Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-15-Speech-2-121"
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"en.20100615.6.2-121"2
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"Mr President, let me thank you for a very substantive debate and your support for this proposal to reinforce Eurostat’s powers. I must say that I agree with Mrs Jaakonsaari that we have seen a sea change – a real cultural change – as regards the attitudes concerning economic policy coordination in Europe in recent months.
The adoption of this proposal is one of the cornerstones of our efforts to reinforce our economic and monetary union. There were several points made concerning Greece and Bulgaria, and I would like to clarify and respond to some of the issues that were discussed today. On Greece, I will not go into the whole long history of this saga. I agree with those who say that it is not fair to continue this ‘Greece bashing’, because Greece is now on track and its programme is being implemented effectively. Greece deserves credit and support, not ‘bashing’. As regards the statistical reforms, we are working together with the Greek authorities. We have made numerous visits in the course of this winter and spring and have recently agreed on an action plan which aims at enhancing the capacity of the Greek statistical system and improving Greece’s public finance statistics.
On Bulgaria, our concerns relate mostly to two aspects of the budgetary forecast. I trust that at least the Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament are listening to my clarifications concerning Bulgaria’s excessive deficit procedure and statistical problems.
First, the Commission was only belatedly informed by Bulgaria about the sizeable revisions in the budgetary outlook, in violation of treaty obligations. Secondly, we lack information on why Bulgaria revised its planned budget for 2010 from a balanced budget to a deficit of 3.8% within just a few weeks, even though the macro-economic scenario remained unchanged or even improved. Consequently, the Commission is currently not in a position to undertake an assessment of the Bulgarian budgetary plans for this year.
The planned mission by Eurostat to Bulgaria foreseen for the second half of this year will not address the differences and questions concerning the 2010 outlook. This is not a statistical issue. Instead, Eurostat will focus on potential risks to past data on the excessive deficit procedure for the year 2009 relating to previously undeclared government contractual commitments.
I am very grateful for this attention to these important issues, which may have also some implications concerning Bulgaria’s standing in the markets. According to the information obtained from the Bulgarian authorities, the conclusion of their internal budget audits will only be completed by mid-summer. The outcome of such audits will be used by Eurostat in the context of the planned EDP visit to Bulgaria. Depending on the speed of the adoption of the revised regulation, which grants stronger powers to Eurostat, Eurostat may draw on these powers, as necessary, in its work.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, thank you for your attention and especially for your broad and strong support for our proposal, which is the very first legislative proposal of the second Barroso Commission. Indeed, its adoption is essential for the effective functioning of economic and monetary union."@en1
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