Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-17-Speech-3-123"
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"en.20000517.7.3-123"2
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"Mr President, there can be no doubt that Greece has been at great pains to fulfil the convergence criteria. This is definitely deserving of recognition, but as the rapporteur, Mr Goebbels, said, Greece does not completely make the grade. The question of sustainability has reared its head again. Mrs Randzio-Plath has once again stressed the importance of sustainability in the context of compliance with the convergence criteria. When we look around in Europe, we see that wherever socialist governments are in office, or have just come to power, there are problems to do with sustainability. This affects the large countries such as Germany, France and Italy as well. As Guardian of the Treaties, the Commission cannot just ignore this, and behave as if everything was fine. The decision we have to make today is significant because there are other Member States waiting to join the euro zone, and so we must be sure to impose the criteria on Greece.
Greece joined the European Monetary System two years ago and revalued the Drachma early this year. It has largely fulfilled requirements in this respect. Secondly, it succeeded in getting the rate of inflation down to the required level not so long ago. Whether this lasts remains to be seen. I would have preferred it if Greece’s entry into the euro zone could have been deferred for a year, to 1 January 2002. As has already been pointed out, Greece does not, by any stretch of the imagination, fulfil the criteria laid down by the Treaty of Maastricht pertaining to the interest-rate margin. It could only reduce the public debt by a small amount: only by 6 percentage points over eight years, in contrast to Italy and Belgium, which were able to reduce their debts by a far higher amount. I really very much doubt whether we can talk in terms of sustainability in this respect.
Privatisation of state enterprise has made little headway. As before, no more than 49% of state assets can be sold, which means that it is nothing more than an exercise in private provision of capital. It certainly is not privatisation in the real sense. The decision as to whether Greece should be admitted to the euro zone ought not to be taken lightly. There is a significant minority in the European Parliament that would like to see Greece join, but believes that it is still too early, and the course of action we take now will play a part in determining whether the euro is stable or not, internally and externally, in the long term.
Allow me to say a final word about the comparisons that have been drawn with the Deutschmark in 1985. There is no comparison whatsoever. We did not even have the Single European Act in 1985. The internal market is a reality now. One cannot compare apples with pears, my friend, and so join us in pushing for strict adherence to the convergence criteria."@en1
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