Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-17-Speech-3-125"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000517.7.3-125"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the progress Greece has made in its endeavours to fulfil the convergence criteria is indeed impressive. It bears witness to this country’s desire to become a member of euroland, sparing no effort along the way. I am in favour of treating all countries equally when it comes to forming an assessment of the criteria. In other words, whilst I approve of Greece joining the euro zone overall, I have definite reservations when it comes to the results we are considering at present.
The inflation criterion and the debt situation certainly give cause for concern. Greece has only been able to achieve the reference value for the permissible inflation rate in the last few months. No stone was left unturned in order to attain this objective, which begs the question as to whether the currency stability that has now been achieved can be secured in the long term or, put another way: how do matters actually stand on the sustainability front? Another worrying aspect is the total debt situation, which, being in excess of 100% of GNP, as compared with the reference value of 60%, is far too high. We must also take into account the fact that the current free-fall of the euro is not exactly favouring a sustained reduction in Greece’s state debt, and the anticipated medium-term rise in the level of interest rates is unlikely to help matters either.
Let us be clear about one thing where this decision is concerned: the financial markets immediately draw their own conclusions about the forthcoming enlargement eastwards. Therefore, the standard we set for all the euro aspirants amongst the countries of Central and Eastern Europe must not be so much as a fraction higher than the standard we are currently setting for Greece. And so we should be careful not to be over-generous in our interpretation of these results. They constitute – and I would emphasise this again – a hard-won snapshot of the situation and qualify Greece for membership by right. In short, a ‘yes’ vote must be qualified with an equally clear ‘however’."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples