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The European Council and euro area summit have for the first time tackled all the elements of a comprehensive response in one and the same meeting: namely by agreeing on measures to boost growth and jobs, by setting out the next steps for further deepening of Economic and Monetary Union, and by deciding on short-term stabilisation measures.
The Commission has always argued that consolidation must be accompanied by sustainable growth created by structural reforms combined with targeted investment. It was therefore important that Heads of State and Government decided on the Compact for Growth and Jobs.
This compact is based very largely on proposals put forward by the Commission and on ideas defended by this House, some of them since last year or even some years before. It turns intentions into concrete action with financing commitments, and sets out the levers for mobilising policies and funds – both at the European level and at the national level.
The debate in the European Council, the awareness among Heads of State and Government that we cannot separate the debate on growth from the debate on the EU budget has also increased. The EU budget is our most important instrument for targeted investment and is an indispensable tool for growth and jobs in Europe.
Looking to the future, this European Council was able to define, on the basis of the report prepared by its President together with the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Eurogroup, the direction that further work must take on the creation of a genuine economic and monetary union.
We all know that this is an undertaking that has to be built step by step over several years. This European Council has now asked for a specific and time-bound road map to be worked out by the end of the year. And it has endorsed this aspiration collectively, even if it is clear that not all Member States will want to be part of the ultimate outcome of the process. A stable euro is in the interest of the Union as a whole. The process must therefore combine the necessary deepening of the euro area and its openness towards the Member States who want to join the euro with the necessary safeguards for those who have an opt-out.
In the Commission's view we should start making the genuine EMU a reality as quickly as possible. We must in particular explore all that can be done on the basis of the existing treaties as a matter of urgency.