Good decisions needed

It was a challenging week: first the plenary session in Strasbourg (14-17 June), then the intervention of the European Council in Brussels (17 June); then a series of other official meetings, speeches and public events. Jerzy Buzek, former leader of Solidarnosc together with Lech Walesa, then premier in Warsaw, was elected President of the European Parliament a year ago. With his close aides he is having to tackle a huge range of issues: from the economic crisis to the creation of an energy community, a policy particularly close to his heart; from the protection of consumers (long discussed in the EP during the recent plenary) to the creation of the diplomatic service of the Twenty-Seven. “The European Council makes decisions that will have effects on future generations. And good decisions are needed”, Buzek declared on the margins of the summit, to which he brought the positions of the EP. “With the Lisbon Treaty the Parliament has new and wider powers – he added -. Decisions have to be taken with the Community method” and not be limited to the will of governments. “A lot of work to be done”. Buzek was the first politician to take the floor at the summit. He had arrived directly from Strasbourg, where the chamber had voted a series of resolutions, also with reference to the issues on the agenda of the European Council: Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs, verification of the situation of the public finances in member countries, preparation of the G20 in Toronto, macroeconomic surveillance, revision of the Stability Pact, and common position on the Millennium Goals for the UN summit in September. “There’s a lot of work to be done to recover economic confidence and to avoid new crises in future – commented Buzek -. It is also essential that we adopt proposals and take decisions valid for all 27 member states”. To overcome the crisis “the current strategy is insufficient; more ambitious interventions and especially Community coordination and EU governance of the economy are needed. This is the message that emerged from the plenary session of the European Parliament and that I transmitted” to the heads of state and of government. Recession and recovery. The pages of Buzek’s speech, divided into two parts (the economic challenge; external relations), were densely scrawled over with annotations, interjections and notes. Buzek is looking beyond the summit and trying to glimpse the commitments that lie in store for Europe in the years ahead: “There’s no need for new institutions in the EU; what’s needed is to make those we already have work properly”. For example in terms of economic governance, the EP President is convinced that “it must be the Commission that plays the role of coordination” that has so far been lacking. But it is also essential, in his view, to revise the Stability and Growth Pact, to make its constraints binding, to assign greater powers of control to Eurostat, and to respect, or enforce, the decisions that are taken together. The Polish politician is convinced that the EU must not stop at the more pressing needs imposed by the recession: Europe 2020 must plan future public investments, albeit in compliance with state budgets, accompany the completion of the single market and support the growth of backward regions. This “exit strategy” from the crisis, aimed at reviving the economy and re-launching the European social model, comprises precise commitments at the level of training, social inclusion and poverty reduction. Reforms, sacrifices. “I have travelled round many countries during this period [since becoming EP President] – pointed out Buzek -, including Spain, Greece and Portugal. Throughout Europe difficult socio-economic situations are emerging, and that’s why long-term reforms are needed. We need however to say to citizens quite honestly that sacrifices are needed to safeguard pensions and create jobs” for the next generations. The President then passed to personal reminiscences: “I was inside the trade-union Solidarnosc, and I therefore promoted strikes against the government then in power in Poland to defend employment. I then entered politics and rose to lead the national government and had to accomplish difficult reforms, though they did enable us to restore financial stability, control the budget, and ensure the sustainability of the pension system. Just these reforms are required in this phase in Europe and must be implemented by the governments in office, of no matter what political complexion, with a dialogue open to the opposition parties”. Beyond the summit. The President of the Parliament, who is also a university professor and researcher, and a leading figure in the European People’s Party, will celebrate his 70th birthday on 3 July, though he is far from looking his age. “In my speech to the Council – he added – I insisted on the proposal for the energy community to ensure energy supplies and a common EU position on international markets”. He also touched on the UN Millennium Goals and cooperation with developing countries, the G20 summit in Toronto in late June, and the need to implement “as soon as possible” the EU diplomatic service in third countries (European External Action Service). He concluded his speech with an appeal to the 27 member countries to ensure “the transparency and sound functioning” of the EU: an appeal for “good government” and the “community method” that Buzek re-launched for the post-summit.