The euro has been a major success since its launch in 1999. Do we need to give greater representation and visibility to the eurozone in international financial institutions like the G-8 and the IMF to better reflect the euro’s importance?
The euro is indeed a huge success story. It is currently the world's strongest and most stable currency, gnawing away at hegemony of the US dollar. By the way, this hegemony is based more on political grounds than on economic ones. Even the most vociferous and sceptical critics of the euro have been silenced by its success. The member states who joined the EU in 2004 are queuing up to join the eurozone, and others that have so far been reluctant to adopt the single currency for different reasons will do so eventually. It is only a question of time. So I believe that thanks to the euro's own success story its importance and visibility is self-evident, and impossible to ignore on the international stage. Having said that, a truly common European economic and monetary policy, better fine-tuning and a common approach among those key players either representing the euro or having an impact on European monetary matters, would strengthen the currency’s global impact and further encourage worldwide investment in the euro. I believe, incidentally, that the euro helps us to fend off threats we might otherwise be facing from the current turbulence on the world's financial markets caused by the crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market and the slowdown of the housing market there. As an additional measure, calculating oil prices in euros rather than in the highly volatile US dollar could benefit the world economy by adding greater certainty and reliability.
The EU has policies for the environment and for sustainable development and is trying to create a common energy policy. The new reform treaty provides a legal base for a common energy policy. How should energy and environmental policy be combined over the next 50 years to address global challenges like climate change?
Two billion people worldwide followed Al Gore's “Live Earth” concerts in July. These concerts launched a three-year campaign to combat climate change and advocate environmentally sustainable living. Our children are looking to us as parents, as industrialists and business people, as citizens and as legislators to do something to protect this planet. More and more people have heard and understood the climate change message, so now it falls to us all to do something, whether as individuals in the choices we make about transport and energy use, or as politicians in the laws we put in place. Even US President George W. Bush has belatedly woken up to just how strongly people feel about this, and what a huge threat it is. And that is important, because if we are really going to make a difference then we need the US on board at the forthcoming UN Climate Summit in Bali in December.
The European Union has much to be proud of. In February this year, EU leaders agreed that carbon emissions must be cut by 20% by 2020, to increase energy efficiency by 20% and to a target of 20% for the use of renewable energy sources. The Socialist Group in the European Parliament has set up a working group that is looking at practical ways of making sure that these targets are met.
The new European reform treaty contains a legal base for a common European energy policy. Climate change and energy policy of course go hand-in-hand, and it is essential that European countries work together if our efforts are to be effective. We also need to make sure that energy policy is an integral part of our international work, especially with regard to the Middle East and to Russia.
Europe’s social model is coming under pressure from the forces of globalisation. What will be the major social challenges for the EU over the next 50 years?
Europe's internal market is at its most successful and competitive when it combines the pursuit of sustainable economic growth with strong social policy. Over the past decade, right-wing and neo-liberal politicians have been repeating the mantra that economic growth and high social standards are incompatible, so that European workers should therefore work longer hours and accept cuts in pay and pensions, and trades union rights should be curbed. It is time to challenge this hollow mantra because it simply is not true. There will be enormous economic and social challenges for the European Union over the next 50 years, and we have to realise that Europe is competitive when it invests in people, in training and in quality social welfare. We want a new Social Europe that addresses the need for security in an increasing flexible labour market, that addresses equal pay for men and women, and that provides the best public services. A new Social Europe should also tackle the increasing wealth gap between the rich and ordinary citizens and take care of its growing elderly population.
What are the current strategic challenges that will determine the role and place of Europe in the world for the next 50 years?
The growth of China, Brazil and India require change, as does the overriding urgency of development in Africa. The knock-on effects on Europe of the US sub-prime mortgage lending scandal show us that we cannot simply leave international financial markets to act as they see fit, regardless of the impact on ordinary citizens. The fiasco that has been the invasion of Iraq shows us how much we need a multilateralist approach to security. To deal with all these challenges now and over the next fifty years, it is essential that Europe plays a full and constructive role in the reform of our international institutions, notably the United Nations but also the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.
Martin Schulz, President of the Socialist Group, was interviewed for Europe’s World by journalist Simon Taylor. This section is supported by the Socialist Group (http://www.socialistgroup.eu).