Brussels, 27/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Most MEPs welcomed the important decisions taken in the morning of Thursday 27 October by EU leaders in an attempt to respond to the sovereign debt crisis. The EPP Group considered that the crisis exit strategy was beginning to develop and the head of the Socialist and Democrat Group pointed out that the decisions constituted progress but all the different solutions to the crisis were not yet in place. The ALDE Group said that it was relieved and the Greens were sceptical about what real progress had been achieved.
The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, stated that last night represented a “crucial political step, which still requires technical and legal follow-up. Markets will give us the time we need if they see a clear direction and a clear determination”. Important decisions were made on the sustainable solution for Greek debt, the return of confidence in the banking sector, and further budgetary consolidation for countries which need reforms. He underlined the fact that this coherent package is the result of a process that has been going on for a year and that the stimulation of growth provided in this package must play an essential role. Van Rompuy explained that it was pressure from the institutions, as well as from “peers” and the markets, which would ensure this package's success. With regard to eurozone member states, he said that is was “natural that those who share a common currency take some decisions together” but that “the eurozone is not a derogation from the European Union, it is part of it… It is the member states who have not joined the euro which are referred to as 'member states with a derogation'”. He added that it is“vitally important to safeguard the integrity of the single market […] so we must keep the two configurations as close as possible, in a spirit of trust”. The institutions will return to the possibility of “limited” Treaty changes in December, he said, discussing “first the 'what' before we discuss the 'how'. First we should examine the goals, only afterwards the legal instruments required to get there.” He said that they were often accused of doing too little and too late but explained that “markets have the luxury of moving at the speed of the click of a mouse. Political processes […] cannot deliver so quickly.” Accomplishing reform requires time and involves bringing everyone on board, concluded the president of the European Council
The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, announced the new role that Olli Rehn would be performing. He will become a vice-president of the Commission and will be responsible for economic and euro affairs. He welcomed the results from the European Council regarding Greece, leveraging the EFSF and the measures to improve confidence in the banks, as well as the measures announced by Italy: “It is now imperative that Italy implements these fully”. These decisions constitute a platform upon which proposals can be made towards developing better economic governance. The Commission will present a package including co-decision regulations on the EFSF, budgetary monitoring and a communication on external representation for the euro. With regard to possible treaty amendments, they will have to be done with Parliament's full participation. They are not an immediate solution to the crisis but can help towards avoiding new crises. The Union will therefore go to the G20 summit in Cannes, well-armed, explained Barroso.
The chair of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul, explained that the crisis exit strategy is beginning to become clearer. He admitted, however, that more needed to be done: “Was Europe successful in its efforts to restore confidence last night? In the short term: yes, no doubt. In the medium and long term, however, some consolidation remains necessary.” He added that the goal of the European project is not to subject member states to tutelage (in a reference to member states that have voiced protest about this) but insisted that rules needed to be respected and the measures “announced and signed in letters” must be applied. He also affirmed that they needed to go further down the road towards fiscal and social integration.
The chair of the S&D Group, Martin Schultz from Germany, changed the tone somewhat. He said that the European Council had developed a process but it was still not the solution. He wanted to know why it had not decided on these measures a year ago and said that if this had been the case they would not be where they were today. He also wanted to know what had happened to the economic and European Union included in Article 3 of the Treaty. Schulz said that they were well and truly facing an institutional crisis and urged the Council and the Commission to fully bring on board the president of the Parliament in their reflections. He said that without the Parliament, there would be no amendments to the Treaty. He also wanted to know why the European Parliament was not even mentioned in the European Council conclusions.
The leader of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt, said that he was “relieved” and that they could now finally implement a global approach to stabilise the euro. Two things are crucial in the next few weeks: the firewall must be credible (Verhofstadt is calling for figures to be provided on the guarantee to ensure this credibility) and the foundations of genuine economic and budgetary union must be developed. It is therefore necessary that the Commission presents the Green Paper on 'stability bonds' as soon as possible. He welcomed the promotion of Olli Rehn and said that he would like him to be able to participate in eurozone finance ministers' meetings. He concluded with an appeal to the United Kingdom and said that if it wanted to have an influence on decisions it should join the eurozone …
Jan Zahradil, from the ECR Group (Czech Republic) said that the package of decisions was only about gaining some time and that they would still have to tackle the possibility of a massive budgetary transfer, which would create costs that were unsustainable in the long term and which would compromise the accomplishment of the single market. He said that he had the impression that the eurozone was only in the interest of some and not all of its members.
The co-chair of the Greens/EFA Group, Rebecca Harms (Germany), was also sceptical about the European Council results. She said that she was afraid that the recapitalisation would be slow and cases such as the Dexia affair would happen again. With regard to leverage, she was surprised at the Council's confidence in the ability and the willingness of the markets to use this leverage constructively. She pointed out that the situation in Europe was still unhealthy, including the situation in Germany and that prospects for sustainable growth are low and the end of the austerity measures was not yet on the horizon. Harms also denounced the lack of eurozone summit transparency.
Speaking on the behalf of the GUE/ Nordic Green Left, Lothar Bisky from Germany also issued a harsh appraisal of the European Council results, despite the positive message given regarding Greece. He said that citizens' trust could not be re-established easily and that even if leverage allowed for more financial resources to be obtained, what price would have to be paid? This group thinks the summit was about saving the speculators. Speaking on behalf of the EFD Group Bastiaan Belder from the Netherlands said that it was the quality of governance that would help re-establish investor confidence. He also thought that optimism regarding the privatisation programme in Greece was exaggerated.
The French Socialist delegation of the European Parliament considers that the Europeans took a number of measures that were necessary. Catherine Trautmann said that the agreement was good because it existed “because we were afraid of another failure”. Nonetheless, it was easy to see that the European Right, wants to put into place the Euro plus pact, which aims to set the age of retirement at 67 years old, introduce flexibility in the labour market by challenging labour rights and ultimately enable the European Commission to bypass the democratic decisions that take place at the national parliaments, by directly amending the budgetary texts prepared by member states, she said. According to Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, the decisions taken are to be welcomed and the measures agreed on at the European Council “inspire hope that the sovereign debt crisis will be contained and another recession avoided”. (LG/transl.fl)