Debate on Eurozone recommendation during the EP plenary session in Strasbourg. Statements by Maria Joao RODRIGUES (S&D, PT), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Elisa FERREIRA (S&D, PT), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), and Jeroen DIJSSELBLOEM, President of the Eurogroup,

RODRIGUES, Maria João (S&D, PT)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

Eurozone (T)

DIJSSELBLOEM, Jeroen

de LANGE, Esther (EPP, NL)

GOULARD, Sylvie (ALDE, FR)

FERREIRA, Elisa (S&D, PT, EC)

Eurozone recommendation: MEPs debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Maria Jo&#227;o RODRIGUES (S&amp;D, PT), When it comes to macroeconomic imbalances, we need to ask in particular member states with a surplus in the current account to provide more effort to invest, for their own benefit. Because otherwise the macro imbalances will rely only on the effort of member states which have a deficit. And it means for them to reduce wages, demand, and jobs.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), The President of the Eurogroup said rather vaguely that the European Parliament could make full use of its prerogatives according to the treaty. I think the solution is more a middle ground; we should be able to have discussions on convergence and guidelines and on the main lines of policy, under co-decision, but let's be honest: as long as member states are partly financially responsible for bailing out other countries, the national parliaments need to have a voice in adopting policies; we cannot do that only at the European level.

SOUNDBITE (French), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), At the very moment the COP21 is coming to an end, we should focus on the energy shift and investments for the energy shift. It is obviously necessary in regard to the climate change, but it is also a geostrategic challenge if we want to stop depending on Putin or Saudi Arabia, a macroeconomic challenge if we want to stop spending billions on buying fossil fuels energy, and it is finally a challenge in creating jobs, as everyone knows that renewable energies are way more job intensive than traditional energy sources.

SOUNDBITE (French), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Euro cannot exist without a powerful mechanism for rebalancing the Eurozone. This has to go through the private sector: that is the banking union, which we know is still incomplete, and we know it will be hard to have the guarantee for deposits. But we also need powerful mechanisms in the public sector, that would be a common tax system, a Eurozone budget, but also an embryo for common social security policy. And about all of this, we hear very little.

SOUNDBITE (English), Elisa FERREIRA (S&amp;D, PT), The future of the EU, and in particular the future of the Eurozone and its acceptance by its citizens, depends on this policy change, and change means that the Eurozone cannot in 2016 pursue a neutral aggregate fiscal stance, as once again is proposed by Commission and Council. It is suicidal to ignore this fact, and pursue in this neutral stance.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), MEP 7 - 8th parliamentary terms, As I was the one to introduce the idea of an economic dialogue in the sixth pack, I would say that this result is an encouragement. I'm sure that those who participated at the time can remember that the member states were strongly against this "horrible" idea of a public discussion between the European institutions and the member states. So, an encouragement to pursue, even when facing strong opposition, as in the end it is rewarding to be able to innovate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeroen DIJSSELBLOEM, President of the Eurogroup, One of the lessons that we should learn, over the course of the history of the European Union, is that we should finish our projects, and not set up a framework and leave it half-finished. So let's finish the Banking Union. And I'm convinced that the Banking Union, setting it up and finishing it, will for economic recovery be more important than any other project at the moment. So that's what we should do. And now we know what we need to do: we need to fight the risks that are remaining in our banks and we need to make sure that it becomes more solid.