Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 May 2012
104Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on comments made on the 17 May 2012 by the newly positioned French Finance Minister Muscovici that his Government will not ratify the Austerity Treaty as is; and the impact this stance will have on the overall stability of the Euro in coming weeks. [25747/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI congratulate the newly appointed members of the French Government, including the new French Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, on taking up their new appointments. Throughout the presidential election campaign and since, President Hollande has made clear his intention to seek to complement the stability treaty with a growth-oriented approach. The comments by Mr. Moscovici are entirely consistent with that approach, which the Government has welcomed.
The European Council will meet tomorrow to consider how to advance the growth and jobs agenda, and it will return to the matter again in its meeting next month. These are important meetings and we will engage actively in the discussions. There is now an understanding at European level that we need to continue with the reforms necessary to place our economies on a sustainable path, but that this needs to be balanced with policies to generate growth and to create jobs. This will require progress on a number of important fronts. We need to continue to press ahead with implementation of existing commitments, especially regarding the Single Market. President Van Rompuy has argued for rapid progress in a number of areas, on which I fully support him. President Barroso has also signalled that the Commission is working on identifying further areas that have the capacity to provide the greatest and most immediate boost to growth and will come forward with a targeted set of measures.
We also need to continue with reforms at national level as part of the Europe 2020 process aimed at future-proofing our economies. The Commission will make its specific recommendations for each member state on 30 May and these must be advanced as a priority. Ireland's EU-IMF programme is at the heart of Ireland's efforts in this process. However, it is clear that steps are also necessary to improve prospects for growth in the short term. In this regard, a number of important and interesting proposals have been brought to the table, including those made by President Hollande. These include the possibility of increasing the capital available to the European Investment Bank as a means of improving its capacity for onward lending; considering whether there are ways in which unspent structural funds can be mobilised in support of our growth agenda; and advancing the Commission's project bonds initiative.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
It is important that these measures are all seen in the round. As I have said before, efforts to ensure stability, such as the new treaty, and efforts to drive growth are two sides of the one coin. There will be no growth without stability and no stability without growth. The Government is very strongly of the view that the best way for Ireland to secure its recovery and its future is to endorse the treaty; to put ourselves in a position where we have a credible and secure line of future funding, should it be needed; and to work closely and urgently with like-minded partners at European level to drive forward the jobs and growth agenda.
During the French presidential election, François Hollande, then a candidate said that he would not ratify this treaty as is and that he would look for measures regarding growth and jobs to be put in place. On several occasions when those of us on the "No" side, including Sinn Féin, made this point clear, the Government challenged us. The French Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, has now repeated that assertion that France will not ratify as is, but will negotiate to seek significant changes on growth and jobs. That has now clearly led to that perspective being raised at the G8 gathering that took place in the past week. What I want to say is-----
A question, please.
The question is as follows. The Government has enthusiastically supported the treaty and has not sought to renegotiate but has given it as it is. It did not call for changes to the text regarding growth. It has done nothing compared with what the French President and his Finance Minister are now stating. All the parties of the left - the social democratic parties - and even the European Trade Union Confederation have spoken out against the treaty. When will the Tánaiste change tack? Why is his party alone on the left and in the social democratic movement in Europe so enthusiastically selling this treaty as it is?
I am not alone. All the parties, to which the Deputy refers, support the budgetary discipline measures that are contained in the treaty. President Hollande and the French Government are seeking what the Government here has been discussing since last year. The Government was among the first to argue that we needed growth and jobs measures in order to complement the stability treaty. In addition it was agreed that there would be such an agenda. First, it is contained in the text of the treaty which states clearly that its purpose is to promote growth, competitiveness, employment and social cohesion in Europe. Second, it was expressed clearly in the conclusions of the January summit where the treaty was finally agreed, that there would be a growth agenda and a number of specific measures were set out at that meeting, including measures to tackle youth unemployment, measures to provide for lending to small and medium-sized businesses and regarding completion of the Single Market. President Hollande is talking about precisely the same thing and we welcome it. I expect that tomorrow's European Council meeting will discuss how that growth agenda can be advanced. Those may relate to the European Investment Bank, Structural Funds and project funds. Arising from that, I hope it will be possible to return to the June summit meeting, because tomorrow's meeting is an informal one, with a concrete programme of growth measures to complement the stability treaty, the provisions of which are supported by President Hollande and other social democratic parties in Europe.
Now that there is a renegotiation at last of this failed right wing austerity approach in Europe, and particularly of this treaty, what specifically is the Government seeking? Is the Minister or the Government actively renegotiating the treaty? Is the Government seeking eurobonds, the deployment of the European Investment Bank or a write down of banking debt in Ireland, which means we cannot meet the targets in real terms? Can the Minister give us some specific details about what the Government is seeking to achieve in this renegotiation?
I wish to be clear about this, because Sinn Féin has a habit of constantly misquoting, selectively quoting and twisting words and terms. The treaty on which we will vote on 31 May is not being renegotiated. The text of that treaty is clear and it will not change. What we are doing, and what we have been doing since last year, is pursuing a growth agenda. We have always said that the stability treaty alone was not the sole means of getting the European economy to recover and grow, and that there must also be growth and jobs. We have put forward a number of suggestions, some of which were taken up in January. We have supported and advocated a widening of the role of the European Investment Bank. Building on the decision made in January, which addressed how unused Structural Funds might be used to address issues such as youth unemployment, we are looking at ways that might become a reality. We would support the concept of project funds and eurobonds.
Bank debt is a separate issue. We have been pursuing a separate track of negotiation relating to bank debt and we have already made progress on that. We secured a reduction in the interest rate and agreement on the exchange of the promissory note for a longer term bond. We continue to negotiate with the ECB on ways of re-engineering the bank debt to the best advantage of the Irish taxpayer.
