The rise in gold reserves

14.2.2013

Question for written answer E-001617-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Cristiana Muscardini (ECR)

While reforms to international finance are constantly being postponed and various governments try to tackle rising debt through disguised competitive devaluation, some countries are placing their hopes on increasing their gold reserves. China, the world’s leading gold producer, is buying up gold on international markets because it wants to boost its reserves, currently standing at around 1 000 tonnes only, by a further 500 tonnes. Germany too, judging from information published in the daily newspaper Handelsblatt, seems to have decided to repatriate its gold reserves back from the USA, where they were sent during the cold war.

1. Can the Commission confirm this information?

2. What is its interpretation of these decisions to trust in gold?

3. Does the Commission consider that the roots of this policy lie in the uncertainly caused by the failure to take decisions to resolve the financial crisis and by monetary policies that push debt up and risk high inflation?

4. What role does the rise in gold reserves play in regard to the fall in the value of the dollar and the yen?

5. What is the best way of protecting the euro amongst all this uncertainty?

OJ C 355 E, 05/12/2013