Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-23-Speech-3-123-000"
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"en.20110323.17.3-123-000"2
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"Mr President, let me first of all thank the honourable Members for a very responsible debate on next week’s European Council. On behalf of the Commission, I would like to comment on several speeches concerning Libya and Japan before commenting on economic issues. As you know, the Commission has no competence on the security and defence front but we have been coordinating the European response to the escalating humanitarian crisis on the Libyan borders. The no-fly-zone military action implemented according to UN Security Council Resolution 1973 brought new circumstances which need to be taken into account when delivering humanitarian assistance in a secure and efficient way to those in need, either at the borders or inside Libya. It brought new hope as well that innocent civilian lives would be spared.
Last but not least, the banking sector repair must be completed, to safeguard the provision of credit to the real economy, to enterprises and to households. The next round of bank stress tests will be conducted in the coming months; the results will guide the necessary restructuring and possible recapitalisation of the EU banking sector. Before the publication of results, all the Member States will need to decide and present their strategies, if needed, for the possible restructuring and recapitalisation of their vulnerable institutions.
It is indeed essential that we see that these two problems have to be resolved in parallel; financial repair must be accelerated, banks restructured and, if need be, recapitalised as soon as possible. This is a precondition for restoring and reinforcing confidence in the European economy, improving banks’ robustness, and ensuring that we safeguard economic growth through credit supply.
To conclude, once the European Council confirms its full commitment to all of these elements of our comprehensive economic strategy to overcome the crisis, the European Union will be well on track for turning the economic tide this year, 2011. This does not mean all is fine, even less that we can sit back. But, yes, it does mean that we are prepared to face the current and emerging challenges and to prevent crises in the future.
Although the events in Japan have no immediate health consequences for citizens in the European Union, it is important to take stock of EU nuclear safety policies, as well as contingency plans and safety measures in place. The Commission uses all instruments available to monitor the impact, including on future safety. To my mind, Japan teaches us that risks can become reality; what was thought to be impossible must now be included in our planning. A European approach for a comprehensive safety and risk assessment of nuclear facilities would maximise the effects at the European level.
Before drawing final conclusions, a full analysis of the accident in Japan is essential; the assessment should cover the most important issues, such as safety requirements for earthquakes, as well as emergency power supply assistance for reactor cooling.
On economic policy too, your debate reflected the magnitude of what is at stake at tomorrow’s European Council and I trust that the messages sent from here will be heard and listened to in all capitals of Europe. It is fair to say that the European Union will have profoundly evolved after this March. The financial crisis which turned into an economic recession and then into a sovereign debt and banking crisis has forced Europe to seek new ways forward, to consider all possible options and to take decisions with long-lasting consequences.
As President Barroso said in his opening remarks, we will respond to the challenge with a comprehensive strategy which builds on the strengths, values and institutions of the European Union. It is exactly the kind of challenges which are facing us today that the European Union was created for: to be able to withstand storms together and to be able by joint efforts to come out of a crisis stronger than before.
As a result of very long talks for several months, the elements of a comprehensive response in economic policy are now finally there for the leaders of the Union to agree and commit to in the European Council tomorrow. The Member States, and especially the euro area Member States, are all pursuing intensified fiscal consolidation and growth-enhancing structural reforms with very strong determination. This is now the first and foremost cornerstone of making progress on this strategy.
Secondly, both the Council and the Parliament are delivering on your commitment to conclude the Commission’s legislative package on economic governance by this summer. Reinforced economic governance is indeed the cornerstone of our comprehensive response.
Thirdly, the permanent European Stability Mechanism will be made functional as of June 2013, with the effective lending capacity of EUR 500 billion. By this decision we will have in place a financial backstop with a sufficient containment effect to clear away even the slightest doubt about our capacity to act even in the most stressed scenarios.
The role of the Commission in the running of the operations of the ESM will be central, and the link of the ESM to the EU institutions, of course including the European Parliament, will be very clearly and firmly established. We shall in due course propose a regulation based on Article 136 of the Treaty clarifying the steps to define policy conditionality and to ensure consistency with the EU framework for country surveillance."@en1
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