Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, you have before you a unanimous resolution by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs to appoint Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and to support this recommendation. Who is this lady? As we observed in the committee – and I am also responding to the critical comments voiced by my fellow Members – she is certainly not a media product. Nor is she a token woman. She is certainly not a cloned version of other comparable bank directors either. Mrs Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell is her own person with rough edges, principles, experience, demonstrable results and intuition. This was why, after the hearing in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on 29 April, we all concluded that she merits description as frank, competent and a consummate professional. I have six demands to make of the new member of the ECB's Executive Board. Firstly, Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell, please strengthen the independence of the European Central Bank and boost its defences against populist and politically motivated interjections and apportionment of blame, including from politicians! In doing so, however – and this is my second point – do not hide behind the ECB Statute; instead, step up the dialogue on economic and monetary affairs with politicians, with Parliament, with the media and with the citizens of Europe. Thirdly, explain the economic context and background to the decisions more fully. By doing so, you will help to enhance the transparency and comprehensibility of monetary policy decisions. Fourthly, Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell, please also have the courage to make demands and even challenge the politicians – despite, or perhaps even because of, your independence and the variety of tasks on the agenda. We need this competition of ideas, this intellectual rivalry, in order to intensify the economic and monetary policy debate. Fifthly, Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell, you took a leading role in coordinating the preparations for Austria to join the economic and monetary union. I would ask you to place your experience at the disposal of the EU Member States who are not part of the eurozone. Our goal must be to make the euro the home currency of all citizens in all the EU Member States and ensure that it is seen as a strong brand for the most competitive internal market in the world. Sixthly – and a number of speakers have alluded to this – I would ask the new member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board to uphold the principle of price stability and adhere to it rigorously. Price stability produces low inflation and interest rates and is thus the prerequisite for growth, employment and an economic policy leading to prosperity. The candidate will join the ECB Executive Board at a very dynamic and exciting time. There is EU enlargement, which means that we will have more Member States outside the eurozone than in it. There are the different economic cycles, the cyclical and structural problems within the European Union, which we have just been discussing, the absence of economic dynamism, the lack of a pro-active approach and the lack of confidence in politics and economics, the forthcoming conclusion of the Basle II Accord and the drafting of a directive, and also the issue of whether Europe will become the financial centre of the world compared with other continents, regardless of the narrow-minded provincial outlook. All this requires a very self-confident, objective and persuasive personality capable of engaging in the debate, not only within the ECB. We are convinced that you are this person and can achieve the levels of performance required. The Group of the European People’s Party supports your candidacy and wishes you every success. We look forward to what will undoubtedly be very constructive cooperation. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE