Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-14-Speech-1-146"
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"en.20100614.23.1-146"2
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"− Madam President, first of all I would like to thank Mr Edward Scicluna for his very balanced and substantive report on Estonia’s convergence and entry into the euro area.
In parallel, there is a pressing need to strengthen economic governance in Europe. The Commission’s recent proposals aim at both substantial deepening of economic governance in Europe and prudent widening of the euro area on the basis of the countries’ own merits.
That is the way to build up a stronger and more effective economic and monetary union.
To conclude, after this week’s consultation with the European Parliament, the issue will be followed by a discussion in the European Council later this week. Should all go as planned, we expect to have all relevant legal acts adopted by the ECOFIN Council on 13 July, thus giving Estonia sufficient time to prepare for the changeover and for the adoption of the euro on 1 January next year.
So, once more, many thanks for your support for the proposal, and my warmest congratulations to the Estonian people!
I also want to congratulate our Estonian friends on reaching this important milestone.
I appreciate the overwhelming support for Estonia’s euro adoption given by Parliament’s ECON committee on 2 June. It is indeed crucial in bringing the Commission proposal further and eventually introducing the Euro in Estonia on 1 January next year.
We all know that the convergence assessment and the decision on Estonia’s adoption of the euro will take place against the background of one of the most difficult times for the euro area – if not the most difficult time – since its creation.
In this respect this positive assessment on Estonia is an especially important signal, showing that the EMU framework is fully functional. It also underscores that, in the convergence assessment, Member States are examined on the basis of their own performance, on their own merits and with full respect to the principle of equal treatment.
The positive assessment on Estonia is also a strong positive signal for the markets as well as for the non-euro area Member States at this current juncture.
Let me stress that Estonia would enter the euro area from a very strong position with credible policies, one of the strongest fiscal positions and by far the lowest debt level in the EU, as Mr Scicluna illustrated. While the average in the European Union is currently around 75% public debt, Estonia has a debt level of 7.2%, which is of course a huge difference from the average. While not immune to the crisis, the Estonian economy has also shown its ability to operate and adjust under a fixed exchange rate regime for close to two decades since 1992. Therefore euro adoption itself is not expected to be a major shock to financing conditions as financial deepening is already well advanced.
Of course, euro adoption will not be the end of the road; quite the contrary. Should Estonia adopt the euro next year, it will be key to maintain policy discipline and fully gear fiscal, structural and prudential policies towards a successful performance within the euro area.
I welcome the willingness of the Estonian authorities to reassure euro-area and EU partners through a formal letter stating their firm commitment to stability-oriented policies and setting out policy priorities accordingly."@en1
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