Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-15-Speech-3-412-000"
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"en.20120215.21.3-412-000"2
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"Mr President, Mr Monti, in your speech, and in the article which you published this morning together with Ms Goulard, you made two things clear.
Firstly, you are the person who is in a position to bring civilisation back to Italian politics, after it has been through a rather difficult period. Also, you have indicated to us that you may be one of those strong men who can help to do the same thing for European politics. On an entirely serious note, I believe that this is what it is all about. I listened very carefully to your speech. At some points I thought: ‘This is good, but could he not be even clearer? Could he not be more specific in some places about which difficulties he is referring to?’. Mr Verhofstadt has just mentioned the Italian figures. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland are the countries where people feel most afraid when they hear the reports from Greece. We have constantly been saying that Italy is not Greece and that Portugal, Spain and Ireland are all different.
However, you know that the crisis is by no means under control and it could still spread. As I have long since been aware that you started your career in the financial industry, in the banking sector, I want to ask you some questions at this point to which I would like you to give even clearer answers.
Firstly, when you look at Greece and say that we need a more inclusive policy, we need to keep Europe together, do you believe that the crisis policy which is currently taking shape in Greece puts us on the right track? I do not think that I can definitely answer ‘yes’ to that question at the moment. Commissioner Kroes said yesterday that it would not be a disaster if Greece were to leave the euro area. I thought that the trite and trivial way in which she said this was extremely dangerous. What are the Greeks supposed to think at this point?
Secondly, you have spoken a great deal about budgetary discipline. As someone whose job it is to clear up the mess in Italy, do you think that it is clever in terms of budgetary discipline to focus solely on cuts? What is taking place in Greece at the moment only involves cuts. The Greeks are not putting their budget in order and ensuring that expenditure and income are in a sustainable balance with one another. Instead, they are simply cutting back and, despite all the austerity measures, the situation in the country is getting even worse for the majority of people and, in particular, for the poorer citizens. Is that a sustainable approach from the perspective of another crisis country? As your background is in the banking sector, can you explain to me why we have decided that the major banks are too big too fail and we need to provide them with permanent support, despite all the current weaknesses in the banking sector? We have far less confidence in the countries that are in crisis. We are imposing detailed requirements on these countries in the case of the much smaller sums of money that we are making available to them. We are telling them what their policies must be without really thinking carefully about it. I have never understood why the two approaches are so totally different.
I know that you have begun taking a detailed look at tax evasion in Italy. The investigations that you have organised and the tax audits that you have announced in Cortina d’Ampezzo are sending out a very strong signal. Would you be prepared to support the introduction of a Europe-wide agreement that would prevent tax evasion and money laundering on such a vast scale? Every year in Italy, you lose almost EUR 300 billion. If you were to keep hold of this money, Italy would be out of debt within 10 years.
Mr Monti, let me conclude by saying one thing. Among the prime ministers of the crisis countries, you are in a special position. You are unique in commanding respect throughout Europe. I believe that, with your experience of being a Commissioner, you have a special responsibility for the future of the relationship between the crisis countries and those countries in the European Union which are not yet in crisis."@en1
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