Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-17-Speech-3-057"

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"en.20000517.4.3-057"2
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"Mr President, the report under discussion contains accurate information and an objective assessment. Greece is being judged, just as the first countries in EMU were judged, and this judgement accords Greece the position which it deserves, the position which it could have taken up back then, when it could have become a member of EMU along with everyone else, but which it failed to take up because of the weakness of its government. In all events, this moment is an historic moment for Greece and, may I say, for Europe too. I hope that we shall see other such historic moments when other countries join and, even more so, when we proceed, as we must, with the policy to complete unification. The euro restored politics to Europe and it is incumbent upon us to pave the way so that politics in Europe can be institutionalised and globalisation, which is progressing blindly, without any historical or political plan, can be politicised at a later date, through a unified Europe For Greece and the other members of EMU, the problem of sustainability is crucial. The problem of whether or not they will be able to act together on economic policy, as if they had already achieved political unification, is a political problem . It is a problem of development choices and changes and, of course, it is a problem of public finance management. Greece has a tax reform problem. A large part of the economy pays no taxes and the basic taxes which exist in other Member States do not exist in Greece. The average Greek taxpayer pays more than other Europeans but total tax revenues in Greece are much lower as a percentage of GDP. This structural change is pending, while our government is confining itself mainly to privatisation. Other important structural changes are also pending, such as the need to strengthen regional authorities and their financial independence, reorganise cooperatives in all sectors from the bottom up and liberalise and strengthen the social economy and the third sector. These are the areas which need to be strengthened immediately if sustainability is to have a future."@en1
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