No room for complacency at upcoming European Council
In a speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday, President Barroso urged focus ahead of this week's European Council meeting. He stressed that the situation in the euro area has improved but remains fragile.
"Rapid political agreement on the single supervisory mechanism and its endorsement at this European Council is crucially important. The single supervisory mechanism is the single most important step for the further deepening and completion of Economic and Monetary Union," he said in his speech.
He also pleaded against a loss of the overall perspective that lends credibility and purpose to the urgent action to define a roadmap towards a future deep and genuine Economic and Monetary Union.
The Blueprint presented by the Commission identifies the most pressing tasks and maps out the work for the weeks, months and years ahead.
President Barroso reiterated the main guiding principles on which a genuine Economic and Monetary Union should be built as set out in the Blueprint:
- it must take place within the institutional and legal framework of the Treaties on the basis of the Community method.
-it must make sure that discipline and responsibility go hand in hand with solidarity and convergence.
- while recognising that the EMU in general and the Euro area in particular must integrate quicker and more decisively than the EU at large, it must maintain the integrity of the European Union and its policies conducted at 27, notably the Single Market. It must remain open to the participation of other member states, wherever appropriate.
Lastly, creating a deep and genuine EMU will require commensurate steps towards a political union: "This is why the blueprint has chosen the transparent approach and commitment to present explicit ideas for Treaty changes in advance of the next European Parliament elections, so as to enable the necessary broad public debate and the decisions building on it."
President Barroso stressed that above all, for reforms to work, they need to be fair. He recalled two very recent Commission proposals that show that the Commission sees social justice and fairness as a key element of today's policy priorities: the Action Plan against tax fraud and tax evasion and the Youth employment package.