18 May 2012

Statement by President Barroso ahead of the G8 Summit

President Barroso said that to achieve growth in Europe requires the pursuit of a serious path of fiscal consolidation, while at the same time promoting structural reform at European level. He reaffirmed that the EU was doing all it could to ensure that Greece stays in the euro area.

The European Union is coming to this G8 with five clear messages, he said:

"Firstly, we need to take action for growth, while staying the course in terms of putting our public finances in order. Stability and growth go together. They are two sides of the same coin. Sound public finances, structural reforms and targeted investment are the key ingredients of our European response to the crisis. This will help to enhance competitiveness and get people back to work. This is the only road to growth that is sustainable, and what we want precisely is sustainable growth, not the kind of growth we had in the past fuelled up by excessive debt or by irresponsible behaviour in the financial sector that lead to unsustainable growth. I am confident that our G8 partners will recognise the merits of this approach and the progress made despite new and recent challenges.

"Just next week we will meet in Brussels at the European Council all the Heads of State and Government of the EU together with President Van Rompuy and to discuss a European growth initiative, which can accelerate our action for sustainable growth.

"I am particularly happy that today in Europe there is growing awareness of the need to combine fiscal consolidation and structural reform with investment. And now I believe there is a growing awareness of the need to support some proposals made some time ago by the European Commission in terms of increasing the lending capacity of the European Investment Bank, in terms of adopting project bonds to mobilise funding including funding from the private sector for big Trans-European projects, and also using the European budget as a leverage for growth because the European budget is a budget for investment and growth.

"So it is in fact important to understand that Europe is working on these issues - stability and growth. The question is how can we achieve growth. And in Europe it is obvious that it requires to pursue a serious path of fiscal consolidation, at the same time promote structural reform at the European level, for instance completing the single market, and at the national level, most of our Member States have taken very courageous decisions, and also having targeted investment because some investment is also necessary. Apart from other issues these are the most urgent."

On Greece, President Barroso had the following to say: "I would like to reaffirm very clearly that we want Greece to stay in the euro area. Greece is part of European family and part of the euro project. And the European Union I am sure will do all it takes to ensure it. We will honour our commitments towards Greece and we expect the Greek authorities to fulfil the jointly agreed conditions for financial assistance. It is extremely important that both Greece and all the other members of the euro area respect their commitments. This is a question of credibility and credibility is essential for confidence."

President Barroso concluded by saying: "The crisis has made us more aware than ever of our interdependence – interdependence of course in the EU but also interdependence with the rest of the world. Acting together I believe we can rise to the task, and I hope that the message tomorrow of the G8 will be a strong message in terms of this willingness to act together and to face together problems that only together can be solved."

Full statement

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