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Speech Van Rompuy Rol UE
Speech Van Rompuy Rol UE
European Council
EN
The President
SPEECH
EUCO 246/14
PRESSE 578
PR PCE 215
Rome, 7 November 2014
It is a pleasure to speak at this Conference in Rome. In the Palazzo Corsini, a place of the arts and
the sciences…, and to such a distinguished audience. These past five years I’ve come many times
to Rome, with many memorable meetings – in the Palazzo Chigi, in the Quirinale… – but I am glad
today to address this public forum.
We are in a season of political renewal for the European Union. A new cycle of five years opens:
this week the new European Commission started; at 1 December, the European Council will get a
new President, Donald Tusk, my successor.And I also salute the Italian Presidency of the Council
of ministers!
At the same time, 2014 is a year of commemorations – the centennial of the First World War; in
two days, 25 years after Fall of the Berlin Wall… – which was, as much as a German, a truly
European event. So it is a good moment for “Looking back, looking forward”.
In tune with the spirit of our session – on "Lo Stato dell'Unione" –, I want to keep my remarks
relatively panoramic. I propose to offer three series of reflections.
First on the economic crisis and the current economic situation;
Second, some practical and institutional lessons on the office of European Council president,
including on the role of the body in foreign policy;
Third and final: a wider reflection how people experience Europe and how the Union can be more
caring and protecting.
The economic and financial crisis – it is the indispensable starting point for both looking back and
looking forward. The next five years will necessarily be influenced by the period we are leaving
behind us. Europe has changed. It has been a difficult, sometimes painful period. The solidarity
between our countries has been put to the test. But we overcame it.
Dirk De Backer - Spokesperson of the President - T +32 (0)2 281 9768 - M +32 (0)497 59 99 19
Preben Aamann - Deputy Spokesperson of the President - T +32 (0)2 281 2060 - M +32 (0)476 85 05 43
press.president@consilium.europa.eu - www.european-council.europa.eu/the-president 1/7
The most important lesson of the Eurozone crisis is that we have fully realised our
interdependence. What happens in one of our countries, can affect the whole. The fate of a country
of 10 million people (like Greece) influences the monetary zone of 350 million, yes even the global
economy. Governments have realised all this, and it took them some time to do so. And public
opinions have discovered it too – for them it took even more time, which is natural. We overcame
the existential threat to the eurozone; we won that battle – also against the Cassandras and the
speculators!
The other important lesson from the crisis was that, to deal with this interdependence, we needed
and still need “more Europe” (certainly in the Eurozone). We must strengthen the Economic and
Monetary Union.
Much of the work in the past years was aimed at this, and as a result we clearly have a stronger
EMU architecture today than five years ago. With better budgetary and macro-economic oversight;
with rescue funds; and also, since this week, with the European Central Bank overseeing all banks
in the Eurozone. It is the start of the banking union – probably the biggest step in European
integration since the launch of the euro itself.
But more will be needed, in particular on economic coordination. You cannot have a common
currency and nineteen separate economic policies. A minimum of convergence is required.
Here lies one of my personal regrets. On economic coordination, I would have preferred to go
further than we have been able to decide under my mandate. I put a proposal on the table, which
did not get enough support. But: one can ignore a solution, one cannot ignore a problem.
So I am not surprised that already in December, for the first European Council meeting under my
successor, the issue is back at the table. It is a decision by the last Euro Summit I chaired, two
weeks ago.
Of course, today the current economic debate is elsewhere. It is on growth, on reforms, on how we
can find the right balance, within and between countries. The economic crisis is lasting longer than
we had expected, or hoped, after the return of financial stability to the Eurozone in autumn 2012.
Why is this?
Growth is weak mainly because our potential for structural growth is weak, today around 0,5 %.
This is the result of high levels of unemployment and too low levels of investment. After all, growth
is the sum of the increase in working hours and productivity. A lack of jobs and of investment puts
both factors under pressure. So a “cyclical” return of growth very soon runs into structural limits.
Apart from that, there were negative external factors. Geopolitical uncertainty affects confidence in
Europe, and the performance of the BRICs countries – weaker than foreseen in the case of China,
simply weak in the cases of Russia and Brazil – weighed on our exports and hence on the export-
led growth of some of our countries.
We should not seek the causes of weak economic growth on the side of monetary policy, which is
accommodating. They should not be sought on the side of budgetary policy either, because the net
effect of budgets on growth has been neutral this year. The past few years, Europe has shown
budgetary flexibility, in emphasizing not so much nominal figures of deficits, but the structural
deficit. The extra delays agreed in 2013 for countries to come under the 3 % ceiling of the
Maastricht Treaty prove it.
Now we must concentrate on structural reforms. They are necessary in all countries (including
Germany). The world is in permanent change: nobody can rest on yesterday’s efforts or today’s
laurels.