Brussels, 30/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 29 September, the European Parliament's special committee on the financial, economic and social crisis (CRIS) adopted (33 votes in favour, 2 against, with 3 abstentions) the report drafted by French Socialist MEP Pervenche Berès. This report advocates enhanced European economic governance, particularly with regard to preventing future crises. The mid-term report approved by the EP special committee demonstrated the limits of self-regulation and the need for European economic governance, coordination and supervision of policies, and the need to closely involve the EP in the decision-making process.
Following the vote on the report, Bères indicated: “The European Union must fully exercise its responsibilities in the area of shared competences and must cease being satisfied with simply framing national policies for market liberalisation. The first experimental field for this Europe of added value must be the setting up of a genuine European energy community”.
In an effort to locate a crisis exit strategy and to promote a new sustainable and fair model, the report therefore calls for a root and branch change in governance. The report also underlined that in order to fulfil the objectives that it has set itself, the Union will need greater financial resources. Although the European Commission yesterday unveiled its proposals on economic governance, the crisis committee report calls for a “Mr or Ms Euro” to be created, a Commission vice president who would be in charge of the Eurogroup and would represent the latter in other international bodies. The report also calls for the pooling of part of the debt of eurozone member states. In the absence of an overall agreement, the report urges the Commission to put into motion legislative proposals for introducing a tax on financial transactions. On the question of monetary union, MEPs are highly critical of the poor application of the Stability and Growth Pact and call for more efficient incentives and sanctions to ensure its respect. In the institutional context, characterised by a lack of leadership and a resurgence of national selfishness, the special committee report on the crisis demonstrates that political responsibility and ambition can go together, explained Berès. The mid-term report will be submitted to a vote at the Parliament as a whole, during the second October plenary session. Once it is approved, it will serve as a basis for pursuing further special committee work, whose mandate has been extended until 31 July 2011, in order to give MEPs time to prepare a second series of recommendations. (B.C./transl.fl)