Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-11-20-Speech-2-010-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20121120.3.2-010-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
". −
Mr President, honourable Members, good morning to you all. I would like, first of all, to give apologies on behalf of Commissioner Rehn, who has been detained in Brussels this morning by an important Eurogroup meeting on Greece, and who has asked me to speak for him, though on matters which, in part, also fall within my own areas of responsibility.
Firstly, your report is right to highlight the strengthening of democratic legitimacy. As co-legislator, Parliament naturally has a decisive part to play in designing the regulatory framework governing economic and monetary union. The responsibility of euro area decision-makers to Parliament is just as important. Here the key principle is that democratic responsibility must be exercised at the level at which the decision is taken. When the decision is European, democratic responsibility must, indeed, be exercised at European level. Your report also proposes a greater mandatory presence of the Commission and the production of regular reports for Parliament. The Commission, honourable Members, of course recognises the importance of transparency and involving Parliament.
That said, if we want an effective system of accountability, we must ensure that those accountable to Parliament are indeed those politically accountable for policy decisions and their implementation. In short, in the context of economic dialogue it is the Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and for the euro who is politically accountable. Today, therefore, it is Commissioner Rehn who will continue to respond to Parliament as much as you wish. This political accountability must not give way to a situation where Commission technical staff are directly accountable to Parliament.
Secondly, the report also advocates an enhanced role for Parliament in coordinating economic policies in the context of the European Semester, particularly at the time the annual growth survey is being drawn up. I would also like to remind you that the Commission presents its proposals for the annual priorities of the European Semester in its annual growth survey. In line with your request, the request made in your report, Ms Thyssen, this year the survey will be published at the same time as the report on the alert mechanism. The annual growth survey is therefore a Commission communication and its presentation arises naturally from the latter’s right of initiative. It is essential for Parliament and the Council to express their views on the Commission’s proposals once they have been published, in a process of political debate on future priorities.
Another important aspect concerns transparency and democratic accountability in the context of the European Semester: Parliament has the opportunity – introduced by the six-pack
to conduct economic dialogues with the other institutions and the Member States. The Commission supports Parliament’s active use of economic dialogue and would welcome even more active use of it.
Lastly, when reflecting on the stages needed to complete economic and monetary union, I think it is very important that we make use of all possibilities offered by the current Treaty, but that does not prevent us from identifying what might ultimately require changing in the Treaty. We are pleased that Parliament takes the view that the current Treaties do in fact leave us wide room for action and manoeuvre, which we use.
Mr President, honourable Members, overall, Ms Thyssen’s report attests to a broad convergence of views with the Commission, something that does not surprise us. We all share the same key political goal – which is the main thing our compatriots, our citizens, expect – of providing a genuine global response to the current crises by doing what we have decided, and perhaps going further, by consolidating our economic and monetary union once and for all. The key thing, in my view – Ms Thyssen said it, as did Mr Louca – is the substance, the essence of the reforms we have begun together to increase the competitiveness of the European economy, financial stability, and, ultimately, trust.
Firstly, thanks to Ms Thyssen for this report, and to the other honourable Members concerned, including all of the committees working across this area – namely, the Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Constitutional Affairs, Employment and Social Affairs and Budgets – for their collective work. I am also aware, Ms Thyssen, of the very significant work you have undertaken, together with Mr Giegold, on one of the aspects which concerns us most directly: strengthening economic and monetary union, that is to say, establishing – we now hope speedily – a European supervisory mechanism for the banking sector as a whole.
Your report provides the Commission with specific recommendations on the report of the four Presidents on framing a genuine economic and monetary union. Ms Thyssen, your contribution is very substantial but also – at this moment – particularly timely. The European Union is facing major challenges, which largely stem from the financial crisis originating in the United States, from the economic and social crisis that has accompanied that financial crisis, like our own budgetary crisis, and from sovereign debt.
These crises call for specific responses, particularly in the area of finance – and that sums up what we are doing together with an extremely tight agenda: 28 regulatory laws have been put before you in the last two and a half years – but also, over and above the specific responses, broader, more global responses, since these crises have brought to light certain weaknesses and inadequacies in economic and monetary union.
This is all to restore what you yourself expressed in two key words, Ms Thyssen: trust and hope. These are responses which the Commission has been trying to propose for more than three years, led by José Manuel Barroso, our President, with your highly vigilant support, never too accommodating but always active.
In this context, the Commission is particularly determined to propose every appropriate measure for framing a genuine economic and monetary union which functions better and is resilient to crises. We have already made great strides in this direction over recent years: the six-pack and the two-pack, prepared by Commissioner Rehn, form a set of rules enabling economic governance of the euro area to be strengthened considerably. I am also thinking of the proposals for a banking union. We must go further, however, and act more globally: in the coming days the Commission will propose a blueprint presenting the features of a deeper economic and monetary union, as well as the tools and instruments we need to realise this project.
In the light of these challenges and this ambition, I would first like to emphasise the very broad convergence of the views you express in this report and our own analyses and the Commission’s proposals. We share the same desire to act immediately and in a large number of specific areas – where there is, in fact, a need to go further – these areas being well identified in your report and essential if we want to strengthen economic and monetary union.
Lastly, and most significantly, we come together on the importance of speedy adoption of the texts currently being negotiated in Parliament and the Council. The two-pack on strengthening economic governance; the single supervisory mechanism; the establishment of a single European framework to prevent and resolve crises – Ms Thyssen, you referred to these – they are two texts I presented, the first a year and a half ago on deposit guarantees, for which Mr Simon is rapporteur, and the second on resolution of banking crises, for which Mr Hökmark is rapporteur. The latter text has also been under discussion for more than seven months now. Then, lastly, Capital Requirements Directive IV, with which many of you are involved and which is currently being finalised by means of very active trialogues. It is both important and necessary for us to find solid compromises on these various texts and, in that regard, I would like to thank Mr Louca for the commitment and pro-active approach shown by the Cyprus Presidency in relation to all of these texts. We must strengthen the current legislative framework in this way and show that European commitments lead to results, and, quite simply, that we are doing what we said we would to tackle these crises, at the last European Council of 29 June in particular. It is also a matter of credibility and trust, which we must regain. We must also ensure that texts intended to strengthen economic and monetary union are fully consistent with proper functioning of the single market; as far as possible, they must also be open to the other Member States which have not, or have not yet, joined the economic and monetary union and the euro. That is another concern I want to deal with in the context of integrated supervision.
Honourable Members, I would now like, on behalf of Commissioner Rehn, to touch on the proposals your report makes in three areas."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples