Brussels, 29/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Speaking just before the European Council on 1-2 March, Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP Group at the European Parliament, stated that “decisions at the European Council must be transposed into strong actions as soon as possible. The EU needs quick and bold concrete actions.”
According to Daul, the EU has made significant efforts to re-establish confidence in the solvency of member states in trouble: “Thanks to the leadership of the our EPP representatives at the helm of the European Council, European Commission and European Parliament we can say now that Europe is on the right track. We still need to do more. First, we have learned that we cannot buy growth through debt any longer. We need to do more to create the conditions for our longer term prosperity, to prompt the most needed reforms, stability and sustainable growth.” He welcomed the joint letter signed by a majority of EPP heads of government, in which various ideas were put forward for restoring European citizens' trust in Europe's ability to create strong and sustainable growth. “But most of these proposals have already been accepted in the framework of the 2020 strategy, and we now expect the member states to act!” The EPP Group strongly believes that growth and jobs will only be achieved in a sustainable way through competitiveness, enforcing the single market, less bureaucracy for entrepreneurs and support of SMEs. He concluded by criticising the French Socialist party for refusing to support the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). (LC/transl.fl)