Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-23-Speech-2-084-000"
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"en.20121023.5.2-084-000"2
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"Mr President, after a brief, but heartfelt, welcome of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, which was felt by all to be a tribute to past work and an invitation to redouble our efforts for the future, the focus of last week’s European Council was on the economic issues, namely the implementation of the Compact on Growth and Jobs approved last June and the discussion on the interim report on deepening economic and monetary union (EMU).
In the specific case of Greece, significant progress has been made. The eurozone Heads of State and Government issued a statement welcoming the determination of the Greek Government to deliver on its commitments and also commending the remarkable efforts of the Greek people. The Eurogroup will examine this progress in light of the forthcoming troika report and take any necessary decisions.
Our second major debate was on the interim report which I drew up in collaboration with the Presidents of the Commission, the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank – a group of four presidents who also met with your President, Martin Schulz. My office also consulted Member States and the European Parliament’s delegation, whose contribution was significant. I also personally met some of your rapporteurs, coordinators and committee chairs. This was an interim report seeking to clarify concepts and test the level of support for various ideas that have arisen, with the aim of reaching conclusions in December. It highlighted points of convergence and outlined areas that would require further work. The European Council gave a mandate to continue this work and propose a specific and time-bound roadmap to be presented at its December meeting so that it can move ahead on all the essential building blocks on which genuine EMU should be based.
Our immediate priority was progress on financial integration. In June, we agreed to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns. The urgent element now is setting up a single supervisory mechanism (SSM) to prevent banking risks and cross-border contagion from emerging. That is why the European Council called for swift progress, with the objective of agreeing on the legislative framework by 1 January 2013. Once this is agreed, the SSM could become effectively operational during 2013. This places a huge responsibility on all of us to meet this ambitious timeline. We cannot afford to risk losing momentum.
When establishing a Supervisor, several aspects need to be taken into consideration. First, there must be a clear separation between the monetary responsibilities of the ECB and its supervisory functions. The ECB should be able to carry out supervision directly in a differentiated manner, meaning using national authorities in supervisory tasks as much as possible. The SSM will be designed and implemented with the integrity of the single market for financial services in mind. Finally, the mechanism should be inclusive and transparent: all Member States are free and invited to join. This openness should be reflected in the governance structure, with appropriate rights and obligations for all.
The SSM is a first, essential step towards a complete, integrated framework for the financial sector. Other steps also need to be taken quickly, starting with harmonising national resolution and deposit guarantee schemes, following which the Commission will propose a single resolution mechanism.
As agreed in June, direct recapitalisation by the European Stability Mechanism will be possible once an effective SSM has been established. We asked the Eurogroup to draw up the exact operational criteria.
For a stable economic and monetary union, we also need stronger integrated frameworks for budgetary matters and economic policies. On both these fronts we have already done a lot. Let me put it this way: if we fully use all our tools – the six-pack, the forthcoming two-pack, the European Semester with its country specific recommendations, the new macroeconomic imbalance procedure and the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance – then we will have already taken a major step towards fiscal and economic union. Yet to secure the eurozone’s long-term stability, we also need to be able to better deal with economic shocks and spur economic convergence.
Here, some new avenues in my report attracted attention. I received a mandate, together with my colleagues, to explore them further between now and December. One of these is that Member States could enter into individual arrangements of a contractual nature with the EU institutions on the reforms they commit to make, in response to the country specific recommendations of the Council, to promote growth and jobs.
Another is the possibility of an appropriate fiscal capacity for the euro area. This new idea requires further exploration and it was agreed that this is unrelated – I emphasise ‘unrelated’ – to the preparation of the next multiannual financial framework.
It will be crucial for the new EMU to be fully legitimate and accountable. As a general principle, we all agree that democratic control should occur at the level where decisions are taken. It is also important to build this deeper economic and monetary union on the EU’s institutional and legal frameworks, and to make sure that it remains open and transparent towards Member States outside the eurozone.
