Call for radical strengthening of Economic Union
 
Meeting in Toledo on 11 – 12 June 2010, the Federal Assembly of the European Movement International (EMI) called on the European Council to radically strengthen the economic part of the Economic and Monetary Union at its summit meeting this week.
 
The European Movement recommends that consideration be given to the appointment of High Representative for Economic and Fiscal Policies, who would be a Vice-President of the European Commission while also chairing the ECOFIN council and the Eurogroup. S/he would also represent the EU in the relevant international economic fora.
 
“This could be achieved within the terms of the Lisbon Treaty”, according to Jo Leinen, EMI Vice-President, who said, “together with stronger surveillance and governance procedures this could make a real difference”.   
 
The Toledo Assembly insisted on the need for EU budgetary reform based on truly European “own resources” and the issuing of Eurobonds to help finance cross border European projects in the fields of transport, energy and communications infrastructure.
 
Delegates welcomed the establishment of the European financial stabilisation mechanism but insisted that it should evolve into a genuinely European monetary fund and should not merely be the sum of 27 different parts.    
 
“Given the return to mass unemployment, heavy youth unemployment and the halving of the EU’s potential output growth because of the economic crisis, the summit must offer hope for the re-launch of the European economy through new, visible and concerted EU economic action”, said Pat Cox, President of the EMI, who added “there is a fierce urgency to the crisis now that requires an immediate response that cannot wait for a new financial perspective in 2014”.
 
[ENDS]
For French, please click here
For Spanish, please click here
For pictures of the Federal Assembly , please click here
————————
Editors’ Note: The EUROPEAN MOVEMENT is an international organisation open to all political, economic, social and cultural trends in civil society.
 
For more information, please contact the secretariat: +32 (0)2 508 30 85, email: communication@europeanmovement.eu