Pervenche BERES (S&D, FR), rapporteur, and Wolf KLINZ (ALDE, DE),Chair of the CRIS Committee, speak about the report by the Special Committee on Financial, Economic and Social Crisis (CRIS) during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

BERÈS, Pervenche (S&D, FR)

financial supervision (T)

KLINZ, Wolf (ALDE, DE)

Committee on financial, economic and social crisis

CRIS Committee report: statements by Pervenche BERES (S&D, FR), rapporteur, and Wolf KLINZ (ALDE, DE), Chair of the CRIS Committee

Exterior shot of the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France, 1 shot

SOUNDBITE (in French) Pervenche BER&Egrave;S (S&amp;D, FR), rapporteur: Since we have created the &euro; we say there is a monetary governance and economic governance is weak, we see today the results and we need to amend them urgently.

SOUNDBITE (in French) Pervenche BER&Egrave;S (S&amp;D, FR), rapporteur: In regard to the central federal bank model we have a problem of responsibilities in the guidance of the economic policy in the Euro zone; we see that we are almost stuck in a childish functioning of our economical policy. Taking into account the importance of the euro zone this is not reasonable. So I suggest for the guidance of the economical policy we should aim towards a Ms or Ms Euro, on the same basis as the High Representative of Foreign Affairs for the EU, Ms Ashton. Somebody with a foot in the COM and one in the Council, a Vice President who is guiding and chairs the ECOFIN and the Euro group, who represents the Euro towards the exterior.

SOUNDBITE (in French) Pervenche BER&Egrave;S (S&amp;D, FR), rapporteur: We need to find imitative mechanisms so that MS find their interest in coordinating their economical policy, that can't only be a mechanism of sanctions, of discipline, it should motivate MS to go towards a common budgetary strategy. That is the case for such MS who have a positive balance and also for those who are in deficit, that includes a shared diagnostic system and define together what each of them need to do.

SOUNDBITE (in French) Pervenche BER&Egrave;S (S&amp;D, FR), rapporteur: We need to everything we possibly can to alert our minds and that when facing the crisis we understand the sole exit for the EU is to be pro active. So we need to come back to the magic of the EU, a COM that uses its right to propose and to take initiative.

SOUNDBITE (in German) Wolf KLINZ, (ALDE, DE), Chairman of the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis: We have to make sure that we get a clear package of rules without being softened, that applies a mechanism of sanctions, with a first approach of name and shame and in loosing its right of vote, extended to the possibility to shorten financial EU contributions in funds, as in the agriculture fund, cohesion fund, up to a final measure that could include a financial punishment, which is more of a theoretical dimension, as such MS with a difficult financial situation would not be able to apply to that.

SOUNDBITE (in German) Wolf KLINZ, (ALDE, DE), Chairman of the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis: We need for the future a crisis resolution mechanism in the EU, this should be created in a way that we do not need to start over and over again. We should avoid acting from ex-post and more from ex-ante position. Secondly, we need to realise that for a common monetary and economical policy there should be a harmonised common fiscal budgetary policy, a better coordinated economical policy. That concerns as well economical competition, where the Member states should get close and not drift further apart. Today we see that those countries that joined the Euro are not getting close, they drift further apart.

SOUNDBITE (in German) Wolf KLINZ, (ALDE, DE), Chairman of the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis: The demand to give more competences to Eurostat is debated since a long time, especially the task of verifying the delivered statistics and to investigate. The COM should play a bigger role in the early creation process of the budgetary programs of the MS, but the finalisation of the budget is the right of the National Parliaments, but it should be guaranteed that the timing and the basis of information, like the economical growth perspectives, that those references are based on identical procedures.

Opening of the press conference of Pervenche BERES (S&amp;D, FR), rapporteur, and Wolf KLINZ (ALDE, DE), Chair of the CRIS Committee , 2 shot