mr president the key to overcoming the economic crisis is to draw binding conclusions from it because this is first of all a crisis of trust and responsibility
trust is based on a reasonable balance of incomes and expenditures
for more than twenty years most of europe has been used to living and consuming today at the expense of tomorrow and even the day after tomorrow at the expense of the next generations whose numbers are dramatically dwindling
secondly we have been used to treating stability-backed rules in a very liberal way
if the large states can do it in case of domestic need it is easier for the others to follow suit
therefore to enforce the principle of fiscal discipline and restore it in all seriousness the policies of a balanced budget will be the test case of europe's credibility
thirdly there is an obvious need for check and balance mechanisms
i can only welcome the council's approval of the conclusions about european economic governance the activation of the debt criteria and the chance of an early intervention mechanism
but what we really need and i can only support the conclusions of my colleague mr verhofstadt is real economic governance and real automatic sanctions sanctions that bite
we look forward to the commission's framework proposals on the future crisis mechanisms next month
