Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-13-Speech-1-084"
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"en.20061113.16.1-084"2
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"Mr President, thank you very much to all of the Members for their contributions. I think that the debate shows that it is useful to have a report like this every year on the operation of the euro zone and its results, this being the first time that it has been adopted by the Commission and is being debated in Parliament.
As a conclusion to today’s debate, I can make an optimistic observation: the euro zone is growing again, despite the fact that some said that it was a zone of very low growth. The euro zone is growing by 2.6% this year, perhaps even more at the end of the financial year. The euro zone is creating jobs and reducing unemployment. According to our predictions, between now and 2008, five million jobs are going to be created in the euro zone. It is not said very often, but it is true that since the beginning of this decade, despite low growth, in the euro zone and of course also in the whole of the European Union, significantly more jobs have been created than in the United States, which always establish themselves as the reference point to be imitated in policies and strategies for job creation.
I therefore think that, if we analyse the operation of the area and the results that we are achieving through monetary integration, there are elements that could justify a moderately optimistic assessment. However, it is also true that there are elements that should continue to attract our attention, as there is still a great deal to do.
There is still a great deal to do, as many of you have said, in order to increase potential growth and continue to reduce unemployment, so that greater growth and a higher level of employment can improve the lives of our citizens, reduce inequalities and offer more solid bases for our social protection systems and for our social services system. This firstly requires, as many of you have said, that we continue to comply and comply better with the stability and budgetary discipline criteria laid down in the Treaty and implemented through the application of the Stability and Growth Pact, which is being applied in a reasonably positive way on which there is a consensus. We also need to continue with the reforms and go further with the Lisbon Strategy, because this plan of eliminating barriers and facilitating the four freedoms has proven to be a solid basis for creating better conditions in which to face the future.
It also requires, according to the analysis and many of its conclusions, better governance in the euro zone. I think that the efficiency of the operation of the Eurogroup, since it has had a stable presidency, led by Mr Juncker, who is with us today, has improved. It is enabling us to make better progress in analysis, mutual understanding and coordinating decisions that affect the Member States, but which cannot be imposed on them from above, and need to be adopted by consensus, with their full conviction, and in accordance with their competences. We also need to strengthen dialogue.
If any of you still have any doubts, ladies and gentlemen, in the opinion of the Commission, and in my opinion, as the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, we need to enhance bilateral dialogue between the Commission and Parliament on these matters. I think that we need to move forward in a tripartite dialogue between the Presidency of the Eurogroup, the Commission and Parliament, on the following matters: the operation of the Eurogroup, on any subjects that draw our attention and, if you agree, I also think that we need to move forward with a dialogue including, while fully respecting its independence, the European Central Bank and why not? which has a monetary dialogue with you but also has a monthly dialogue with us. I think that Parliament can and should, every now and again, be part of this exchange of views between all of the institutions, whose common goal is for the euro zone to operate correctly and for the euro, our common currency, to produce the best possible results for all the citizens of Europe."@en1
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