Hearing of Joaquin ALMUNIA (Spain), Commissioner designate for Economic and Monetary Affairs at the EP Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in Brussels.

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

hearing

ALMUNIA, Joaquin (ES, EC)

2004 Commissioners' hearings (T)

Hearing of Joaquin ALMUNIA (Spain), Commissioner designate for Economic and Monetary Affairs: extracts

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, "The major challenge for the EU is the lack of growth and employment"

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs,"It is of the utmost importance to put back the Lisbon Strategy on the track as it was set in 2000... There are too many priorities, when the most important one should be growth

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs,"The Aquiles heel of the Lisbon Strategy is the lack of implementation at the National level."

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, " The fiscal framework does not have incentives for prudent behaviour when we see good economic climate, nor its strict enough regarding the debt criteria in the Treaty...".

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, The credibility of the pact must be restored.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs,"I do not intend to govern the Economic and Monetary Union just based on sanctions and threats...It should be managed in a political way."

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, "We need to pay special attention to statistics. Effective budget surveillance is only possible if you have reliable statistics."

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, The rules must be clear but they also have to have some sort of bearing on rational economic policy...."

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, In the case of a country like Greece which receives cohesion funds. If they can't maintain the public finances below the 3% , it might lead the Commission to conclude that it should suspend the Cohesion funds.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Joaquin ALMUNIA, Commissioner designate in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, Without a participation of the National institutions in the actual process of thinking and monitoring the implementation of these economic orientation, its very difficult that coordination of economic and monetary policies..."