Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-22-Speech-2-019"
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"en.20050222.4.2-019"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is the job of the two rapporteurs not only to present the position of their parties, but also the report agreed upon. That both reports led to a very intense political debate in our committee, given that they are reports on decisions concerning the way forward rather than legislative reports, is evident from the fact that although both reports were approved by very large majorities, one group largely abstained on both. This demonstrates the importance of the fundamental policy considerations and questions of overall direction addressed in both reports.
I will restrict my comments to the report as adopted. I have three preliminary observations here. Firstly, the European Union is a legal Community, and although we are a legal Community, 12 Member States have breached the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact or of the Treaty since that Pact was introduced. Five of them belong to the euro area: Portugal, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Greece, together with the United Kingdom, to which the excessive deficit procedure does not apply, but which is nevertheless bound by the requirement laid down in Article 116(4) of the Treaty.
My second preliminary observation is that we have, in the euro, a successful common currency, one that has turned the internal market into a home market, but we do not have a common budget policy. That is why we need a common policy framework, so that the euro can achieve its full potential and the European Union can achieve its growth and employment policy objectives. There is however, a contradiction here: in 2002 only four Member States within the euro area, accounting in total for 18% of the euro area’s GDP, had a more or less balanced budget, rising to five euro area Member States in 2004.
My third preliminary observation is that the Lisbon strategy provides us with a basis for achieving more growth and employment, and for increasing our competitiveness. The reality presented in the report is that over the last decade the EU economy has grown well below its potential, with a decrease not only in private investment but also in gross public investment, which in the euro area has fallen from 4% of GDP in the early 1970s to 2.4%.
People draw differing conclusions from all this. Some people blame the Stability and Growth Pact, because we say that legally binding provisions are not being complied with, and others say that we have not done our homework and that there is a lack of political will. We need to embark on structural reforms. We need to make demographic trends the starting point for changing our realities. The Stability and Growth Pact is a success because it highlights the political debate about the structural reforms that are required, about the failure of budget policies, and about the risks for the euro, and thus leads to political debate.
A majority of the committee supported this viewpoint. This report, the theme of which was that we need a stronger political will as regards implementation, more courage as regards long-term reforms, a more serious approach and less excuses, also states that we need a greater willingness for reform combined with more honesty towards the public. Germany’s present contention that the costs of reunification have so far been left out of the equation is an example of how insincere the debate has become, because Germany has complied with the stability and growth criteria since the beginning of this decade; it has gone along with the Stability and Growth Pact and has had no problems with it for 10 years.
I urge you to support the report before you if you wish to see greater stability, growth and employment, and if you wish to see compliance with European law and with the Treaty."@en1
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