Madam President, it falls to me to convey to the House and to the Council the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell’s appointment. I speak on behalf of the chairman of the committee, Mrs Randzio-Plath. I should first like to say that the vote of acceptance, the vote in favour of the appointment of Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell, was carried unanimously within the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. I should also like to say that this was no accident. It was because all the members of the committee agreed that the candidate has the requisite training and ability to carry out the task before her. Secondly, I should like to say that the committee was fully satisfied with the written and oral answers provided by the candidate. We were particularly impressed with her pertinent responses to questions on three key issues. I am now speaking on behalf of my group. We noted that the candidate is a firm believer in the dogma of price stability formally proclaimed at Maastricht. We found too that the candidate believes equally firmly that it is for the European Central Bank, acting quite independently, to guarantee the dogma of price stability without prejudice to its duty to work towards the other objectives contained in the Treaty. Further, we were delighted to find that the candidate is fully prepared to cooperate with the European Parliament. This will be to the advantage of the European Central Bank. It will render its positions clearer and more public. It will also serve to boost the image of this House. I would remind you that we have been discussing the broad economic guidelines and that all the speakers emphasised the willingness and ability of Parliament to work loyally towards strengthening an economy that is currently in poor shape. Indeed, the European Union as a whole will benefit and Parliament will help to bring the Bank closer to the citizens. The latter will be better able to understand the Bank’s objectives, methods and actions. I should also like to underline, further to this morning’s debate, that Parliament is fully prepared to cooperate with the European Central Bank in its task of maintaining price stability. This stability is one of the main achievements of the latest stage of the European economy launched at Maastricht. I trust this morning’s vote will provide confirmation of this. With regard to the economic guidelines we would like to point out that it is for the Member States to strive to reduce inflationary pressure in sectors where it occurs, notably in the service sector. It is also for the Member States to create the conditions in which the social partners can initiate a wages policy. This should be a policy of collective negotiation, keeping nominal wages in line with inflation and not allowing them to rise above it. It would also keep real salaries in line with productivity. We are all tasked with ensuring price stability, even though the European Central Bank is specifically charged to do so and will take the lead. In the context of the broad economic guidelines we also underlined the need for coherence and consistency across all economic policies if we are to pull ourselves up out of the hole we are in. Monetary policy is handled by the independent Central Bank. Budgetary policies must be consistent across the Union too. They remain within national competence, but are governed and bound by the Stability and Growth Pact. They are also subject to monitoring by Union institutions, including Parliament. These assess stability and convergence programmes, on which we have made recommendations. I referred earlier to wages policies. They also need to be in line, though they are part of national competence. All short-term supply policies required to deal with the economic crisis should be in line too. They must not be allowed to disturb the economic balance. That must be protected at all times by the European Central Bank as regards monetary issues. The Union’s institutions and the Member States will ensure coherence with the Stability Pact is maintained. I imagine Mr Friedrich will mention this too, but we are pleased to note that the candidate is to be appointed for an eight-year term. This should be time enough to see the programme through. We are pleased to note too that the candidate may not stand for re-election, so her independence is guaranteed. On behalf of the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs I strongly recommend the Council to appoint the candidate and offer her our congratulations.

Political group: PPE-DE