Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-13-Speech-2-033"
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"en.20090113.5.2-033"2
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"Mr President, 10 years of the euro is indeed a reason to celebrate. Anyone who had said 10 years ago that the euro would have developed as splendidly as it has done would have been laughed at. Many people have contributed to this success, and I remember many sceptical voices – it was referred to as a premature baby and an unviable project – and today we know that it was a vision to which many people contributed. The previous speaker reminded us of all those who contributed to this, of the milestones, of the European monetary system, which was an agreement with the European Central Bank to create central rates, of the Delors report, which provided for the introduction of the monetary union in three stages, of the Treaty of Maastricht – only two years after the fall of the Wall – and of the transitional periods. Many people have helped to make the euro the successful project it is today.
The euro has been well-received by the public. It has gained the world’s trust. It has passed the first test and has provided a unique contribution to the permanent integration of our nations in Europe. That is something we can all be proud of. Thank you.
As the committee chairman, Mrs Berès, has already said, during this period, in particular from 1994 when the implementation of the Treaty of Maastricht began, and up to 2002, Parliament actively cooperated in the introduction of the notes and coins, and in many reports, discussions, opinions and also proposals, and I would like specifically to thank the two committee chairmen from that time, Mr von Wogau and Mrs Randzio-Plath, who also represented Parliament to the outside world and who gave this project, although originally created by the governments, the parliamentary support it needed. We are working today, too, under the chairmanship of Mrs Berès, for the same representation.
On 18 November Parliament adopted, with a large majority, a report in which we describe the successes, challenges, risks and problems, and I would like to mention just a few things in addition to what Mrs Berès has said.
The euro has been a great success, and it is a unique project: a central monetary policy under the management of the European Central Bank and local budgetary and finance policies. It is important that, in future, the connection between these two levels of responsibility in the Stability and Growth Pact are retained also during times of crisis. Without this Stability and Growth Pact, without stronger coordination of the budgetary and finance policy, the euro would also in future face risks that are avoidable. In this regard, I appeal in particular to the Member States of the euro area, but also to the whole of the European Union, to take this discipline, this coordinated cooperation, more seriously than has been the case in the past in connection with certain issues.
The euro has pushed down inflation considerably and so created confidence and stability, and it has become the second most commonly held reserve currency in a space of time that no one thought it capable of. The euro has increased the pressure for structural reform in the Member States and therefore, even in the age of globalisation, has become a ‘fitness programme’ for undertakings and for nations. The institutions of the euro area – several were mentioned by the previous speaker – the Ecofin Council, the Euro Group and many other institutions have created the necessary conditions together with the Commission and the European Central Bank, because they were already operating, because they were in place, because they worked independently in order to react quickly, reliably and correctly in the economic crisis.
We have experienced the euro as a lever for creating a European financial market. The political conclusion from these common successes is that states with a common currency and a common internal market have achieved a unique level of integration that will secure peace and prosperity.
However, we cannot necessarily take the euro for granted in future. There are numerous specific requests and demands to take the risks seriously: the drifting apart of the national economies, which is associated with considerable risks in connection with the growth of wages and with budget deficits, should not be concealed on this anniversary.
An entirely different aspect is the varying development of the interest rates for government bonds. We are currently seeing the interest rate margin, which has no doubt decreased, increasing again, bringing the possibility of new problems in this regard for individual Member States within the euro area.
I would remind the House that, particularly in connection with the expansion of the euro area, no special rebates may be given and that all states that are members of the euro area can, and must, comply with these conditions of the Treaty of Maastricht."@en1
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