In this special edition, MEP Paolo De Castro looks back on 2011 and Elisabeth Lasky of the European Citizen Action Service explains the Citizens' Initiative.

7 Days: 2011 Review

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15800714/m004-0015-en_mf.srt

Hello and welcome  to '7 Days in Europe'.

This is our last programme of the year,  so we're going to look back on 2011.

Paolo De Castro is here  to help me do this. Hello.

You're president of  the EP's Agriculture Committee,

you're in the Socialists  and Democrats Group,

but above all you're an expert  on European matters.

Before we start looking at the things  that have characterised this year,

let's start with our quick-fire  'yes or no' questions.

Is it too late to save the eurozone?  -No.

Do you know how to calm the markets?  -More trust...

Is creating a more cohesive tax system  and labour market good?

Should the Central Bank print more money  to calm the markets?

Will it need  an international rescue plan?

Does the crisis risk compromising  things like the CAP reform?

Could genetically modified organisms  help provide food in the future?

Time's up.  We'll look at my other questions later.

Thank you  for joining in our little game.

Before we start our discussion,  we've decided to talk about a subject

that has been the central issue  in this Parliament.

Among the most debated issues  in the EP,

the economic and financial crisis  is the clear winner since the 2009 elections.

The aim was always to rectify  the situation and avoid future crises.

Let's look at the economic  governance package's adoption:

Also called the 'six pack',  these six new laws were finally adopted

For the first time, the EP was involved  in defining the single currency's rules,

and negotiated on an equal footing  with the Council representing the States.

Sylvie Goulard, who has managed  this dossier from the start, explains.

We wanted to learn from the difficulties  experienced in a state like Greece.

It was in too much debt  so we are striving to have more discipline.

We also looked to learn from what's  happened in Spain or Ireland,

where the state had managed  finances properly

but property bubbles led  to too much private debt.

Criteria already existed to govern  the EU economy, like the Stability Pact,

which controls public deficits  and sovereign debts.

But new ways to put pressure on  rule-breakers were needed.

There's this idea that we must  be much stricter beforehand:

When the EC says something isn't right,  we must ensure it's automatic.

The Pact is therefore to be revised  with better prevention mechanisms

allowing the EC  to verify Member States' budgets

and sanction mechanisms  for those flouting the rules.

the state must be able to defend itself  in Parliament.

Will things really change with a whole new  battery of measures? Some doubt it.

We thought that some of the six-pack  elements are socially unbalanced.

We are in favour of budgetary discipline,  that is absolutely clear.

We are also prepared to accept cuts in  the public budgets, but which kind of cuts?

if we had to summarise 2011 in a word,  it would be 'crisis'.

Let me ask you, as a European observer  who's been around for a long time,

if we'd acted earlier could we have  stopped the eurozone crisis spreading,

or was it something  we had to go through?

Yes, definitely,  we were afraid of acting too quickly

because our view was too short-term  and closely linked to national interests.

We need to view this crisis as a unique  problem but also a unique opportunity

because we can only resolve it  if we work together.

It's not a problem for individual countries,  but for Europe.

Has what's been done up till now...  You've voted on various things...

This 'six pack',  more automatic sanctions, austerity...

For you is this...  -A step forward, but not enough.

We must realise that we need  a more cohesive Europe.

for those who were brave enough  to launch this extraordinary tool

without a common  monetary and fiscal policy.

The crisis is pushing us  towards completing this journey

and we need to provide answers  for new generations,

for a continent that can only solve  the problems that we face if it is united.

The only reservation  accompanying these steps forward -

is that two or three countries  make the decisions,

and community  shouldn't mean loss of sovereignty...

It's a vision  of intergovernmental European politics.

That's why we need  a stronger European Parliament,

a more European, more common,  less intergovernmental vision.

We invented the idea of community  but we distance ourselves from it

without realising that  the self-interest of individual countries,

a vision limited  to an individual country,

stops us from moving forward  in the way we did before.

Fiscal union of 26 countries?  Isn't this just a dream?

We need to take it slowly,  we can't do everything at once,

but I believe this crisis is showing us  that we need a common solution.

even though they weren't  what we in Parliament would have wanted,

have shown, in the most recent  EU summits, that we can act positively.

Parliament has been excluded somewhat  after the EU summit