European Union “Closer to Resolving its Economic Crisis”
October 28th, 2011
The European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said that the EU “is closer to resolving its financial and economic crisis” thanks to the agreements reached at the euro zone summit in Brussels, which included putting 50% of the Greek debt in the hands of banks, the strengthening of the bailout fund and the recapitalisation of the banking sector.
“Europe is closer to resolving its financial and economic crisis and returning to a growth path. The euro zone summit took solid and substantial steps which should allow Europe to move on,” said Barroso before the plenary session of the European Parliament to explain the covenants of the summit.
Barroso also announced that they are to appoint the Economic Affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, as Commission Vice-President and responsible for the euro. He claimed that this is “the best way to ensure the independence, objectivity and effectiveness in exercising the Commission’s responsibility for coordinating, monitoring and enforcement in the area of economic governance”.
Europa Press reported that the EC President again called for the creation of a tax on international financial transactions and reiterated that the EU will defend this proposal at the G-20 summit in Cannes on the 3rd and 4th of November.
“I think the protests we have seen in recent weeks, from Madrid to Manhattan, show that this is the type of action that people expect from their leaders to ensure that the financial sector contributes to society,” he maintained, drawing applause from the MEPs.
For his part, the permanent European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, said that the agreements of the Euro Group ministers constitutes a “crucial political step that still requires a political and legal follow-up.”
“I am convinced that the markets will give us the time we need when they see a direction and clear determination,” said Van Rompuy.
“The EU is often accused of coming too late with insufficient agreements. The markets have the luxury of moving at the speed of the click of a mouse,” lamented the EC President.
“The demand to always go faster is not credible. In politics, it takes time to convince everyone and link diverse interests in a solid package. Time is the cement of politicians,” said Van Rompuy who, however, has defended new rules to expedite decisions and take more preventive measures.
“The euro zone has adopted an ambitious and credible response to the debt crisis,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his press conference after the summit, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “I believe we were able to meet expectations and we did what we had to do”.
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