Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-25-Speech-2-471-000"
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"en.20111025.28.2-471-000"2
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"Dear colleagues, I have spoken to both Presidents, Van Rompuy and Barroso, today, telling them that I will inform them of the outcome of our debate in plenary. On Sunday, in the opening speech at the European Council, I argued that a decisive and comprehensive package needs to be defined to overcome the eurozone crisis, and that all EU institutions must come together. I reminded the European Council that we are also the Parliament of the eurozone.
We know this in theory. In practice, we talk about the EU, but we build our politics mostly on national levels. The Union is like a dream, whereas the nation state is current business. This European dualism is perceived from outside as our weakness and it is used against our common strategic European interest. Europe needs to be strong in a modern and multipolar world. Europe is not only a common market but a coherent, political concept – maybe even a power – able not only to overcome crises, but to have an impact on the modern world.
This is why I welcome that today, between the European summit on Sunday and tomorrow’s meeting, we are taking the time to debate the short-, medium- and long-term solutions which are on the table.
My conclusion from attending the European Council is that there are three urgent topics left.
The first is lowering Greece’s debt burden, but we need to know how much, and in what way, private investors will be involved; certainly voluntary rescheduling.
The second point: recapitalisation of European banks. Crucial decisions were taken by the Ecofin for all 27 Member States, such as that capital adequacy requirements will go up to nine per cent. Details on how the money will be raised on the markets, through national budgets and through the EFSF, have still to be decided. I believe that Parliament should have a say on this.
Point number three, which is very urgent as well: the creation of a firewall around economies in difficulty. The European Council should decide tomorrow on strengthening the role of the EFSF by allowing it to leverage money through insurance mechanisms. There are two other proposals on how to strengthen the firewall: by creating a special purpose vehicle and by creating a trust fund with IMF involvement.
For the medium term, we need to give time for the strengthened Stability and Growth Pact or ‘six-pack’, the European Semester, the Euro Plus Pact, and all our incentives for growth to work. Some competences may be national competences, but most Member States agree that we need to coordinate much better at European level. The important question is: how do we move all these issues from an intergovernmental framework to the Community method? It is clear that short- and medium-term solutions should be anchored in the EU institutions.
For the longer term, there are discussions on a possible Treaty change. The question is: what kind of change do we expect? Are we ready to accept any changes?
In the long-term perspective, we need to draw conclusions from this crisis and reflect on the EU’s future. If we truly want a strong EU treated seriously by the global players, then this crisis gives us an opportunity to act quickly. The main conclusion is that we cannot afford the situation of a unity which is a kind of fragmentation in reality."@en1
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