Brussels, 22/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Monday and Tuesday, representatives from the parliaments of the 25 Member States and two candidate countries met their European Parliament counterparts in Brussels to discuss ways of strengthening growth in the euro-zone. 14 written submissions were sent to the economic and monetary committee, chaired by Pervenche Berès.
Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he believed that the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact of 2005 had brought “positive results” Deficit figures were more in line with reality than before and there was less recourse to non-structural measures, and budgetary policy was now better able to support growth, he said. He said too that review of the Pact had also allowed political consensus to be rebuilt after the process was blocked by France and Germany in 2003. Jean-Philippe Cotis, chief economist at the OECD, summarised, “You have to avoid taking the easy way during the high points in the economic cycle”. He said that, in his opinion, over the last fifteen years, growth in the zone had been hampered because of negative policies which had not been reversed at useful times. Tempering a little Mr Almunia's statement that there had been a definite improvement in the situation of those countries which had undertaken reforms, Mr Cotis remained concerned about the effect of the ageing population on public finances (for Commission report, see EUROPE 9130). Trans-European investment was very profitable, but care had to be shown in the choice of projects, observed Mr Cotis. Noting that 400,000 Europeans currently work in the United States, he said that it was not worth even dreaming about flourishing research in Europe if sufficient funding was not made available beforehand. Member States had to make choices, and they could either follow the example of the United States in making the future better-off pay for their studies or re-deploy 2% of GDP for the purpose. At the moment, for political reasons, the large countries of continental Europe were doing neither the one nor the other, he regretted.
Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends argued strongly for Europe to launch the third industrial revolution and be an energy spearhead in it. This presentation was of great interest to several MEPs because of the possibilities it offered to move towards a common energy policy. According to Mr Rifkin, the next stage for European integration was a common energy regime leading us out of the oil era and reconfiguring energy networks in Europe. He said it was a worthwhile objective for a legislator and the finest inheritance he/she could leave. The race, he felt, would be between Japan, which is very advanced, and Europe. If funding for such projects was expensive, think about the costs of increasing oil prices, he told the parliamentarians, explaining that, according to a study by the University of Padua, between 2002, when oil cost 19 dollars a barrel, and 2006, when prices reached 60 dollars, the EU bill increased by 381 billion dollars, and remained “exponential”.