The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament exchange views with Elena SALGADO, President of the Council (ECOFIN) on Greece's stability programme, the stability of the Euro and the establishment of a European Stabilisation Mechanism, in Brussels.

exchange of views

EU - Greece (T)

Strasbourg

meeting

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

economic situation in Greece (T)

GOULARD, Sylvie (ALDE, FR)

ZALBA BIDEGAIN, Pablo (EPP, ES)

SALGADO MENDEZ, Elena (ES)

Greece's stability programme: extracts from the exchange of views with Elena SALGADO, President of the Council (ECOFIN)

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Elena SALGADO MENDEZ, President of the Council (ECOFIN), Spanish Minister for Economy and Fiinance, Yesterday Greece received 14.5 billion Euros from Euro zone countries, not all countries yet because some have not yet completed the procedure, but countries that have participated have needed to pay a little bit more but they will be compensated for that.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Elena SALGADO MENDEZ, President of the Council (ECOFIN), Spanish Minister for Economy and Fiinance, A creditors agreement which allows the Commission to act on behalf of the States in order to administer and organise the loans, The loan agreement between Member States as represented by the Commission and the CFEW in case of Germany and the Bank of Greece on the case of Greece.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Elena SALGADO MENDEZ, President of the Council (ECOFIN), Spanish Minister for Economy and Fiinance, The conditionality includes specific aspects of fiscal policy , financial stability, and stuructural policy all intended to increase the possibility for adjustment in Greece's economy and to improve its medium term competitiveness.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Elena SALGADO MENDEZ, President of the Council (ECOFIN), Spanish Minister for Economy and Fiinance, The corner stone of the mechanism is fiscal adjustment in order to recover market confidence , to be able to bring the dynamic of deficit and debt under control, the aim there is not only to ensure that the deficit does not exceed 3% in 2014 the deadline laid down by ECOFIN but also the debt GE&uml;P ratio to start going down from 2013 onwards.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pablo ZALBA BIDEGAIN (EPP, ES), What we need to ensure is just not a rotating presidency that deals with these issues but some continuity is achieved, so that the measures can come full circle.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), With what has been set up there is lot of intergovernmentalism and unanimity but I am not sure that this is the right signal to reassure the markets and to give our citizens the impression that we have acted according to the situation, so we would like you to inject some more Europe into this very burning subject.<br /><br />

SOUNDBITE (French), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), We expect specific results from you. we can not keep saying after the crisis that the time is not right for ambitious reforms , I can not go back to my voters and all my colleagues fromthe 4 groups absolutly agree on this package, the Greens , the Socialist the EPP and the Liberals, none of us can go back to our voters and look to them in the eye and say that the Council has some problems in keeping an institution in Paris or in London with 40 people working there or not having direct supervision at European level so it is the Single Market that is at play, its our credibility that is at stake

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Elena SALGADO MENDEZ, President of the Council (ECOFIN), Spanish Minister for Economy and Fiinance, We want to reach an agreement with the European Parliament to set up a supervision system before the 1st of January of 2011 that is something that all countries agreed to unanimously . we came to this agreement because we recognise the issue was not necessarily just the shortcomings in the financial supervision mechanisms but also the fact that to reach a European monetary Union we need European economic governance. that is the lesson we learned , the lesson to coordinate and regulate better.