Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to focus on debt, climate and social Europe. We need to get to grips with the European debt mountain and to reset our ambition away from the idea that has dominated Europe in the past seven years, that is, the sense that the EU has become an agency of fiscal control more than anything else. What of the Lisbon treaty, the social chapter, social solidarity and a European Union that puts citizens first?

A debt conference is absolutely essential. It is not only programme countries that have a problem with the debt mountain. For example, other countries above the 60% target include Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Netherlands. These are in addition to the likes of Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Slovenia, Portugal and, of course, Greece.

We cannot grow the European economy without a fiscal expansion into key areas. In respect of our country, we need to appreciate fully the requirement to tackle climate change. We were told last week by the Minister that this would cost us €300 million per year in hard cash because we will not meet the 2020 targets. That cost will apply every year. We run the risk of these fines. Ireland is importing approximately €7 billion in fossil fuels annually and we are almost 90% dependent on these imports. Therefore, we need to invest in public transport.

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That is where the fiscal expansion is needed. We need to have a major programme of home energy retrofitting and we also need to invest in areas such as broadband. All of these areas would involve the kind of fiscal expansion that would make us a better contributor to the European Union.

With regard to the social crisis, as I have said before, we have achieved stability in our finances at the expense of society in Europe. We have saved the euro at the expense of democratic accountability. Inter-governmentalism has dominated the Council throughout the crisis. We have to move away from being led by politicians who are only concerned with the pragmatic present, and we need to have a vision for the kind of Europe we need to become.

I have quoted Jürgen Habermas in the past. He said:

If one wants to preserve the monetary union, it is no longer enough ... to provide loans to over-indebted states so that each should improve its competitiveness by its own efforts. What is required is solidarity instead, a co-operative effort from a shared political perspective to promote growth and competitiveness in the eurozone as a whole.

Such an effort would require Germany and several other countries to accept short and medium-term negative redistribution effects in its own longer term self-interest - a classic example of solidarity...

We need to see that kind of solidarity. It is a big challenge for Europe to combine and seek that solidarity, but there is no evidence that we have seen it. That is a huge challenge for the European Union.

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