Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-14-Speech-1-149"
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"en.20100614.23.1-149"2
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"Madam President, I am delighted to be able to welcome Estonia as the 17th member of the euro area from 1 January 2011. Our Baltic neighbour, as previous speakers have already said, is actually one of the very few countries that meet the Maastricht criteria, and indeed with enthusiasm!
In the current climate, we can be certain that the Commission, Eurostat and the European Central Bank have looked very closely at everything and made no allowances in their evaluation of the figures. The Council will also take its decision without any political benefit.
Ten years after its introduction, the euro is, as we all know, currently facing its greatest test and challenge. It is testimony to an enormous degree of commitment, an unbelievable will and an extraordinary amount of effort that Estonia has succeeded in actually meeting the accession criteria under these circumstances. I believe that it is also evidence of the fact that it wants to meet these criteria as laid down in the Treaty. Estonia knows that, as a Member of the European Union, it is also obliged one day to become a member of the euro area and the fact that it wants to do that so quickly makes me, personally, very happy. It shows that there are still countries that have real confidence in this European project.
It is fortunate that the Estonian Government did not have to put this accession decision to the people in a referendum, as we are well aware that citizens are to some extent very concerned. If they follow the media, they will view the euro as a soft currency and the euro area as a transfer union, and they are scared that the introduction of the euro will lead to large price increases. Slovenia and Germany are examples of this, and in Germany it is not without reason that the expensive euro has been referred to using the play on words as the ‘Teuro’ (‘
’ – expensive euro). The fact, then, that all of this is just perceived inflation, as the European Central Bank says, is surely something of an understatement.
As a member of the euro area, Estonia will also have to deal with the problems facing the single currency and thus also sign up to the euro area rescue plan. What impact that might have on the budget, we do not know. I would like to ask the Commission to provide some clarity in this regard. I hope Estonia continues its excellent development and I hope that its achievements, particularly with regard to budgetary discipline and combating inflation, will prove to be sustainable in future, too."@en1
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"der teure Euro"1
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