Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-24-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20101124.4.3-011"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, an opinion poll I read yesterday in a newspaper states that 70% of French people believe that they are still in the midst of a crisis and that it has not yet been resolved. I am sure that a broader survey in Europe would generate the same results.
We all know that, on all these issues, our countries alone will be unable to find a viable long-term solution to meet the expectations of the 500 million Europeans, who, as I said at the beginning, are expecting their politicians – that is to say all of us here and back home in our capitals – to make forward-looking decisions.
President of the Council, if the crisis has taught us anything, it is that yesterday’s solutions are not necessarily those of tomorrow. We are paying a high price realising this in a time of crisis, but we will pay an even higher price if we continue to ignore it. I call on the European institutions and the governments of our Member States to change, to learn political lessons from the crisis, and to stop seeking solidarity only when it is too late.
Mr President, I would like to add one last thing. This is not a question of the Council and Parliament fighting against one another; it is a question of implementing the treaties, of showing solidarity, and of working hand in hand. This is the message I should like to get across to you so that we might overcome the crisis for the sake of our fellow citizens.
We must therefore address our citizens’ valid concerns. They are living in difficult times and cannot tolerate the slow and complex decision-making process at European and global level. Many of these people have also asked me what we are doing and what Europe is doing for them and their family. People are scared. At the same time, I see that more and more politicians and more and more countries, even in this House, are using, manipulating and exploiting this fear and this anxiety and do not have any proposals.
This populist approach, which is corrupting our policy, is serious, and I should like to mention here that this is not the way to resolve the real and serious problems facing our countries and Europe in the world. I believe that it is up to the political parties and the parliamentary groups that are against such populism and demagogy to speak out more.
No, the answer to the crisis is not to shy away from it or resort to protectionism. No, there is no fast or easy solution to the crisis we are facing. No, it is not possible to turn our back on solidarity or on efforts to strengthen all our countries in the face of globalisation and then realise, in the end, that we need partners when times are tough.
We must learn some lessons from what is happening in Ireland, and this is not a criticism of Ireland, President of the Council, President of the Commission. We must learn lessons, because the difficulties that that country is facing are due not only to the banks but also to the current government’s fiscal and economic policy over the years. The Celtic Tiger, which was solely responsible for its own growth, with an atypical tax system, minimal banking regulation and an investment code unlike that of any other country in the European Union, is today witnessing a collapse of its property bubble, household debt, record unemployment and a crippled banking sector. The Irish Government has guaranteed the whole banking system, committing EUR 480 billion, or three times its GDP, which increases its public deficit to 32%.
Today, the Irish Government has called for and rightly obtained European solidarity. I welcome this and, as Commissioner Rehn said in this very Parliament on Monday, the aid Ireland should soon receive will safeguard the stability of the whole euro area. Yet has this European solidarity, which Dublin is rightly receiving today, as it did when it joined the EU, been shown over the years by the Irish Government itself?
How many times have Member States tried to align taxation – a prerequisite, as is all too evident today, for good governance of the euro? And every time the same few countries oppose it.
I am not pointing the finger at anyone, but I believe that it is time for us to learn from such behaviour for the future. As I have said several times in this House, a crisis signifies an opportunity for change, and we must not be afraid to change some of our customs, which have not had the positive effect we were counting on.
Ladies and gentlemen, the measures adopted by the European Council a few weeks ago and the guidelines agreed at the G20 in Seoul represent a step in the right direction, but they do not go far enough. In other words, there needs to be an awareness of the need for cooperation in Europe and among major regional blocs in order to address the instability of financial markets and trade imbalances and also to avoid a currency war."@en1
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