Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-17-Speech-1-066"
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"en.20081117.21.1-066"2
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"I want to congratulate not only the rapporteurs, but also the Commission on its initiative in preparing this text reviewing the first 10 years of Economic and Monetary Union. It is a strategic text and this analysis was vital.
As has been said here today, the euro is an undeniable success. From Lisbon to Helsinki and from Dublin to Bratislava, the euro has proved strong and solid, even during the current severe turbulence. It is clearly vital that the borders of this club are enlarged.
However, every day now the solidity of the European project is being put to the test in many other dimensions. As has been said, the euro is central to the functioning of the financial system. However, even the Commission’s text clearly points to the fundamental conclusion that neither growth in the real economy nor social or spatial convergence have kept up with this success. On the contrary, the Commission clearly concludes that disparities have sharply increased during the first decade of the single currency.
This divergence affects regions in my country, in particular northern Portugal, and also other regions in other Member States. The single monetary policy, particularly the very high exchange rate, has had a greater impact on those regions which are more exposed to international competition and also on those that export most.
Today, the crisis resulting from deregulation of financial markets is seriously affecting the real economy and is further worsening the situation of many citizens in many regions. Those regions which are exposed to international competition, those which depend on small and medium-sized enterprises and those in which access to credit is very important are now falling victim to this process and depression is even threatening.
The euro’s success depends on the trust placed in it by European citizens. The most powerful European countries have already taken steps to stimulate their national economies. We can cite, in particular, the initiatives taken in relation to the motor industry. However, Europe is more than that. It has to be much more than the more or less coordinated sum of national policies. The time has come to make the euro one of Europe’s central tools to ensure a robust currency and also a robust real economy. The euro must be accompanied by mechanisms guaranteeing the central objective of achieving social and regional convergence, because, in essence, that is the heart of the European project.
The debate on coordinating economic policies in the euro area is now unquestionably more relevant and more topical. However, coordinating national policies is not enough. More needs to be done. Having a Lisbon Strategy that is purely the sum of national initiatives and having a Stability and Growth Pact that puts different amounts of pressure on the various countries using it and subject to it are limitations, to which we can add the limited budget available.
Crises generate opportunities. Monetary union can only be maintained if there is convergence in the well-being of Member States and their citizens, regardless of where they were born. How else can we mobilise the people to support the single currency? The Commission must be equal to its own diagnosis and that is why we anxiously await the concrete proposals to be made by the Commission on 26 November to this House and to the European citizens.
It is vital that this crisis leads to a new phase in the Union, in which consolidation and strengthening of the financial system are accompanied by real prosperity based on cohesion and a concept of citizenship which is also economic."@en1
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