Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-13-Speech-1-067"
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"en.20061113.16.1-067"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would first like to thank Mr García-Margallo and the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs for the interest that it has shown in analysing this first Commission Annual Report on the Euro Area, whose main objective is to promote dialogue and debate between our two institutions with a view to identifying the priority measures that will improve the way that the whole area operates.
In December, based on the reports submitted by the Member States, the Commission will adopt the report on the first year of application of the national reform plans. Our report will include an explicit evaluation of the degree to which each of the Member States has put these reforms into practice and, if we consider it to be necessary, we will give recommendations for each of the countries.
We will also include an evaluation in the report of what we the European institutions have done in application of the reforms required for the Lisbon Community programme.
We agree, as I said before, on the need to go further with the internal market, which, along with the single currency, is one of the two essential instruments for promoting more efficient allocation of resources and offering greater opportunities to businesses and more choice to consumers.
The integration of the financial system is also a top priority for the proper functioning of Economic and Monetary Union. In this sector, the roadmap is set out in the Commission White Paper on financial services covering the 2005-2010 period.
With regard to external representation of the euro zone, I can confirm that the European Parliament agrees on the need for coherent external representation. As I had the opportunity to explain in one of my recent speeches to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the European Union spoke with once voice in Singapore, as Mr García-Margallo has just reiterated. In October, after this meeting, both in the Eurogroup and in Ecofin, we debated this matter again and arrived at some additional agreements that are moving in the right direction.
Mr García-Margallo’s report also contains comments on monetary policy and on the application of the Treaty criteria for expanding the euro zone. The European Central Bank is one of the most transparent central banks in the world and this perception is highly valued by the markets, which appreciate the Bank’s communication policy.
With regard to the application of the inflation criteria for the enlargement of the euro zone, which we have debated many times in this House recently, I refer to what has been said so far.
Finally, I do not know what doubts Mr García-Margallo has perceived. I am entirely in favour of dialogue with this House on the operation of the euro zone. The Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs is well aware of this, as just a few days ago I had the opportunity to discuss with her how we can put it into practice.
Since I had the opportunity to present this report to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in July, the predictions for growth in the euro zone for this year and the following two years have significantly improved. Last week I presented our autumn predictions, which can be summarised by saying that all of the economic indicators are pointing in the right direction: rising economic growth, which is the highest in the euro zone since the start of the decade, falling unemployment, stable inflation and clear reduction in public deficits.
The factors that have contributed to this positive picture include external factors, such as the sustained strength of the global economy, but also internal factors, which contradict the image of stagnation and paralysis that has been used to portray European economies, and in particular the economy of the euro zone. Among these internal factors are the reforms in several countries in the euro zone in recent years, the budgetary consolidation efforts and the response of European economies to the significant increase in oil prices, which is more efficient than many expected.
The existence of the euro zone has also significantly contributed to this favourable climate, thanks to the good finance conditions for families and businesses provided by the current level of interest rates and also thanks to the protection the euro has provided against the turbulence of the financial markets, as occurred in the spring.
However, all of these positive factors do not invalidate the main conclusions of the Commission report on measures that should enable us to improve the operation of the area, which the majority of you agree with, according to Mr García-Margallo’s report.
I am talking about the need to go further with structural reforms, to consolidate the single market and to ensure more effective and integrated external representation of the euro zone than there has been so far.
These three priorities, which are set out in the report, will also be included in the Annual Economic Report that I will present to the Commission on 22 November, which this year focuses on the operation of Economic and Monetary Union and, in particular, of the euro zone, in the light of the eight years of experience that have been accumulated.
Having examined these three priorities and in relation to economic reforms I agree with the statement made in the report regarding the importance of carrying out the reforms promised by the Member States in the national reform plans as part of the Lisbon Strategy.
Once monetary policy has been unified and budgetary policy has been made part of the Stability and Growth Pact, the economic policies of each of the national governments should make the necessary adjustments in terms of productivity, competitiveness and the operation of markets in order to ensure a high degree of convergence within the area."@en1
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