Brussels, 11/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Wednesday 11 December, MEPs turned out to be fairly divided over the economic situation and progress made on economic and monetary union (EMU). During the debate on preparations for the European Council to be held next week, however, they stood more united over defence and Ukraine.
Economy and finance. Joseph Daul (EPP, France) said that Europe needed strong ambition. “When we laid the foundation for genuine economic union, we were ambitious”, he said. Everything is not yet perfect, but we are seeing small signs of economic recovery, he added.
The situation in Europe is not as rosy as the Council and Commission would have us believe, objected Hannes Swoboda (S&D, Austria). Unfortunately, neither the Council nor the Commission are changing their policies, he added. “The more Olli Rehn talks, the more interviews he gives in the countries, the more he is reinforcing the anti-European sentiment in these countries”, said the Social Democrat leader, who added that he had no wish to intervene in the “beauty contest between Mr Rehn and Mr Verhofstadt” in the selection of the Liberal candidate at the European elections. But the policies have to be changed, he argued. Why not make use of the €1.7 billion in fines handed down to the banks to fight unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, Swoboda proposed. He lamented the fact that, as regards banking union, inter-governmentalism is holding sway over a genuinely European policy. He also stressed the delays in social union, particularly as regards social criteria in the reinforcement of economic and monetary union. Certain countries, such as the United Kingdom, want to restrict the freedom of movement within the EU and create new divisions between domestic and foreign nationals. Swoboda said that what was needed was a proper common strategy to fight poverty.
In the view of Guy Verhofstadt (ADLE, Belgium), “imposing pensions reform or reforms of the employment market on the member states will do nothing but create resistance and more antipathy towards Europe. Instead of this, we need convergence in our economic, budgetary and social policies based on a common framework applicable to all member states, at least in the eurozone”. He added that the EU leaders should “invoke the 'Maidan' spirit and agree on the final building blocks of proper banking union, together with a resolution mechanism funded by the banks themselves, rather than the taxpayers”.
“We need a common economic and budgetary policy”, said the German MEP Rebecca Harms, president of the Greens/EFA group. She added that what the Commission is proposing “is the opposite”. “Anyone who wants the story of Greece to happen again has only to go along with the proposals” of the Commission, she said.
Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Maros Sefcovic said that “we must consolidate banking union by setting in place a single resolution mechanism and a resolution fund”. The member states hope to reach an agreement this month (see other article). “Progress was made yesterday evening at the Council, I am convinced that an agreement will be achieved before the meeting of the European Council”, he said. He reiterated that the European Council wishes to conclude this dossier before the European elections of May 2014. He also argued in favour of an even more credible and consistent system to coordinate economic policy in Europe, together with “effective solidarity”. In the framework of the reflection on the reinforcement of the EMU, the European Council will continue the reflection on contractual arrangements and the associated solidarity mechanisms. The aim of this is to ensure that there are effective and timely structural reforms and a way to improve governance (follow-up of country-specific recommendations, financial incentives to support implementation of the reforms), said the commissioner. The Commission hopes that the European Council can flesh out next week some basic principles on this issue, which would form the basis for further work to be taken forward during the first half of 2014.
Defence. On defence, Daul pointed out that there are countries which spend less than 2% of their GDP on defence. “If Europe cannot organise itself a defence level, we will no longer exist in the new world order. We have been naive”, he said. The world is changing, Europe has a role and a duty to be on the ground, he said, referring to massacres in Central Africa, amongst other things. In addition, the United States takes the view that the Balkans come under the responsibility of the EU. “If we do not assume this responsibility, the Russians will do it for us”, one only needs to see what is happening in the neighbourhood of the EU (Ukraine, Moldova). “During the next legislative period, we must work to reinforce our common security and defence policy”, Daul stressed. He also argued in favour of a reinforcement of the measures to protect our borders. This means reinforcing our capacity to respond, both on a military level and with joint forces. We have a fledgeling Eurocorps, he concluded.
“We need more European efforts in defence. The USA is engaging more in the Pacific and less in Europe, therefore it is up to us to intervene”, said Daul. We need to fight terrorism, he added. Synergies can help make savings in national budgets, he pointed out. There are 6,000 jobs at stake at EADS, because national governments are not working together, he said.
“In times of austerity, we cannot afford the luxury of supporting 28 different national defence strategies. We should take as our basis the Saint-Malo agreement of 10 years ago and create a viable and effective European defence pillar within the NATO Alliance”, said Verhofstadt. The EU has a budget which corresponds to 42% of American expenditure, but it is capable of carrying out just 10% of the operations of the US, he added. This makes Europe between four and five times less effective than the Americans on a military level.
“We risk putting the cart before the horse”, said Harms. “Wanting to buy drones or other equipment with EU funds is not on”, she exclaimed, given that there is already not enough money in the EU coffers to fight unemployment.
“When it comes to defence in Europe, the right approach should be one of cooperation, capability and compatibility. That is the approach that Europe has developed over 60 years, under the NATO umbrella”, said the leader of the British Conservatives, Martin Callanan. He takes the view that NATO is an ally which has proved its worth. “Yet many here seek to undermine it with EU bureaucracy through the CSDP”, he said. He accused certain parties of “seeking to duplicate its roles in order to create an EU army through the back door”. He spoke out against plans to create a common defence policy in Europe: the European countries do not have the resources for that (in addition, just four countries would pick up 70% of the tab: France, Germany, Italy and the UK), and he believes that the European countries will be reluctant to hand over command and control of their assets to an EU Operational Headquarters.
“We have to work to achieve a more consistent European security and defence policy, basically for three reasons”, said Commissioner Sefcovic. He made the following comments: - it is possible to improve the resources through greater cooperation (currently, more than 75% of investments in defence equipment are made at national level); - duplications must be avoided; - the defence sector in Europe employs 400,000 people and is behind 960,000 jobs in Europe indirectly, with a turnover of €96 billion in 2012 and €23 billion in exports in 2011.
Ukraine. Daul regretted that Ukraine has not signed the association agreement. “This refusal has led the Ukrainian people to mobilise massively to defend a free Ukraine which fully respects fundamental rights”, he said. He condemned all forms of violence against the Ukrainian citizens. “The situation is grave. I call for a European mediation mission at the highest political level, like during the 'Orange Revolution', to find transparent and democratic solutions”. He observed that it is in Ukraine that the most European flags are currently to be seen, something “which you see less and less in our various countries”.
“We will fight for those who are demonstrating in favour of European values in Ukraine”, declared Swoboda.
Verhofstadt spoke of the contrast between the European spirit surging through Kiev and the growing scepticism in the member states. “I pay tribute to the citizens of Ukraine, whose passion for the EU is the best response to the scepticism and Europhobia in many of our member states”, he said.
“In Kiev, we can see one of the major weaknesses of the EU: the absence of a uniform policy to act and a policy towards Russia which is not the right one”, said Harms. She expressed her hopes that those demonstrating in Kiev for democracy and liberty will not end up having to pay the price for this weakness on the part of Europe.
On behalf of the Commission, Sefcovic said: “The people of Ukraine have clearly demonstrated that they support Ukraine's European choice. Our offer to Ukraine to sign the association agreement remains on the table. But the necessary conditions outlined in Council conclusions need to be met. In the political current tensions need to have a political and peaceful solution”. (LC)