Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-13-Speech-2-036"
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"en.20090113.5.2-036"2
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"Mr President, Mr Giscard d’Estaing, Mr Juncker, Mr Trichet, Mr Almunia, ladies and gentlemen, I find it very regrettable that relatively few Members are here today for this formal sitting, because it really is a historic event. We have already heard from the various previous speakers how much scepticism there was when the euro was first introduced. It was felt that the logistical challenges involved in introducing billions of banknotes and coins alone would be unmanageable, and the idea that we could combine a common monetary policy with separate fiscal policies in the Member States was seen not just as a major challenge but as simply impossible.
Today, the facts tell a rather different story. European monetary union is a reality; the euro has been in existence for 10 years today. This is something of a minor political miracle, and once again the words of Walter Hallstein, the first President of the Commission, have proven to be true: ‘Anyone who does not believe in miracles in European matters is not a realist.’
The doubts of the citizens, many of whom, in many Member States, initially believed that the euro would result in huge price hikes, have now disappeared. The euro has now been accepted, and even enthusiastically welcomed by many citizens. It has become something of a visible European identifier: besides the anthem and the flag, it is one of the few symbols we have today.
It could, I think, be said that, in the European Central Bank’s first few years, Europe and the European economy were sailing in relatively calm waters, so that the bank found it pretty easy to pursue a policy of stability. Even so, it is worth pointing out that the mean inflation rate over the first 10 years of the euro has been approximately 2%, in other words more or less on the target that the European Central Bank set itself. The German mark, on the other hand, which was always held up as a poster child for stability, had a mean inflation rate of 3% over its 50 years of existence. It can therefore be said that the European Central Bank has performed very well.
However, it is now, in this time of crisis, that the European Central Bank is showing its true strength, its true quality. It has a hugely important role to play here. It has proven itself to be independent, efficient and self-confident, and it acts decisively and quickly. It has become an example for some central banks, both in those European countries that are not yet part of the euro area and outside Europe. It has made it quite clear to the Federal Reserve in the United States that it can pursue a successful policy, not despite its independence but precisely because it is politically independent and not subject to instructions from various governments.
We now know that at the moment, after the banking sectors in the individual Member States have been brought under a protective umbrella, the Member States are in the process of developing various economic stimulus plans to absorb the negative impact of the financial crisis on the real economy. This will present the European Central Bank with further challenges, because there is a risk that the differences in approach will result in distortions of competition, and that the convergence we have, in part, now achieved between the members of the euro area will be lost and we will see increasingly divergent developments. This needs to be counteracted, which is why it is so crucial and so important that the Stability and Growth Pact must not be undermined or discarded. Quite the reverse: we must ensure that it remains valid. That is why it is also so important for the necessary structural reforms, which the Commission and the European Central Bank have repeatedly called for in the past, actually to be pursued in the individual Member States.
The European Central Bank will gain a new task in the coming years. The crisis has taught us that we need some kind of European supervision of the financial market, and this is an area where the European Central Bank can play a major role. It has signalled that it is, in principle, willing to introduce some kind of central European supervisory system analogous to the European System of Central Banks. The euro’s international role needs to be further strengthened. The euro area needs to speak with one voice, and also be represented as a unit in international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
It is still true that a single currency without a single fiscal economic policy is, and will continue to be, a risky undertaking. This is no mere bagatelle. The EU is still facing some major challenges: we are facing high, and unfortunately rising, levels of unemployment, demographic changes, migratory pressures, increasing poverty in some sectors of society, and stiffer competition in the context of globalisation. The euro area will only be able to meet these challenges if the economic policies of the Member States can be more closely interlinked. The appointment of a president of the euro area was the first step in this direction, but it is only the first step: more is now needed."@en1
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