European Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg, 12 March 2014.-
President, Honourable Members,
Our debate today represents an important
input into the debate on the workings of the Troika. I want to thank
both rapporteurs and welcome the work of both committees. I hope you
have found our contributions to the reports useful.
In the reports, there is much common ground
and a balanced recognition of achievements and challenges. I know these
reports have been intensively debated in the committees.
They rightly recognise that when facing a
sudden, even existential crisis, decisions had to be taken under extreme
circumstances which necessarily involved difficult choices. We agree
that the macroeconomic imbalances that made these decisions necessary
were built up in the decade before the crisis in the countries that
faced this situation.
When the current Commission took office, and
I started as Commissioner responsible for economic and monetary affairs
over four years ago, the debt crisis had just hit Europe and especially
the Greek economy was in freefall. The risks suddenly became aggravated
and created extreme pressure to bring the economies back onto a
credible path, without any existing functioning eurozone mechanisms to
do this necessary job.
Let's not forget that the aim of the
economic adjustment programme was to avert a default by the countries on
their social and economic obligations - which include the welfare
benefits of their citizens and the wages of their public employees.
In other words, the programmes did not mark the beginning of the crises, but the start of their resolution.
In combatting the crisis, Europe's strategy has been based on extending solidarity in return for solidity.
It is only fair that the reports recognise
the emergency in which Europe had to suddenly create - from scratch -
the stability mechanisms through which solidarity could be extended.
They reflect the financial and political
realities: for granting financial assistance, the Finance Ministers of
the other euro area Member States have had to assume responsibility
before their own parliaments, in the name of legitimacy and democratic
accountability.
The Troika was created to bring together
strong economic policy expertise and multiple sources of funding in
order to prevent an economic meltdown in Europe.
Each institution has its own independence
and respective mandate, which we of course have to respect. Their role
has been legally codified in the ESM Treaty.
For the Commission's part, you have codified
this in the "2-pack" legislation, which sets out the rules on
transparency and accountability of the Commission in its role as a
member of the Troika.
As you are aware, in this plenary, as well
as in the committees, we have regularly debated the situation in
programme countries.
Yes, it has been a difficult journey and the
painful process of adjustment is behind us in many countries; but the
economic turnaround is now tangible and visible. The European economy
did not collapse, nor did the euro break up. The economic recovery is
now gaining ground and firming up.
Growth has resumed in Ireland and Portugal;
unemployment has started to decrease; Ireland successfully completed its
programme in December as planned; so did Spain its financial sector
programme in January.
For Portugal, the economic outlook was just
revised upwards, and the country remains on track to exit its programme
successfully in May.
We all know about the difficulties of
getting the Greek programme on track in the first years of the
programme, especially because of the lack of national unity and the
strong vested interests in the country. But there are now realistic
signs of the Greek economy recovering as the current account is in
surplus for the first time in decades, and there is an apparent primary
surplus in the country's public finances for last year.
President, Honourable Members,
It is self-evident that the Troika is a
complex arrangement, which carries out its tasks within the specific
mandate it has been given by the ESM Treaty and the Member States. This
is, of course, always in co-operation with governments, parliaments,
stakeholders and social partners of the countries that faced a possible
default and requested financial assistance themselves in the first
place.
Looking ahead, your reports raise issues on
the future governance of financial assistance mechanisms, such as a
European Monetary Fund, which can well be pursued in the wider
institutional discussions on deepening the EMU towards a genuine
stability union possibly with elements of a fiscal union. This, in our
view, should be done in line with the Community method.
We are all aware that a deeper fiscal union
will not be realistically achieved overnight: for the Commission, the
guiding principle is that stronger solidarity can only be pursued in
return for stronger responsibility, which obviously raises issues on
sovereignty – and thus, such deepening can only emerge in a profoundly
democratic process.
The European Parliament is at the core of
this democratic debate. I look forward to continue to participate in
this important debate.
Thank you.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-14-217_en.htm?locale=en
12/3/14
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