Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-27-Speech-3-056"
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the European Parliament for giving me the opportunity to appear before the House. I appeared before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on 7 January, and it is a pleasure for me to be able to present the economic and financial priorities for the six months of the Spanish Presidency, particularly in relation to the Barcelona Summit.
For all these reasons, I believe that the Barcelona Council must highlight certain aspects relating to the coordination of economic policies, but above all, the structural reform aspects.
Mr President, I would like very briefly to refer to the coordination of economic policies in EU Member States, particularly those in the eurozone, and indicate that the fundamental instrument for the coordination of these policies, together with the Stability and Growth Pact, are the broad guidelines of economic policy, which, as Parliament well knows, are approved by the Ecofin Council, after being accepted by the European Council in June.
Therefore, the Presidency believes that the Barcelona European Council will guide Ecofin on the main issues to be included in the broad guidelines of economic policy and these proposals will be included in the Key Issues Paper which the Presidency will communicate to the Barcelona Council.
In that Presidency document, which is being drawn up at the moment in accordance with the results of the informal debates of Ecofin in February and the next Ecofin of 5 March, with all the countries of the European Union, the Presidency intends to strengthen the coordination of economic policies between the Member States, and particularly in the eurozone, to consolidate the commitments which guarantee budgetary balance, contribute to the sustainability and quality of public finances, and promote, without doubt, the growth potential of the European economy by means of structural reforms.
Mr President, I will comment on two points in particular: coordination of economic policy and structural reforms. In relation to the coordination of economic policy, there is no doubt that the consolidation of the internal market and greater integration and interdependence amongst the economies of all the Member States points to the need for greater coordination of economic policies throughout the region and particularly in the eurozone.
I would point out that the broad guidelines of economic policy are an essential instrument that should be specifically targeted at the eurozone with a greater intensity than on previous occasions.
Furthermore, in relation to the coordination of economic policies, there are requests from various countries, which the Presidency believes to be very well-founded, which point to the need to improve and harmonise European statistics and indicators, both macroeconomic and in relation to structural reform, and also to carry out a periodic analysis of the policy mix in the eurozone, which ensures that the combination of budgetary and monetary policies, with an independent European Central Bank, are consistent with the needs of the European economy.
In this regard, as I announced on 7 January to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, at the end of January in the Eurogroup there was an initial analysis of the policy mix with a report both by the European Central Bank and by the Commission and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, which concluded that, at the present time, the orientation of macroeconomic policies – both monetary and budgetary – in Europe, is suited to the needs of the European economic cycle and the Spanish Presidency intends to hold another specific debate on policy mix before the end of June.
From the point of view of the coordination of economic policies, I must mention the need to maintain the principles of macroeconomic stability and reduction of public deficit, which ensure the stability of the eurozone and the whole of the European Union, and, at the same time, guarantee the development of interest rates in the medium and long term which are compatible with a recovery of investment and business confidence, which are essential to the recovery of all the economies of the region.
In relation to the political commitment of the European countries to the stability pact and the convergence plans, I would like to repeat that there is currently a commitment from each of the Member States to achieve budgetary balance by the target date of 2004.
Since 7 January, when I appeared before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, there have been significant advances on certain aspects, such as the agreements between Parliament, the Commission and the Council, in relation to the harmonisation of financial services. On behalf of the Presidency-in-Office, I would like to thank the parliamentary groups for the efforts they have made, especially the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, to reach an agreement in this area.
Furthermore, we are analysing the sustainability and quality of public finances, analysing the effects of generational pyramids and the ageing of the populations in each of the countries, and the Commission, as Parliament knows, has reiterated to the Member States the need to take measures which ensure the sustainability of public finances.
It is in these very first few months of the year that the Ecofin Council analyses the Member States’ stability and convergence plans for the current year, that is, for 2002, and that review has taken place in the meetings of January and February; the Commission’s recommendations on each of the convergence and stability plans have been unanimously approved at those meetings. In the case of those countries which were most out of line with their initial forecasts, as a result of the slow-down of the economic cycle in relation to their respective internal demand, there have been clear commitments to comply with the objectives of the stability pact in both the short and the medium term.
In the chapter on structural reforms, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Barcelona European Council is going to pay particular attention to the liberalisation and opening up of various markets. I would like to refer specifically to three areas which are going to form part of the central nucleus of the Barcelona Council: the reforms of network industries, the liberalisation of the financial and capitals markets and also the reform of the labour markets. I will comment on the three areas in that order, Mr President.