We also spent time on some foreign policy questions and touched on a matter which I know is of concern here, the appointment to the vacant seat on the Board of the European Central Bank, which was raised both by me and by your President in his speech at the beginning of the meeting.
As in all our regular European Councils, I wanted to devote some time to strategic discussions on our external relations and our foreign policy. We focused on two main issues. First, our relations with China – taking a step back and looking at the long term. I debriefed the European Council on the September Summit with China, a very positive one. As you know, this key partner is undergoing a ‘once in a decade’ leadership change. We exchanged views on how to engage constructively with the new leadership. We must pass on the same messages to Beijing, both the easy and the difficult ones, in our contacts at all levels. China presented a package of proposals for future cooperation between the EU and China. We will respond in the same spirit with our own proposals. We will come back to this issue to prepare the next summit, which should take place in China in autumn 2013.
Second, we addressed crisis areas in the world: Syria, Iran and Mali. This was indeed the first time that we had discussed developments in Mali at European Council level. The situation has a security, humanitarian and regional impact on the Sahel. It could also become a threat to our own societies and to our own security. The Union is contributing to the international efforts led by the United Nations to stabilise the situation. We decided to accelerate our own planning for a possible European military crisis management operation and support for the international military force, in accordance with the recent UN Security Council Resolution 2071.
To conclude, this was a positive summit. It is good for Europe that we will have a single supervisory mechanism up and running in the course of 2013.
Between now and December we will work on further progress to reinforce our economic and monetary union. The biggest contribution to growth in the short term is restoring confidence in the eurozone.
The Union’s commitment to promoting the equality of women and men is an objective laid down in the Treaty. Yesterday’s vote by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on the appointment is an understandable expression of concern that a great deal remains to be achieved, notably regarding the European Central Bank. But I note also the committee’s recognition that the candidate’s professional competences are in no way in dispute.
For my part, at last week’s European Council, I made a strong appeal to all Heads of State or Government to identify and propose female candidates for vacant posts at European level, in particular in the economic and financial sectors, where the under-representation of women is blatant. I underlined that we need to be active in encouraging this process.
I hope that, with such renewed commitment to gender balance, Parliament will base its final decision on the current candidate for the ECB executive board on the sole criteria of professional qualification and experience. It is urgent to fill that vacancy.
Now let me move on to the economic questions which were at the core of our discussions. First, growth and jobs. We are still suffering from a lack of growth – 25 million people are unemployed in the Union, many of whom are young people. Overall growth projections for next year are at best modest. I am painfully aware of the toll this is taking on our societies. In several countries, the adjustment is more severe and lengthy than many had expected. Reining in budgetary deficits and restoring competitiveness would have been necessary even without the crisis in the eurozone. It is therefore all the more necessary to share the burden of this adjustment fairly and to have policies especially targeted at reducing unemployment. Here, the EU instruments can and should assist.
Creating jobs and boosting socially-inclusive growth remains our utmost priority and our ultimate goal. The commitments made under the Compact for Growth and Jobs cannot wait: they must be followed by decisive action and translated into concrete results. This is particularly urgent for the implementation of the EUR 120 billion package we agreed in June, for progress on the single market issues and on our EU-2020 goals. It is also urgent for measures supporting social inclusion, promoting research and development, developing the competitiveness of our industries, and harnessing the potential of international trade.
In the meanwhile, we will discuss in November the multiannual financial framework at the European Council. We need a growth-oriented EU budget. Although it represents only 1 % of European GDP, it can, as an investment budget, have a huge impact on growth.
Of course, restoring confidence in the eurozone is a key part of bringing back internal demand and growth. On this, we can now witness the first results of our cumulative actions. Let me give a few examples. The so-called spreads are decreasing significantly in almost all eurozone countries. Public deficits are now lower in most countries. Competitiveness and export performances are stronger in all countries. The upcoming common bank supervisor is a major breakthrough and we launched two weeks ago the European Stability Mechanism so that our ‘firewall’ now amounts to EUR 700 billion."@en1
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