Is Europe ready for a joint economic recovery?
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Story by
Charlotte Van Calster
Last Wednesday, the 23rd of June, an extraordinary plenary meeting was held in the European Parliament of Brussels. Why? To discuss the results that were reached at the EU summit the week before. Present? Belgian politicians Herman Van Rompuy (President of the European Council), Guy Verhofstadt and Karel De Gucht and Portuguese President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso.
Most frequent words? Conformity, working together and joint dedication. And all of that to "win Europe's trust back".
Photo: ©European Parliament/Pietro Naj-Oleari/ Flickr
De EU summit that was held last week, brought all heads of state and heads of government to Brussels. And the most discussed subject was -not surprisingly- the economic crisis. Van Rompuy started off the meeting with a speech and was followed by Barroso. European Parliament members held a debate afterwards concerning the outcome of last week's EU summit. But what exactly were the results of that summit?
Economic recovery and reformations concerning the economical governance are high on the agenda. Along with that comes: the Euro's stability, the EU 2020 strategy and the developement of a system to keep a close(r) eye on the banking business (in order to prevent a next bank crisis). Question is: is this all as realistic as our European leaders make it sound?
To help the European economy recover, all European institutions should work together, Van Rompuy mentiones. He warns us that it was only a few weeks ago that Europe was standing at the abyss and that Europe still isn't completely safe yet. That's why he calls for cooperation. Barroso makes the same call and also counts on everyone's dedication to "help society act."
About the EU 2020 strategy, Van Rompuy adds that Europe should place a smaller amout of goals first, goals that can certainly be achieved, social goals that focus on education and environment. Because, it is said, without a good education system, we will never get out of this crisis. Other than that, the battle against poverty was also mentioned. During the summit, the 27 heads of state have reached an agreement on "goals that reach very far," Van Rompuy announced.
Not unimportant either, was Jerzy Buzek's statement at the beginning of the meeting. The majority of the European Parliament members have approved a declaration on setting up a Euopean Warning System (EWS) against paedophiles and sex offenders.