Euro and economic governance

The situation

The Greek crisis has shown the inability of the European Union to find sustainable solutions to a situation that the single currency should have prevented. With the “Last Chance Councils” and repeated austerity plans, it is becoming difficult for the European citizen to understand and support these decisions.

There are reasons for this:

Lack of governance :
One or two Council meetings a year cannot constitute truly comprehensive economic policies or respond to complex situations requiring rapid action.
Lack of flexibility :
The European Union’s budget is set every seven years by the multiannual financial framework. This system, based on national contributions, is particularly rigid and susceptible to petty bargaining by Member States.
Lack of solidarity :
As a true space of solidarity, the European Union cannot let its peoples tear each other apart and turn their backs on the weakest.

Our proposals

Deciding together on the economic strategy of the euro zone means giving us common offensive policies for growth and innovation. We defend the idea of a new treaty giving the euro zone :

Political governance:
A real political structure would make it possible to contain the balance of power and restore the balance between the member states. A Minister of Finance and an ad hoc section of the European Parliament would be able to lead new policies, turned towards the general interest.
An Own Budget:
By providing the European Union with an autonomous budget, financed by own resources deducted from national taxes, such as a tax on financial transactions, full latitude will be given to implement policies in the interest of the Union’s citizens.
An ambitious spatial planning policy:
The existence of a single currency area, if imbalances due to the concentration of activities in the most competitive areas, and desertification elsewhere, are to be avoided, requires a spatial planning policy that promotes and encourages the harmonious distribution of these activities throughout the territory.

Our commitments

Every day the PDE defends its ideas through various actions and makes its positions known. For example:

In the European Parliament:
Engin Eroglu, MEP, defends our ideas in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the European Parliament where he is a Full Member.
In our manifesto:
We have been advocating these proposals for several years. They were already at the heart of our programme during the 2009 European Parliament election campaign.