"We are debating today the 30th European Council dedicated to the crisis. If, compared to previous meetings, it comes closer to the desired solution, we still don't have a roadmap towards European political integration", said the Chairman of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul MEP, opening the debate on the results of last's week European Council Summit.
The Chairman of the largest and most influential Group in the European Parliament deplores the delay of a true political union where Member States share sovereignty: "I wonder what worse situation than unemployment, the difficulties our companies face, or the excessive levels of interest rates our countries have to pay before we wake up to the fact that a single currency cannot work without a common economic policy. The document presented by President Van Rompuy goes in the right direction as it sets, finally, a political Europe as the ultimate goal. But, it foresees a period of preparation spread out over 10 years. Yet everyone knows that Europe will not survive until 2022 without budgetary, fiscal and social integration!"
"The EPP Group is satisfied by the advances made in the Growth and Employment Pact. My Group also supports the system of banking supervision, the proposal for a European deposit guarantee and the plans for European banking union. Our citizens have to know that their savings are protected, and all the new mechanisms which will guarantee this are headed in the right direction. These now have to be implemented and I call on the Commission, Guardian of the Treaties, to ensure this with perhaps a little more rigour than has been the case up until now", added Joseph Daul.
As regards the next multi-annual financial framework, Joseph Daul emphasised the importance of structural funds as a crucial instrument for growth and employment: "The solution to most of our problems requires more Europe. This is why my Group attaches so much importance to the next multi-annual financial framework, currently under discussion - a framework which will allow us to continue to finance our common policies, such as structural funds and agriculture. Today, European integration is vital to protect the European social model which we have built with much patience."
Joseph Daul's speech in plenary
For further information:
Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group, Tel: +33-3-88175525
Antoine Ripoll, Chairman's Spokesman, Tel: +32-475-856290
Delia Vlase, Chairman's Deputy Spokeswoman, Tel: +32-476-331038