Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-24-Speech-3-056"
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"en.20100324.12.3-056"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Schulz said that Greece has delivered and that it is now Europe’s turn. I wonder whether Europe actually needs to say ‘thank you’, nowadays, if Member States in the euro area simply keep to the rules, in other words, if they manage to get back to the 3% criterion. I also wonder what the difference was last year when Ireland faced the same situation and instituted hard cuts. Nobody came forward at that time with the idea of calling on a European Monetary Fund.
Mr Verhofstadt says that speculators are at work. Clearly there is pressure in that regard at the moment, but the fact is that Greece enjoyed major rate advantages thanks to being in the euro area. Our Italian colleagues used the rate advantage they gained from their accession to the euro area to consolidate. Greece consumed it. We can indeed therefore say that the good European today is not the one who is putting his or her money on the table; the good European is the one who actually implements the rules that everyone has signed up to and accepted, so that they are actually complied with in the European Union.
As a second point, I would like to give my backing to the Commission because the proposals that are on the table for the long-term future represent a move in the right direction. We have agreed the 3% and we therefore need a strong Commission that will, in future, monitor and also enforce that 3% limit. We have seen how the Member States in the euro area are unable to police each other and to observe the 3% limit on their own. That is why I am in favour of a strong Commission that will be able, in future, to see that the criteria are met.
I have one more thought. We should talk positively about the euro. It is not a currency crisis that we have; it is an economic crisis. The euro is a major benefit for everyone. If our leaders in the European Union no longer say that, if that point is no longer made in the Council, people will not know it. That is why I am in favour of this major, strong currency."@en1
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