size in order to stimulate growth and development. Against this background, I am also hoping for a Christmas present, like Mr Daul, not for us, not for Parliament, the Council or the Commission, but for the people of Europe, who urgently need one.
The Cyprus Presidency brings us close to a region which is undergoing a major crisis and that is the Middle East. We will never come as close to it as we do in Cyprus. I know that the Cyprus Presidency has very good relationships with the countries of the Middle East and will make good use of them.
My last comment concerns Turkey. As a friend of Turkey, I very much regret Turkey’s behaviour towards the Cyprus Presidency. This is the presidency of the European Union."@en1
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