Text tabled : B7-0016/2012

  Marian Harkin (ALDE). – Mr President, I think this resolution on stability bonds is a realistic and pragmatic approach to ensuring that we have a firewall to prevent future crises. I support the call for a European redemption pact. While it has its limitations, at least it is an effort to deal with the serious overhang of debt which is smothering recovery in many countries, including my own.

Yes, in Ireland we must deal with our deficit, but guaranteeing our banks in order to prevent contagion in other EU banks has meant that our debt-to-GNP ratio will increase to at least 147%, so without a redemption pact or some other mechanism, it simply means that Irish citizens will be unable to pay for casino banking in our own and other countries.

It is interesting that this mountain of debt was not just our own choice. Mario Draghi, a man for whom I have a great deal of respect, refuses to publish a letter sent by his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet, to our Finance Minister on the bailout, and I am just wondering why. Will this show us the real face of the ECB, and what responsibility might this letter put on the ECB? So I am calling on Mario Draghi and the ECB to reverse this decision so that European citizens can see how Europe really works.