Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-06-Speech-3-095-000"
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"en.20110706.3.3-095-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, honourable Members, I would like to congratulate Mrs Berès on drafting an excellent report. It is a very important report, and one which is indeed apposite at this juncture. The financial crisis has turned into a crisis of public finances, and the fight against it is what is most important for Europe today. This is why I very much welcome the report, and this is why I say it is so important.
We have before us, today, our most important short-term challenge, that of reconciling our positions on the package of six legal acts on economic governance. I think that between the position of the Council and that of Parliament, there are still two or three areas of disagreement. I hope we will quickly be able to find the compromise we are looking for – I hope so, but I am not sure – but I do think it is extremely important for us to achieve that compromise quickly.
The package is truly groundbreaking: we are going to place greater emphasis on, and attach greater importance to, public debt and not just deficits, and we are going to introduce country-specific rules on public debt – whether deficits or increases in public spending. This is something which we have had in Poland for some time now, and is what will now be required, on the basis of this package, in all Member States. It includes a very significant reinforcement of the preventative arm, perhaps the most important reinforcement of this arm of our system of economic governance, and there is also to be an EU spending rule.
Naturally, everything in the six acts of the package is very important, but we must also ensure economic growth – something which the package, of course, does not do – because, as Mr Tusk said here a few minutes ago, solidarity is not charity. Of course, we must ensure this economic growth mainly by structural reforms and privatisation, but we must have aid programmes which ensure not only consolidation of public finances, but which also make economic growth possible. Solidarity, which is not charity, is something which is in the best interest of countries which play in the same team. This is precisely what we have to regain – the understanding that the stability of the euro area is crucial, too, for those countries which give help to others, and not just for those which receive that help, and that programmes for structural reform, consolidation of public finances and also privatisation are in the best interest of the countries which adopt those programmes.
In view of this, I am certain that on the principle of a rightly understood concept of solidarity, we will be able – and this will also be thanks to the report we are going to discuss today – to overcome the growing divide between the north and the south of Europe, between the more stable countries, which are helping the others, and those which are receiving that help. We must, however, remember, as Mr Tusk said a few minutes ago, that solidarity is worthwhile because those who receive expressions of solidarity from others who are, at that time, stronger, can later repay that solidarity and give back even more.
I would just like to end by expressing my great satisfaction at the fact that Christine Lagarde, the former French Minister for Finance, has become Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. I think she will play a key role in the forum of the G20, too, in terms of taking Europe’s proposals further there. As representative of the Presidency, I am going to listen with great attention to the comments of the European Parliament. I would also like to congratulate Mrs Berès again on this Committee’s report."@en1
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