José Manuel Durão Barroso
President of the European Commission
6th European Summit of Regions and cities
Athens, 8 March 2014
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all let me tell you it is a
pleasure to be once again in Greece and in this great city of Athens.
Let me also express my appreciation to the Committee of Regions and to
the Attica Region and its President for organising and hosting this 6th
European Summit of Regions and Cities.
I also want
to extend my warm congratulations to the Committee of Regions on the
occasion of its 20th anniversary. To all of you, leaders of regions and
cities, my congratulations. Mi enhorabuena a
mi amigo Ramón Valcárcel. En nombre de la Comisión Europea y en el mío
propio desearía expresarle nuestra admiración y nuestra solidaridad.
You have done a wonderful work over
these 20 years! And the title of today's summit – "European recovery -
local solutions" - perfectly encapsulates the crucial and increasing
role you are playing for the success of our growth and job agenda; and
for bringing the European Union closer to its citizens.
I am also very pleased with the
extremely constructive cooperation which has developed over these years
between the Committee of Regions and the Commission. Indeed, we are
putting in place now, in reality, what the Treaty of Lisbon has also
allowed a stronger role for the Committee of Regions. And I have also
heard what the Mayor of Lisbon – the Mayor of Lisbon never misses an
opportunity to remind us about the Treaty of Lisbon – that it was thanks
to the Treaty of Lisbon that this is possible, but now we have to put
it in practice, because nothing replaces of course the political
commitment, the political will. It is great to have a Treaty that
enables us to implement this principle of subsidiarity, but we have to
do it in even a more effective way.
All of you, you are leaders, European
leaders from our regions, from our cities. I have been saying that very
often: We cannot think that the European Union is just a mission for the
European institutions – in Brussels, in Strasbourg or in Luxembourg.
No, Europe is in fact a multi-level project and needs a multi-level
governance. The idea of a hierarchy where up here is the European
leaders and down here is the population is not an idea of the 21st
century. We are in fact working in network. We need the commitment of
all levels and this is what I understand by subsidiarity, not the idea
of restriction but, on the contrary, an idea of a democratic
participation. And if we think that we can make Europe more accepted,
more loved only by the institutions in Brussels or Strasbourg we are
wrong: We need all the institutions, we need the Committee of Regions,
but above all we need an ownership of the European project and of the
European policies by everybody at all levels on the ground that are
implementing, for instance our policies like EU2020, or that have the
responsibility of now investing the structural funds for investment and
growth in our regions.
You know first-hand how demanding
these last years have been for the people of Europe, namely, for the
most vulnerable countries like here, in Greece. Let me once again say
that I deeply admire and respect the courage and dignity of our fellow
citizens and here of the Greek citizens. We owe them a lot. And I am
confident that Europe can now emerge from this crisis not only stronger
but also more united and open.
* * *
We have been through very testing
times. These are moments in history when we reach a crossroads, when
uncertainties are high. These are moments when we have to embrace
change, overcome the status quo and take critical decisions that will
reshape our future.
We reached such a crucial tipping
point when faced with the worst financial, economic and social crisis
since the start of European integration. We could have slipped towards
disintegration, as predicted by many, or seized the opportunity for
Europe to reform and to progress towards deeper integration. We have
shown that those who predicted the demise of the euro, and even the
European Union, were wrong.
The stakes could not have been higher;
because our Union is much more than an economic space. Our Union is
fundamentally a community of values, a way of life. Peace and promotion
of democracy, human dignity, solidarity, shared prosperity lie at the
heart of European integration. Recent events beyond our Union – for
instance in Ukraine – and within our Union have shown how precious,
inspirational but also fragile these values can be. It would be a
mistake to take these values for granted: peace for granted, or rule of
law or democracy. We have to fight every day for that. And we have to do
it for our countries and for our Union.
And I think we can say, in face of
this crisis – it was the worst crisis of the globalisation era – we
fought back together. Under the most difficult circumstances we managed
to reinforce the foundations of our European house when it started to
shake. A new awareness emerged that we could no longer avoid difficult
decisions that would determine whether Europe remain an area of
stability, prosperity and freedom. It was not easy, I have to tell you. I
have been, these 5 years, leading the Commission and the Commission is –
I say sometimes – the 'engine room' of the European Union. I have been
in contact with all the governments of Europe, not only the governments
of the most vulnerable countries, but also of the richest countries. And
as responsible leaders you know it is not easy to have an agreement
between 28 countries – and in the Euro area now 18 countries – that have
different financial cultures. It is not only the difference between
Finland and Greece: There are differences between Germany and France.
