Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-14-Speech-2-028"
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"en.20041214.5.2-028"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that one of the new Commission’s priorities ought to be to begin a constructive debate on the Stability Pact and possible reforms to it.
Let us quickly clear away any misunderstandings. No one is intending – and the Commissioner responsible has done well in confirming this emphatically – to think up a reform to get around the Maastricht criteria. Rigour in complying with the Treaty and a commitment to a progressive reduction of deficits remain the objectives needed to make Europe economically credible and stable. I believe, however, that it is possible to have a debate on the operational criteria for achieving the objective of deficit reduction, and to think not so much in terms of a reform as of a transformation of the Pact, one that can reconcile budget rigour and flexibility in order to give renewed impetus to growth, development, employment and, finally, the Lisbon strategy.
The Italian Government has done its thinking, and has not gone unheard. Faced with considerable concerns over the excessively high rate of the euro and the loss of Europe’s competitiveness compared with the United States and emerging countries, the proposal could be to remove investments in infrastructure and research from the calculation of national budgets. In simple terms, this means introducing the golden rule to achieve the goal of budgetary consolidation without compromising the recovery.
In conclusion, the Pact can no longer content itself with being merely a pact for stability, and unfortunately also a pact for economic stagnation, but must become a pact for competitiveness, for structural reform and, above all, a pact to guarantee a future for our children."@en1
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