Hannes Swoboda: „We are proud of the Nobel Peace Prize but the EU Summit must now deliver“

Speaking at the S&D press conference in Strasbourg today, S&D Group president Hannes Swoboda stressed the need to come up with real solutions at this week’s Summit. While the European Union was rightly honoured by the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, it is now time for EU politicians to come up with measures to solve the economic problems that Europe is facing.

Commenting on the upcoming EU Summit, Hannes Swoboda said:

„In stark contrast to the laudable achievement of peace for the European continent, the proposals European politicians are putting forward to solve the pressing problems in Europe are an absolute disaster.

„We cannot tolerate that EU Commission President Barroso and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy give beautiful speeches but do not deliver on what they promise to the people.

„The EU Summit this week must take action on the European Monetary Union and the banking union to get Europe back on track. Europe is not just a technocratic plan but it needs a long-term vision and practical economic and political measures to implement this vision.

„Olli Rehn’s latest comment that austerity is working is correct in one sense. Unfortunately only in the sense that it is working to create more unemployment and social injustice. In its calculations, the EU Commission does not mention the impact on people’s lives and this is unacceptable to us.“

On the debate on the banking union, Hannes Swoboda said:

„The Council must do its homework to complete the much-needed banking union.

„We in the European Parliament have done our part by completing the dossier in June. Yet, the Council continues to delay completion. I urge the finance ministers to find a solution when they meet this week.“

In view of the Capital Requirements Directive he stressed:

„This is another dossier where the Council is blocking further progress with absurd proposals. We proposed a 100% bonus threshold and the Council has suggested increasing this to up to 500% of a regular salary. This is far from being a compromise we could accept.“