Firstly, in relation to the reforms of the network industry, which principally involve transport and energy, there is no doubt that over recent years there have been asymmetrical liberalisations within the European Union, which, in order to update the degree of liberalisation in all the countries of the region, now require movements in the same direction and of the same intensity that will guarantee, on the one hand, the same situation of liberalisation in all European markets, and therefore the absence of disparities which may affect competition throughout the Union, and at the same time also a policy of exchange or of cross-border networks which will allow us to create a genuine market of supply and demand at European level, in relation to both transport and energy.
The Presidency believes that the Barcelona Council must mark the beginning of a genuine energy market which exceeds the minimum limits laid down in the current directive, and this requires the adoption of ambitious liberalisation timetables in the gas and electricity sectors in order to favour the free choice of provider, especially in the companies market.
As demonstrated by the experience of the countries which have made most progress in the liberalisation timetables, these measures must be compatible with greater quality of service and with security of supply, in accordance with the public service nature of electricity supply in all the countries.
Nevertheless, liberalisation must also be accompanied by homogenous instruments for measuring the openness of markets in all the countries of the region and also transparent rules on access to transport networks which ensure the existence of genuine competitiveness for third countries that want to participate in a liberalised domestic market.
Furthermore, the process of liberalisation, as I have said, must be accompanied by quantified objectives for interconnections between the networks of the Member States, and this requires the implementation of the measures contained in the legislative package approved by the Commission on 21 December, including the proposals for the development of infrastructure projects and changes to the system of funding trans-European energy networks.
From the transport point of view, Mr President, the Presidency believes that the Barcelona Summit should have two objectives: on the one hand, to promote the single sky package for air transport, and on the other, to promote the railways package in order to gradually introduce competition into the provision of services, essentially in relation to the transport of goods.
I will now refer to the financial markets, Mr President.
In a little less than two weeks time, the spring European Council will take place under the Spanish Presidency in Barcelona, and I would now like, Mr President, to give details of the main economic issues this Council will deal with.
The completion of the process … Mr President ... Is it customary in the European Parliament to offer the speaker water?
Firstly, it is beyond doubt that the launch of the euro, on which a report will be presented to the Barcelona Council, has been a success not only from a monetary and technical point of view but also from a political point of view, as a result of the considerable support it has received from all citizens throughout the European Union, throughout the eurozone, and also the efforts made not only by the European Central Bank and its excellent staff, but also by very important sectors of European society, such as the financial sector and the commercial sector, to make the physical introduction of the euro a success.
In this respect, European society owes a debt of gratitude to all those workers and professionals who have contributed to the consumers and families having been able to enter the era of the euro so easily.
I believe it is also important to point out, as I did in the meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on 7 January, that the introduction of the euro must be understood as a response, not only of acceptance of the single currency, but also a positive response from the citizens to the processes of European integration and also the processes of economic reform and change. And, in this regard, I believe that the slogan of the Spanish Presidency, ‘more Europe’, is perfectly compatible with the spirit of those millions of European citizens who have accepted from the outset the existence of a single and common currency for us all, or at least for the eurozone.
One of the characteristics of the beginning of 2002, from an economic point of view, is undoubtedly the slow-down of the European economy, which was more pronounced than initially expected and which saw negative product growths, even in some of the large economies, and the Barcelona Summit is therefore to take place within a context in which the growth potential of the European economy – the capacity of our economies to grow – is becoming one of the citizens’ demands, and the Presidency believes that they must receive a response from government, the European Parliament and the Commission.
I believe that, regardless of the speed of the response from the European authorities on some occasions, as in the case of the events of 11 September, what is beyond question from the point of view of economic growth, and given the good macroeconomic foundations of the euro economy, from the point of view of both budgetary stability, which I will refer to later, and from the point of view of inflationary pressures, the Presidency believes that the potential for growth is the key to recovering the confidence of the European citizens in sustainable and stable growth throughout the region.
In this regard, it will be the potential for growth in the medium and long term which will lead to an increase in employment and near full employment in the European Union, as indicated in the Bullmann report which is going to be discussed during this same sitting in relation to the spring European Council, that is, the Barcelona Council, together with the Karas report on the economic situation following the attacks of 11 September."@en1
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