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Wednesday, 9 July 2008 - Strasbourg OJ edition

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Text tabled : A6-0241/2008

  Małgorzata Handzlik (PPE-DE), in writing. − (PL) In his report on the ECB annual report, the rapporteur has focused on the challenges facing the Bank. There has been a great deal of worrying information for European economies over the past few months; and unfortunately there is much more of this than in 2007. The crisis in financial markets and the sudden increase in the price of oil and food are slowing down economic growth and increasing inflation, and there are concerns about a rise in unemployment figures. The ECB will be one of the leading institutions that have to try to deal with these challenges.

The steps taken in August 2007 provided liquidity to financial markets, but they did not resolve the problem. There is also an increase in the number of countries joining the common currency. Slovakia will be the first country from Central and Eastern Europe to take this step. However, Slovakia will definitely not be the last. Entry into the euro zone by the other new EU Member States seems to be just a matter of time. The experiences of Slovakia in this regard will no doubt be closely observed by countries in the region that are also thinking about joining the single currency.

The rapporteur is also right to note that different levels of economic growth, different indicators of growth or different levels of maturity in EU economies could create problems for the ECB’s decision-making process. For this reason I believe the suggestion to undertake a review of possibilities as regards making changes to the decision-making process to be a sensible one. Such a review should include not just the present members of the euro zone, but also future and potential members.

 
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