And to put all these together in a democratic way is simply a very – I
can use an expression from Greeks – Herculean task. It is a real
Herculean task. And so it is true, some of us – and the Commission was
in the frontline – would like to have solutions faster, more ambitious.
Yes, it is true. but democracy is not so rapid and cannot take decisions
in such a speedy manner like the markets. And so we were in fact
building the lifeboats in the middle of a storm. And this, I think, has
to be recognized. Because it is easy sometimes to say 'ok, things are
not going well'. Of course we know the difficulties. But we should, as
responsible citizens, think what would be the alternative. the
alternative would be to let Europe disintegrate, to have the currency
disappear, to have dis-ordinary defaults, bankrupts… That would be the
alternative. And, my dear friends, we were in certain moments very close
to it. Not only in the countries that have programmes but also Spain
and Italy were very very close to catastrophic situations. And then we
could have a real threat to dis-stability not only of the Euro area but
of the European economy...
That's why I ask you and I ask all the
European forces that are now going to the European elections – and I am
now speaking as President of the Commission and, as President of the
Commission, my party is Europe, I am not taking sides – but I ask you to
have this argument with the citizens. I believe that most of the
citizens are reasonable people, they know things cannot come like that
easily. And to ask about alternatives – we have been correct in some of
the programmes. We have in many cases – like in Greece, in Portugal,
even in Ireland and also in France or Spain – we have given more time
for the fiscal adjustment. But if we had not shown from the beginning
that those countries were able to correct some imbalances, what would
happen is that this lack of confidence – without confidence there is no
investment, without investment there is no growth.
That's why I am asking for a
reasonable assessment of what were our difficulties and what are still
our difficulties. And it is not fair, it is not fair to say that it was
Europe that created this situation, this crisis. This is not true – or
that it was the Euro. The crisis was the result of irresponsible
behaviour in the financial markets. The crisis was also the result of
accumulated imbalances, including the excessive debt in our countries at
national level. This was the cause of the crisis, The Euro was not the
cause of the crisis: We have countries that are not in the Euro, like
Latvia or Romania or Hungary, that were facing a big crisis. By the way,
Latvia now joined the Euro area, showing that it is possible to
overcome the crisis. Or we have countries like Iceland, that is not even
a member of the European Union, that also had a big problem of
insolvency. So it is not intellectually or politically correct to say
'it was the Euro that was the cause of the crisis' or 'it was the
European Union that was the cause of the crisis'. No, the crisis was the
result of that irresponsible behaviour of individual banks and the
accumulation of excessive private debt and public debt. Europe is part
of the solution, not part of the problem.
Can we say that everything we have
done was right? Probably not. The European Union is not perfect and we
are here to correct many problems. But what I ask from you and from
European citizens is: If you are not happy with the policy, correct it,
explain your position. But do not turn your back on Europe. That will be
the most important mistake to make. There are now some extremists and
populists from extreme right to the extreme left that want to present
that Europe is the problem. Look at what they say: They are always
against openness, they are against globalisation, they are against the
freedom of circulation – a basic principle that we have in Europe, the
freedom to go to another country, to study, to work, to live in that
country – and they are all against the European Union. That is
something, from the extreme right to the extreme left, that they have in
common. And so I hope that the pro-European parties, the main three
forces, those that believe that Europe is something that we should fight
for, will have the courage to leave the comfort zone and to say 'no, we
want to make this Europe better, we are for Europe, we cannot accept
this policy with the evident no alternative, that's great'. But not put
at cause this great achievement that is the European Union. Because I
sincerely believe that in all our history, even in history of mankind,
there was never a project of peace, of putting together countries that
were before enemies, like the one we have in the European Union.
Voila that was not in my speech, but I felt I had to say that to you!
Now, during these difficult times we
had to promote fiscal consolidation, correct macro-economic imbalances,
and ensure financial stability – these are all prerequisites for
sustainable, sound growth.
