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HIGHLIGHTS-France's Sarkozy, EU's Barroso in Strasbourg
21 Oct 2008 11:34:22 GMT
 Source: Reuters
STRASBOURG, France, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The following are comments by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

BARROSO

On EU internal market:

"We need the internal market."

"The European Commission is in favour, at least in principle, of any measures that will help economic growth, companies, if these measures are not discriminatory, if they do not call into question the internal market."

On European Central Bank:

"There is no doubt about the independence of the ECB and it is extremely important to guarantee the independence of the ECB ... it can also discuss things with the European heads of state.

"We are in favour of bolstering coordination ... I don't think we should create a dangerous illusion ... that we are giving instructions to the ECB."

SARKOZY

On sovereign wealth funds:

"In the world, there are sovereign wealth funds with considerable funds."

"Shouldn't we think then during this period of crisis about ... having sovereign funds ourselves which would make it possible to defend national interests and European interests? Taking advantage of the money which can be achieved not too expensively to reach strategic assets that have depreciated?"

BARROSO

"I find the idea of sovereign funds extremely interesting."

SARKOZY

On rating agencies:

"I think the attitude of rating agencies was the most scandalous factor of the crisis. Agencies rated triple-A on Friday a product which they demoted to triple-B on Monday, and that's not possible, you can't go on with a monopoly of three agencies for rating, mostly United States agencies."

"The question of rating agencies, independent from certain power groups, and the presence of a European agency, is one of the major issues that will be crucial for the summit when we look to the future of regulation in the financial sector."

On competition:

"I believe in competition but I've had enough of making competition an end in itself, it is a means to an end, actually. Competition is a means at the service of growth."

Accounting standards:

"Dictatorship of U.S. accounting rules is no longer tolerable, is not admissible. If banks can actually lend out at an unreasonable ratio to their own assets, that's not reasonable. Mark-to-market has destabilised everything ... this question of accounting standards is something the (European) Commission is going to look at and we support it."

On financial crisis:

"We are facing the worst at the moment and if we are not bold it will be fatal." "We need a new Bretton Woods."

On European regulator:

"Personally, I do support your proposal for a European regulator. We need a European regulator."

"Why don't we do it now? Because certain countries that defend a national regulator think they're defending the identity of their country."

"We need to get a European regulator in order to meet our goals."

"I don't see any realistic path, because if not we're just going to have a blockage of the system."

On European Central Bank policy:

"You can have another monetary policy without undermining the independence of the ECB."

BARROSO

On U.S. debt:

"A lot of economists say it would be very difficult to argue that you can maintain the level of debts you have in the United States."

"You have to look more to balancing the public debt."

"Perhaps if the U.S. had a Stability and Growth Pact, we would not have seen this financial crisis."

On economy, protectionism:

"There is also the real economy and we all know that day by day the evidence builds that we are facing a serious economic slowdown. The impact is being felt on jobs, on household incomes and businesses large and small. One thing is clear, that there is no national road out of this crisis. Our economies are too intertwined. We will swim or sink together. We must not give in to the siren calls for protection or turn our backs on globalisation."

SARKOZY

On governance:

"I believe the crisis calls upon us to reform the European institutions ... a call for Europe to provide as rapid a response as possible."

"I believe it would be a major mistake if Europe were not to have reform of its institutions."

"It isn't reasonable that everything has to change every six months."

"So with President Barroso, we will work on a roadmap to see how we can deal with the Irish problem.

"Before I leave the presidency, I intend to come with a roadmap for achieving that in stages by consensus."

"It's not possible for the euro zone to continue without clearly identified economic governance. We cannot continue in this way."

"I would like to pay homage to the action of the bank (European Central Bank). The bank had to be independent but for its action to be properly deployed, the bank had to be in dialogue with the government. That was the spirit of the (EU) treaty."

"Genuine economic governance would be for the Eurogroup to meet at the level of heads of state and government."

"We don't have an economic government worthy of that name."

On planned world financial summit:

"Who will take part in this summit? There are a lot of different schools. I believe the most straightforward thing would be the G8, obviously with Russia. We need to add the G5 to that, obviously with China and India."

"With President Barroso, we are going to visit China, the aim being also to convince China and India to take part in this summit."

"This is a global crisis so the response can only be global."

"The president of the United States and Europe together have proposed various different summits kicking off in mid-November which will look at new global governance, new regulation."

"I hope that Europe will be able to debate that."

"I will ... propose to my partners, the heads of state and government, that we should meet for those summits."

On tax havens:

"No bank which works with state money should be able to work with tax havens. No financial institutions should be able to work without being covered by financial regulations."

On Russian war with Georgia:

"We saw a war with a completely disproportionate reaction from the Russians in the case of Georgia. It was disproportionate to intervene as the Russians did in Georgia. I also use the word reaction, because that was because there was a preceding inappropriate action, and Europe has to be fair. Europe shouldn't hesitate to step out of the ideological framework."

"Given the state of the world today, I don't believe the world needs a crisis between Europe and Russia. We can defend our differences, human rights, but it would be irresponsible to create the conditions for a conflict for which we have no need."

"Europe brought about peace, Europe has brought about withdrawal of these occupying troops. And Europe has brought about dialogue."

"It strikes me that it's been a long time since Europe has played this kind of role."

"Obviously there are ambiguities ... But if Europe had not raised the voice of dialogue and responsibility, who would have done that?"


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Last updated:Tue Oct 21 11:36:09 2008