Text tabled : A7-0052/2011

  Clemente Mastella (PPE), in writing. − (IT) The new European stability mechanism requires an amendment to the Treaty of Lisbon, to ensure its legally valid inclusion within the institutional framework of the European Union. We believe that this should be accompanied by a strengthening of the preventive and corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact and measures relating to medium- and long-term competitiveness. Measures, in other words, capable of promoting a common European response, in order to better address the macro-economic imbalances between Member States and to ensure their sustainable growth. The European stability mechanism is therefore an important element of a comprehensive package of new measures (together with the European Semesters and the EU 2020 Strategy), aimed at establishing a new framework for strengthening and coordinating economic and financial policies and budgetary discipline. To ensure respect for the core principles of democratic decision-making such as transparency, parliamentary scrutiny and democratic accountability, Parliament must be adequately informed and involved. In addition, we support the need for each national parliament to be fully involved, in accordance with their budgetary and control rights, in order to increase the transparency, ownership and accountability of decisions taken, including at European level.