News > EPP President congratulates Mario Draghi; welcomes conclusions of European Council

EPP President congratulates Mario Draghi; welcomes conclusions of European Council

The President of the European People’s Party (EPP) Wilfried Martens has congratulated the appointment by the European Council of Mario Draghi as the new President of the European Central Bank and has welcomed the conclusions of the European Council. The main agenda items of the European Council were discussed at yesterday’s EPP Summit. For photos, see at http://flickr.epp.eu

“I congratulate the appointment of Mario Draghi by the European Council as the new President of the European Central Bank. In the past, I had the opportunity to exchange views with Mr. Draghi and can attest to his outstanding qualities. His appointment is excellent news for the Eurozone and for the EU,” underlined the EPP President.

“Moreover, I welcome the continued commitment to ensure the financial stability and fiscal consolidation of the euro area, as well as the swift implementation of the necessary reforms in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, which will stimulate economic recovery and also strengthen our common European currency. The offer of the Eurozone countries for additional financial assistance to Greece, underlines the resolve to maintain European solidarity but under strict conditions. In this respect, we urged yesterday at the EPP Summit ND’s President Antonis Samaras to do his part in achieving much needed national unity, in support of the main objectives and key policy measures which will ensure the programme’s overall success,” President Martens said.

“At the EPP Summit yesterday, I personally congratulated Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor for successfully completing Croatia’s EU accession negotiations. The confirmation of Croatia’s accession process by the European Council is also a strong signal to the Western Balkans as a whole,” the EPP President stated.

“As the EPP has repeatedly stated in the past, we fully support the response of the European Council to the developments in the Arab world and we stress the need for the EU to bolster freedom and democracy in the region. Regarding the related migration issues, we are pleased that the European Council proposed an emergency safety mechanism to the Schengen rules which does not compromise the basic principle of the free movement of persons,” Martens added.

At the end of yesterday’s EPP Summit, a special event took place to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the EPP and the 20th anniversary Wilfried Martens as EPP President. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, Former President of the European Commission Jacques Santer, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and EPP Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz were keynote speakers at the event. EPP President Wilfried Martens gave the closing speech of the event.

Finally, the EPP Presidency at its meeting of the 23rd of June made a statement on Ukraine (download statement here).

Note to editors:
The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 75 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the Commission, Council, and Parliament, 17 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.