Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-15-Speech-3-410-000"
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"en.20120215.21.3-410-000"2
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"Mr President, Mario, both my group and we in the Spinelli group are proud of the fact that you have become President of the Italian Council of Ministers. I feel he is doing an impressive job because, in the space of just a few weeks, he has guided Italy onto a virtuous path, by implementing profound structural reforms that are necessary not only for his country but also for Europe.
My friends, at last we have a true federalist in the European Council!
I will not continue in Italian. I am more qualified to talk about Italian wine than Italian politics.
Dear Prime Minister, dear Mario, naturally, I think what you need today is more than compliments. What you need now from our Parliament and from our colleagues in the European Council is more than just vocal or moral support. What you need today is concrete support from this Parliament and from the European Council – mainly, a plan and a proposal to reduce interest rates for everybody in Europe.
We should remember that Italy, even after all the reforms, is today paying exactly three times the interest rate of Germany – this morning it was 1.9% for Germany and 5.7% for Italy – and this cannot continue if we want to recover from this euro crisis. We can do two things. First of all, it is important to remember that we can establish the redemption fund. It is a German idea – so it is a good idea – to create a redemption fund, a fund of EUR 2.3 trillion that, as you know, would mutualise debt above 60 percent and that could really reduce interest rates, not only for Italy, but for all countries, including Germany.
You should realise, Mr Monti, that only two weeks ago, this Parliament called, in a resolution, for the establishment of this fund. The idea of a majority of Members, I believe, is to link it to the current ‘two-pack’ legislation that we are discussing. It is the best system because I do not think that the European Central Bank can continue forever to do what it is doing at the moment, namely, inject money every two or three months.
In the longer term, I think a common bond market is a very obvious idea – as you indicated, and I was very pleased with your intervention. As Mr Monti has said (and this is an important message), this instrument would create not only solidarity but also real discipline in our monetary system. It would, in any case, be a better and more structural solution than doing what we are doing now. We have already put EUR 1 trillion of taxpayers’ money into resolving the crisis; we have three Member States under assistance programmes; and we now have the downgrading of the ratings of the main economies in the world – France, Britain and perhaps tomorrow Germany. This is a crisis that is causing thousands of Europeans to live in hardship. So I think now is the time to have a structural solution and to let not only the taxpayers but also the financial institutions and the bondholders pay by means of a structural reform of the bond market in Europe.
My final remark is that Italy is not Greece – I should say, on the contrary. I think that today, Greece should look at what is happening in Italy. Greece also needs structural reforms and to reduce its enormous public sector. It also needs to reform its political system and maybe, as I have already said to Mr Monti, it would be a good idea to send him to Greece after he has finished his work in Italy. He could be an excellent roving Minister for the whole of Europe where there are difficulties in the euro area. Thank you Mario."@en1
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