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Speaking in the European Parliament today, President of the European Council denounced criticism that the European Union does not go deep enough to tackle the economic crisis.
"I will state a single figure: EUR 400 billion, which amounts to 3.3% of EU's GDP", said the Czech Prime Minister, claiming that the automatic stabilizers of the European economy, including the social network, actually multiply this amount, which gives the EU the edge compared, for instance, to the United States.
In this context, Mirek Topolánek emphasized that the stimulating measures of the European Union must be temporary and must comply with the medium-term and long-term priorities and goals of the Lisbon strategy and warned that these measures should not be granted long-term or event permanent validity.
"In all frankness, I must say that after US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner spoke about “permanent action”, it was much to the European Council’s dismay", said the President of the European Council to describe the atmosphere of the Spring European Council that took place in Brussels on 19 and 20 March. America is repeating its mistakes from the 1930s – large-scale stimuli, protectionist tendencies and appeals, the “Buy American” campaign etc. All these steps, their combination and, worse, the initiative to establish them in the long term, are a road to perdition. We have to dust off our long-unused history books. I consider the resounding “no” to this policy and to this short-sighted approach the greatest success of the Spring meeting of the European Council", said Mirek Topolánek to recall the historical experience with the Great Depression in the USA, and appreciated the unity that binds all the Member States of the European Union in their intent to adhere to the principles of the common market and to resume compliance with the principles of the Growth and Stability Pact as soon as possible.
In addition, the President of the European Council expressed its belief that the European Union and the administration of the US President Barack Obama will succeed in coordinating their measures against the financial crisis at the top G20 summit that will take place on 2 April in London or at the Prague EU-USA summit three days later. "I am confident that together with the USA we will find a common solution because I don’t want to set the USA and Europe against each other", said Mirek Topolánek who believes that both economies must avoid the risk of new trading barriers.
- Recording of the speech by M. Topolánek is available on the website of the European Parliament here.
- Transcription of the speech can be found on our website here.
