Ramon Tremosa

Setmana intensa al Parlament Europeu. Dimecres vam celebrar el debat de l’informe anual 2014 del Banc Central Europeu, que fiscalitza la política monetària dels països de l’euro i al qual hi assisteix cada any Mario Draghi. Un any més el grup m’ha confiat de ser el seu ponent en aquest informe i això em va permetre participar en el debat a plenari, així com tenir un breu intercanvi d’impressions amb l’actual president del BCE.

Vídeo: aquí teniu l’enllaç amb el vídeo de la meva intervenció:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiJlTSoPcVg&feature=youtu.be 

Una esmena meva sobre el corredor mediterrani ha estat acceptada en aquest informe: el 21 de gener el comitè d’Economia del Parlament Europeu va aprovar per gran majoria (51 vots a favor i nomes 2 en contra) una esmena meva a l’informe anual del BCE, en la qual es reclamava que el Banc Central Europeu (BCE) comprés bons per finançar infraestructures d’elevat interès europeu (les conegudes com a TEN-T) en els camps del transport, l’energia i l’agenda digital.

 En el debat a plenari amb Mario Draghi he posat en valor la importància d’aquesta esmena per a l’economia europea, sobretot ara que el BCE es diposa a comprar títols de deute a gran escala. Seguidament us adjunto el text de la meva intervenció (Foto: qui m’escolta en el debat és el bon amic Philip Lamberts, president del grup Verd i “enfant terrible” contra l’especulació financera):

Dear President Draghi, dear colleagues,

If the ECB has to expand its balance sheet, it is better if the Quantitative Easing enhances the potential of the real economy in Europe.

In this respect, I am particularly pleased by the ECB commitment to buy European Investment Bank bonds, in the coming program of bond purchases.

Three weeks ago the ECON committee voted by a very large majority calling the ECB to buy EIB bonds, especially those related to investments in infrastructures, such as energy and transport interconnections European wide.

EIB bonds based on those projects should be prioritized in those buyings, as clear projects with proven European added value and a positive cost-benefit analysis.

For instance, it is strategic for Europe to connect by freight transport the Mediterranean ports with the European markets.

This real economy oriented bonds purchase is very important, because the QE has to operate on different national markets, each with varying degrees of risk.

Thus, it is possible that the QE effects mainly generate a hike in the stock market, without effects on the real economy.

There is also the risk that buying corporate bonds will only serve for big enterprises to arrange buybacks, without an increase in investment.

In contrast, I think that buying securitized loans to SMEs is an important step forward. I hope that its relative importance inside your program will evolve positively as the market grows.

On the other hand, some voices in the financial markets are claiming that they don’t want to sell their government bonds to the ECB.

It is due to possible losses in the transaction, as most bonds are yielding much less nowadays than the moment when they were bought, and a relevant part of bonds today are in negative territory.

Mr Draghi, one question: in case that government bonds targets are not accomplished, due to shortages in the markets, is the ECB ready to buy more bonds from the EIB and ABS?

Finally, I want to congratulate the ECB for releasing for the first time the minutes of the Governing Council meetings. This is a great step forward for transparency and an historical demand we have done in this parliament.

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