Today we should not underestimate what
we have accomplished so far. We have now a European Stability
Mechanism, with a firepower of 500 billion euros. This represents the
biggest solidarity effort ever in stabilisation between countries. We
have a safer, sounder and more responsible financial sector that should
fully serve the real economy's needs. We are delivering on our promise
that taxpayers will no longer be the ones in the frontline rescuing
individual banks. And we have a strengthened economic governance
framework to ensure that countries in the euro area duly shoulder their
budgetary responsibility and properly undertake the necessary structural
reforms.
All these achievements would simply
have been unimaginable five years ago. And our efforts, based on a
renewed sense of shared solidarity and responsibility, are starting to
pay off. Recovery in the European Union is gaining ground and spreading
across countries. Activity has started to strengthen also in the
so-called vulnerable countries.
I've just arrived from Ireland, where
after a successful exit from the economic assistance programme, the
country is now on its way to pick up on its recovery.
Here, in Greece, the first signs of
recovery are there. Confidence indicators continue to improve. Thanks
to structural reforms undertaken in labour and product markets,
competitiveness is picking up leading to expectations for reinforced
exports and investments. The country should return to growth this year
and recovery is forecast to gain strength in 2015.
As a Portuguese citizen I have also
seen first-hand in my own country the difficulty of working through a
crisis. And today these efforts are bearing fruit: There are still big
problems, like unemployment, but the Portuguese economic recovery is
strengthening and employment is increasing and, as I already said, we
expect Portugal to exit the programme already in May.
These first results show that when
there is a political will combined with a sense of shared solidarity
there is a way to emerge stronger from a deep crisis. And Greece is on
its way to do it, I sincerely believe it! Greece must continue to
implement the assistance programme in order to be able to start focusing
on defining a growth strategy. It has been a very difficult adjustment,
but now we need also a growth strategy. The correction of imbalances
and the economic reforms are not an end in themselves, they are
necessary conditions for sustainable growth. It is now time for Greece
to define a growth strategy. And we are happy to be your partners in
that – not only through the Task Force that I have created, but also
through the Multiannual Financial Framework. Greece has been receiving
in these last years over 20 billion from the structural funds from the
European Union budget. This shows that Europe is about solidarity.
I know that today in Greece, and also
in many other countries, when people think about Europe they think about
austerity. And I think this is not right. Europe is also about
solidarity. 20 billion euros in grants is solidarity. And we are ready
to continue that effort in the next 7 years. Commissioner Johannes Hahn –
as many of you, if not all of you, know – has been visiting almost all
the regions of Greece, almost all, And he hoped to conclude all of them,
seeing how we can implement now the investment on the ground. Of course
he has come already to the Attica Region, it is the biggest region, but
all the others as well. So this is the point, we have to work in
partnership. I have heard Yves Leterme, the Deputy Secretary General of
the OECD mentioning that we should work together at all levels. I think
this is a great opportunity to focus on investment. Let’s not forget
that, in some of our countres, the structural funds represent 75% of all
the public investment – namely in the new member states, the Baltic
countries, central European countries. So let's now make the most of
this news cycle in those Partnership programmes and that’s where you,
the regions, have a very special role to play. I support a stronger role
for the regions in the planning and implementing of the structural
funds. This is something that I have been conveying to the national
parliaments because, as you know, according to the Treaty, this is
mainly a national responsibility for the government. But I want these
funds to have a much more territorial dimension. Because the principle
of subsidiarity means that the regions and the cities are better placed
to know what are the real needs of people, namely in the social sector,
then a decision taken by the capital or Brussels, that's quite clear. So
we are developing this Partnership approach. I hope that in this new
cycle the money will be better spent than in the past. Because sometimes
– let's be honest about that as well – some of those investments were
important for economic and social development, but they were not always
directed for competitiveness. And so, some of the countries that
received more funds – like Greece, like Ireland, like Portugal – were
not always those that were better prepared for a more competitive
challenge. That's why we need to work in those areas that will bring
added value.
