Mr Van Rompuy spoke about the road ahead for Europe and for the eurozone, as he prepares to enter his second term as President of the European Council.
In many respects, the Union's economic governance has evolved beyond recognition over the past two years. Moreover, many of these reforms are only beginning to kick in. Importantly, they have not only resulted in stronger institutional pressure to keep deficits under control, but also in increased peer pressure among European leaders.
Sweden has taken part in these efforts to stabilise the situation in the eurozone. Already in 2010, your government agreed to use the EU's budget as part of the rescue packages. Two months ago, your government signed the Fiscal Compact. You also committed to contribute to the Irish rescue package and agreed to back the euro area indirectly by contributing at least $10 billion to the IMF. We appreciate these efforts as a sign of clear commitment and political will towards Europe.
In my view, there are also some important lessons that the eurozone can draw from Sweden. At meetings of the European Council, Prime Minister Reinfeldt shared more than once with colleagues how your country dealt with the economic crisis of the early 1990s. Decisive action to overcome the banking crisis and restructure the economy paid off. 20 years of exemplary fiscal policies allowed you to buffer effectively the shocks of the latest crisis.
Your country has been a pioneer in trying to bring the financial sector regulation in line with today’s realities of increased financial integration. You led the way in setting up colleges of supervisors, well ahead of EU requirements. Yet, more is needed, and in my view, financial sector policy integration is the area where our Union most urgently needs to make further progress.
Full speech
© European Council
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article