First exchange of views on the Economic governance package, in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Brussels

exchange of views

economic governance (T)

GIEGOLD, Sven (Greens/EFA, DE)

GOULARD, Sylvie (ALDE, FR)

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

WORTMANN-KOOL, Corien (EPP, NL)

HAGLUND, Carl (ALDE, FI)

FEIO, Diogo (EPP, PT)

Economic governance package: extracts from the first exchange of views

SOUNDBITE (English), Corien WORTMANN-KOOL (EPP, NL), rapporteur, The strengthening of the Stability and Growth Pact proposed by the Commission can be really judged as a strengthening. But the question for us is: Is this sufficient strengthening? Is there economic surveillance in the Commission&rsquo;s proposal and then I of course point specifically on the preventive arm: is this strong enough?

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Diogo FEIO (EPP, PT), rapporteur, There will be an analysis carried out to the development of the debt following calculations, nominal growth rates are going to be taken into account. Where it is understood that could affect to the reduction of the debt. And I think that these are all going to be important subjects for debate. Basically all of these measures will be aimed at bolstering stability.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Elisa FERREIRA (ALDE, PT), rapporteur, So it&rsquo;s very important that in the outside world, in the public eye it&rsquo;s clear that this cannot be closed without the Parliament&rsquo;s voice being heard.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), rapporteur, We can&rsquo;t disappoint citizens we can&rsquo;t put economic and governmental labels on something that simply isn&rsquo;t. You have to coordinate economic policy at a national level, too. And once you have that coordination of economic policy at national level, then it becomes very difficult to decide whether you take a discretionary decision or an automatic decision kicks in. Now normally people don&rsquo;t like that, we are all here to play politics and we are bringing in a judgment call. Member states don&rsquo;t want that political threshold so we end up with a system of coordination, but if that&rsquo;s what we have you need an automatic mechanism with a system of coordination and that is something you will have to explain more.

SOUNDBITE (English), Carl Christoffer HAGLUND (ALDE, FI), rapporteur, My judgment is that people in Europe, especially in the Euro zone, do expect us to come up with something ambitious. And therefore in order to sort of show both to the people and actually also to the financial markets that we are actually able and capable of doing things in Europe. We do need to make a position that is firm enough.

SOUNDBITE (English), Vicky FORD (ECR, UK), rapporteur, So I very much see the need to improve the level of public data available and we often say in the UK &ldquo;sunlight is the best disinfectant&rdquo; and so I think this is important to get more information and in a transparent way.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven GIEGOLD (Greens/EFA, DE), I think the starting point of this package must be the real need for stronger economic cooperation and coordination based in the experience of the crisis which have occurred. So we are not fighting imbalances which are there or not there but which have actually occurred. So we must I think and that should be one of the building blocks of a potential consensus here - and has already sketched out in the Feio report - is that the new rules they have to be encompassing and they have to be reflecting the crisis which we have seen now.