Strasbourg, 16/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The positive message on Wednesday afternoon from the European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Pedro Solbes, to MEPs was that almost a decade after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, the euro is now in our pockets and in our citizens' affections since they welcomed it with enthusiasm and responsibility. The actual physical presence of the euro gives the EU a change to make new progress in the European integration process. As Mr Solbes as made a habit of doing since the changeover, he briefly updated MEPs on the situation, noting that to date, we can say that at least nine out of ten payments are in euro and despite a few isolated incidents, there had not been systematic prices rises - there had even been a few roundings down. The successful launch of the euro was the conclusion of one chapter but was not the end of the process since the fruit of its launch would now have to be harvested by stepping up and extending economic policy co-ordination by making the necessary structural reforms to increase growth and employment in Europe, asserted Mr Solbes. He said economic policy co-ordination should be stepped up through an analysis of the economic situation and policy mix on the basis of clear perspectives for the eurozone, using the statistical tools that were currently being improved; greater transparency in achieving consensus on the appropriate policies; and providing to the other Member States and the Commission information on the main economic policy measures to be adopted in the near future by the different Member States, so countries can benefit from the views of other Member States in a peer review process.
During the debate, German Christian Democrat Karl von Wogau (who has announced that he will be leaving the EP's Economic and Monetary Committee after twenty-two years to become a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee) focused on the need to respect the Stability Pact, noting that it was ironic that his own country, one of the main promoters of the Pact, now had doubts about it. He also stressed the need for Monetary Union to be followed by Political Union. German Social Democrat Christa Randzio-Plath (whom President Cox had called one of the mothers of the euro) said that the euro was also a success for the European Parliament since it had been the Parliament's 'first choice" and the EP had been calling for a single market and a single currency for the last twenty years. She also praised the role played by Mr von Wogau. She insisted that the euro was a success not just because markets accepted it, but also because citizens accepted it, adding that the DM was a currency with a proud history but that three years of Monetary Union were now also promising to provide a stable future with the new currency. Ms Randzio-Plath called on the Barcelona Summit to replace the dogmatism of the Stability and Growth Pact with a solid policy to achieve both social and monetary stability.
Dutch Liberal Jules Maaten said that traders were the real "heroes" of the launch and the initial success now had to be built on. The Democratici di Sinistra MEP Giorgio Ruffolo said this symbolic success would not have an immediate impact on the economy but should soon allow stability again and help Europe detach its economy from the US cycle. Benedetto Della Vedova (Lista Bonino) said that euro would be strong if Europe was strong and it was good economic policies that mattered, more than economic policy co-ordination. William Abitbol (Europe of Democracies and Differences) said that a currency without a state caused problems and called for victims of counterfeiters to receive compensation. Georges Berthu (Mouvement pour la France) admitted that the operation had been well prepared while Eurosceptic Conservative Charles Tannock said he had been quite surprised at the good launch which meant progress towards integration, which he obviously did not want. He asked whether if the UK decided to join the euro, it would have to wait for two years (as required before joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, Ed). Mr Solbes gave an ambiguous response saying the accession conditions for pre-in countries were exactly the same as for other countries and all remaining countries would be dealt with in the same way. The Front National MEP Carl Lang was more radical - the euro launch had not really worked as expected and the right of countries to demand their national currency back tomorrow had to be noted.
One of the main factors behind the success of the euro will be the implementation of the Lisbon process and keeping inflation down, said Mr Solbes. Was this the beginning of a European economic government or an inevitable move towards greater political integration?
That's another question, said Mr Solbes, adding that economic policy co-ordination didn't mean unification. Responding to some MEPs' concerns, he said that the euro gave great security guarantees against counterfeiting and the price rises noted since its implementation were not significant. If we've learned one thing from its launch, he said with a smile, it is that another time, we probably wouldn't choose January 1 as the launch date.