European Parliamentary Week - The European Semester Cycles 2014 and 2015: Review of the EU2020 strategy and priorities for the 2015 European Semester Cycle - extracts from the addresses by Roberto GUALTIERI (S&amp;D,IT) , Chair of the EP ECON Committee, Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Dariusz ROSATI (EPP, PL), Rapporteur Sergio GUTI&Eacute;RREZ PRIETO (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur, Andreas SCHWAB (EPP, DE) and&nbsp;Ivo OLIVEIRA, MP from Portuguese National Assembly

Brussels

statement

GUALTIERI, Roberto (S&D, IT)

KATAINEN, Jyrki (FI, EC)

SCHWAB, Andreas (EPP, DE)

GUTIÉRREZ PRIETO, Sergio (S&D, ES)

ROSATI, Dariusz (EPP, PL)

European Semester (T)

European Parliamentary Week - The European Semester Cycles 2014 and 2015: Review of the EU2020 strategy and priorities for the 2015 European Semester Cycle

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, "As you know, the Investment Plan is built upon the following triangle: 1st) the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI); this House is currently examining the draft regulation and we're looking forward to productive discussions in order to agree this regulation as soon as possible. The 2nd) the pipeline of investments and the creation of the Technical Advisory Hub; the feedback I get travelling across all member states is that this is a key element in order to match investments and projects. This 2 pillars should help kick-start both public and private investments; especially in countries that have particularly investment gaps, we will closely monitor implementation in the context of European Semester".

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, (on the third pillar of the Investment Plan) "For the investment initiative, to have durable effects we need EU and national reforms to expand and strengthen the single market. The concrete agenda has yet to be defined but we know already that the Energy Union and the Digital Single Market will play key roles and of course, when it comes to translating these into concrete recommendations the (European) Semester needs to play its role".

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberto GUALTIERI (S&amp;D, IT), Chair of the ECON EP Committee, "We really indeed are very committed in assuring a fast-track finalisation of the regulation on the EFSI, we are now finalising the agreement within the Committee so we are sure we are going to be pro-active and we will focus on getting this regulation approved on time; we count on your cooperation to discuss to try to make this plan working".

SOUNDBITE (English), Dariusz ROSATI (EPP, PL), Rapporteur on the Annual Growth Survey (AGS), "The main task of the 'growth friendly' fiscal consolidation is precisely to rebuild confidence in the member states. Without reducing or getting under control the excessive debt levels, of course one cannot speak about regaining confidence and putting those economies on a rapid growth path".

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Sergio GUTI&#201;RREZ PRIETO (S&amp;D, ES), Rapporteur on European Semester from the EMPL Committee, "We believe that reforms of the Stability and Growth Pact are important but we still believe there is too much austerity, too much fiscal consolidation and that can still be reviewed. So we say that we need to be more flexible and the question that we ask is whether this fiscal consolidation is really capable of creating growth and more jobs?"

SOUNDBITE (German), Andreas SCHWAB (EPP, DE), on behalf of IMCO Rapporteur for the European Semester, "The Single Market is a crucial part of the European Semester and should play a more important role in the future. Member states, regardless if they are from North, South, East or West, they all need to ensure that their governments implement European legislation with the objective of making the ESM much more effective for Europe's citizens".

SOUNDBITE (English), Ivo OLIVEIRA, MP from Portuguese National Assembly, "When we insist in big austerity policy we see very dramatic social effects. In Portugal and in Europe youth generation is being left behind. The Commission said this morning that they are working on a new incentive related to the situation; we say it's urgent and it needs to go faster. In the Strategy 2020 we should ask: can we revise it to go faster? can we correct it to fit best all countries, increasing redistribution and promoting more equality in Europe? Giving hope to the younger generation and making everybody more 'euro-friendly'".