And I think of course one of the most
important issues to do now is the fight against unemployment. This is
the biggest drama we have in Europe. One thing is looking at the
figures, that's already a problem, but behind each of those figures
there is one person, a young man or a young woman or a family. Also
those who are still in employment but fear to lose their employment –
that's a matter of human dignity. That is why we have created this Youth
Guarantee. That's why now you have 6-8 billion euros to spend, to
frontload the so-called youth employment imitative. In the beginning of
next month, in April, the European Commission will organise in Brussels a
conference to see exactly what has been done with that money, what we
are already doing, the level of preparation in our member states. And
that's where the regions can be very important, because I personally
believe that in my country it's much more difficult to follow these only
from the capital Lisbon than to have all those who are involved
directly on the ground.
So let's make the most of it for youth
employment, let's see how we can implement Europe 2020 strategy at the
ground by the different regions and also let's see how we can exploit
all this potential of the Single Market, also to promote a business and
innovation friendly environment, to boost also our benefits from trade
relations, and to use the European budget to invest in education,
research, innovation and infrastructures – all these are key leverages
for and job creation.
So, to conclude, I believe that the
active experience of regions and cities been crucial and that your full
engagement is more than ever necessary in the pursuit of the Europe 2020
objectives.
I highly welcome your own mid-term
review of the Europe 2020 strategy. I also count on your active
participation in the public consultation that the Commission will launch
to gather the views of all stakeholders in order to develop the
strategy further for 2015 and 2020. Of course a stronger territorial
dimension is necessary.
Finally, in this difficult political
moment, we have to make the pedagogy about Europe. We may face a
situation that is a paradox. The economic situation is improving, slow,
not enough, but it's improving. But the political situation can get
worse. Why? Because the citizens do not feel yet the improvement of the
macroeconomic intigators and because we are going to have elections
where the extremist forces can gain some power. This is why it's
important that we work together to counter the myths and caricatures on
Europe and to present our electors with facts and arguments on Europe.
That's why it's important to refute
extremist discourses and we need to keep a rational debate on Europe,
on what Europe delivers.
Subsidiarity is not a luxury but a key
democratic principle. We should better concentrate European action on
the real issues that matter and can best be dealt with at the European
level.
We also have to be honest what it
means to share a currency. If we share a currency, we need more
integration, because at the end the credibility depends on the solidity
and credibility of the institutions that are behind it. And I was very
happy when the day before yesterday I heard the President of the ECB
saying that the euro now is an island of stability. Can you imagine,
some time ago us saying that?
This is why I think it's important to
keep Europe an inclusive project for all its members. All the countries
have exactly the same dignity, some are richer than others, yes, but all
have the same dignity but also we need to have the EU closer to its
citizens.
That's also why we need to keep a
strong cultural dimension in Europe. Culture and cultural heritage are
part of our core values and the heritage of our cities. That is why it
is such a joy for me to be back in this great city of culture. Europe
has so much to thank this country for in terms of history, culture and
civilization. I hope that also this cultural dimension is more
integrated in our European policies.
On these terms, we should work for a
long-term vision of Europe and I believe that the next elections will be
an occasion to discuss it, discuss with the citizens. And I believe,
based on the experience of these 10 years, that everybody agrees have
been very very difficult years that Europe has the capacity to resist
and to win.
My dear friends,
It's now fashionable in Europe to have
these negative discourses on Europe. Sometimes I call this the
intellectual glamour of pessimism. Everybody wants to show that they are
more intelligent than the others predicting the worse scenario. That is
a great deficit in Europe that is worse than the deficit of the
budgets; it's the deficit of confidence. And you know as leaders that
you cannot lead without confidence without hope. So this is my appeal to
you. While you are of course encouraged and welcome to show the
difficulties we have and to have a realistic speech about Europe, let's
try to inspire hope in our citizens. Let's be a little bit proud of
Europe. After all we have built the most descent societies in mankind's
history; with open systems, with rights of men and women, with human
rights respected. We have this huge problem of unemployment, but Europe
should be proud of the kind of societies it's built and many, from
Ukraine to the south of the Mediterranean are aspiring to this kind of
society. To have a little bit of pride in our Europe without being
arrogant is I believe very important and it's part also of the equation
for growth. Confidence is a variable in the equation for growth.
Confidence is now improving in investors, confidence is now improving in
consumers, we also need the political leaders to show a little bit more
confidence and work together for having growth and jobs in Europe.
I thank you for your attention and for your remarkable patience for already so long.
