During the plenary session (14-17 Juin 2010) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on the preparation for the European Council meeting (17 June 2010) with the Council and the Commission.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

BARROSO, Jose Manuel (PT, EC President)

LOPEZ GARRIDO, Diego (ES)

European Council meeting 17 June 2010 (T)

Preparation for the European Council meeting (17 June 2010): extracts from the Council and Commission statements

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, What the EU council proposes is an economic strategy for the next decade in Europe where we have these measures of fiscal consolidation which are essential and along with them we will have this growth and quality job strategy.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, On the one hand the Euis suggesting fiscal consolidation which will be reflected in budgetary discipline so that there will be a whole serie of austerity plans.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, Right from the beginning there was concern in the Eu to move towards a real regulation of financial markets and to have real supervision b y European authorities of the functioning of the financial services.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, There is a third aspect to the strategy which is that of sustainable growth and the creation of quality jobs.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, So we want to achieve something which has been lost to a certain extend in recent times in the Eu , that is competitiveness, the 2020 strategy is to solve the problem of competitiveness in the Eu and that is why we are establishing objectives, and I hope that these targets, fight against proverty , and eduction, etc can now be covered in this European Council.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, The 4th fundamental element of this economic strategy which the EU Council is going to establish solidly is a major political and economic strategy for the coming years so called economic governance of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diego LOPEZ GARRIDO, Spanish Presidency of the Council, That is the step forward to an economic Union not just a monetary union , a real economic Union that is worthy of the name and the monetary Union has been here for years but there has never been an economic Union and this is what we will endavour to establish a real EU Economic Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jose Manuel BARROSO, President of the EC, I hope the EU COuncil will give backing to the EC proposals to strengthen fiscal discipline and macro economic surveillance which in the meantime has been discussed in the task force led by President Van Rompuy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jose Manuel BARROSO, President of the EC, The most important priority now is growth. growth is the answer bu not any kind of growth, we need intelligent ,sustainble and inclusive growth and I want to underline this last point, inclusive growth because I think it would not been fair that the most vulnerable in our societies , those who were not at the origine of this crisis would be those who have to pay much more during this crisis.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jose Manuel BARROSO, President of the EC, For this growth to happen we need fiscal consolidation and strcutural reform . it is obvious that without serious efforts in these areas confidence will not be back and without confidence we can not have growth.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jose Manuel BARROSO, President of the EC, We need agreement on financial supervision before the summer to back up our intentions with action and we need a clear signal from the EU COuncil that the forthcoming Commissions' proposals on fiancial markets regulation will be adopted by the end of 2011.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jose Manuel BARROSO, President of the EC, This is why I will continue to call for a comon framework for a bank levy at a global level . it is only fair that the financial sector who was responsible for the crisis makes a contribution to the crisis as I have said before I am personnally convinced that we also need to work on a financial transaction tax, or a financial activities' tax.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jose Manuel BARROSO, President of the EC, But the reality is that the community method to the test of time because it is more adaptable than some might think. I believe that European want us to concentrate on substance they don't want more divisive quesitons on more institutions or processes they want results, this is also what the rest of the world is expecting from us. In fact we are at a specific moment in time where the Europeans, themarkets, global community are asking Europe to be better coordinated, better organised , to achieve greater level of convergence and coherence. this is why I think we need to work through the institutions that we haved and use them to their full potential.