Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-03-Speech-2-059-000"
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"en.20120703.5.2-059-000"2
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"Mr President, Mr Van Rompuy, the first thing I must say is that if, following the European Council and the decisions against the crisis, we keep discussing whether Chancellor Merkel has been toppled, whether President Hollande or Mr Monti have won, whether the south is marching on the north or vice versa – so long as we do that, then I do not think we are on course to overcome the European crisis.
I also have to tell you that I find all these jabs based on football analogies quite repellent in these times of crisis, because all we know politically at this point in time is that if we do not manage to come together as a European team, then we will fail.
In this connection, I did find comfort in some of the things that have been communicated from the Council corridors. Indeed, one might get the impression that the Council has actually learnt something from these difficult recent sessions. I got the impression that it has at last understood that we are not dealing with a sovereign debt crisis, but with a crisis of our common currency, because the euro can only function as a common currency if, in fact, we also have a common fiscal policy. This recent recognition that it will also only work if we construct common supervision of the banking sector and a common banking union is something that I found a comfort, because in the final event, whether or not the Council has learnt these fundamental things is absolutely crucial.
I also thought it very good that it seems increasingly to be grasping the fact that the euro can only work if the countries in the euro area are prepared to take on debts and risks within this common currency area. I was pleased to see that this realisation has grown, even though in the days leading up to the summit, Chancellor Merkel made it a matter of life and death. In this connection, it was also very important that, as regards Spain and Italy, it was decided that it was essential to separate bank risk from sovereign risk, and that in fact, we must not allow countries to be dragged deeper and deeper into the abyss because they have to try to provide guarantees for bankrupt banks. Unfortunately, these insights that I have described, and which gave me some comfort as I observed the Council, were not then sufficiently incorporated into the decisions. What was decided in respect of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is highly conditional, just as before.
At this point, I should like to support what the previous speaker, Mr Verhofstadt, said. If you wait until the end of the year, then I would venture to say to anyone living outside our continent who has always wanted to come here: visit Europe while it still exists! If you and the Commission do not put proposals on the table for September concerning how we can now construct the banking union as quickly as possible; how we want to work in a fiscal union with eurobills, a debt redemption fund and then the prospect of eurobonds; if you do not make it clear how we actually want to communitarise all the crisis instruments, including the ESM and EFSF; if you do not present a convincing pact for lasting economic recovery and development; if you do not make it clear how you wish to develop and implement the financial transaction tax; if you do not put forward a really convincing programme to combat youth unemployment – then we will not get far with restoring confidence in the European Union.
Mr Barroso, it is you who, together with the European Parliament, must exert pressure to ensure that the next decisions are genuinely ready for debate in September. Mr Van Rompuy, I realise that you and I are different kinds of people, but the sedate way that you notify us of the Council’s inadequate decisions time and time again is something that is simply beyond my comprehension."@en1
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