It is a pleasure to participate in the debate of the ECON draft report on the European Central Bank.
I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr. Johan Van Overtveldt, and the members of the committee for their insightful reflections.
The ex-post assessment of the ECB's activities by the European Parliament is essential for the democratic accountability of the ECB.
The Commission acknowledges the ECB's strong commitment and decisive action to ensuring price stability and the smooth transmission of the intended monetary policy stance across the euro area Member States.
The Commission welcomes the ECB's monetary policy measures.
They helped to keep inflation expectations anchored and contributed to falling inflation over the last three years after a high at the end of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Looking ahead, and in line with the latest ECB macroeconomic projections, the Commission autumn economic forecast foresees inflation in the euro area to stabilise around 2% over its forecast horizon, broadly in line with the ECB's inflation target, meaning 2% over the medium term.
In the short term, the economic picture is encouraging.
The euro area and EU economies are expected to continue growing at a moderate pace over the next two years, supported by a robust labour market, falling inflation and improving financing conditions.
Also, the deployment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and other EU funds, notably cohesion, the fiscal stimulus in Germany, and the relatively healthy financial position of the corporate sector will support investment.
Further support could come from higher-than-expected defence spending and continued success in reinforcing and diversifying our trade relationships.
At the same time, Europe faces a number of important economic challenges.
The global economic environment is becoming increasingly adverse for Europe's competitiveness and resilience.
Rising protectionism is weighing on EU exporters and adding to Europe's lingering productivity problem.
At the same time, the EU's trade dependencies are being exploited and entail risks for our economic security.
Europe, therefore, must double its efforts to unlock its full growth potential.
We should complete the Single Market and the Saving and Investment Union, boost innovation, advance pro-competitive reforms and move forward with the simplification agenda.
And we need to diversify our trade partnerships and reduce dependencies.
This also means stepping up efforts to take our security in our own hands.
The agenda is clear.
Action is urgent.
Turning to the fiscal situation.
Public deficits and debt ratios have improved significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, we expect less positive developments in the coming years.
This largely reflects the need to increase defence spending.
Given the multiple demands on public finances and the still high debt levels in some Member States, we must be particularly vigilant to safeguard fiscal sustainability.
This will require important policy decisions on the composition and quality of public spending as well as revenues.
Let me also say a few words on the digital euro.
The ECB's technical preparatory work on the digital euro is progressing well.
Considering the recent geopolitical developments and in light of the quickly evolving payments landscape, swift progress on the digital euro proposal is more important than ever.
We hence welcome the Council's recent adoption of its negotiating position and appreciate the European Parliament's determination to form its position in a timely manner as well.
We need a truly autonomous European payment system, where digital euro and private solutions are interoperable with each other.
More broadly, we need to strengthen the international role of the Euro.
This means not only a wider use of the euro abroad.
It also means that we need to reinforce the resilience of our economic and monetary system, to deepen and integrate our financial markets, and foster innovation and competition in the payment systems to support de-risking and strategic autonomy, in a time in which the international order is rapidly fraying.
We have started working towards the identification of concrete policy actions to navigate the current evolving landscape and ensure the Union's capacity to safeguard its interests in an increasingly complex global order.
We need to carefully look into new developments such as the impact of crypto currencies, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies on Europe's payment infrastructure, new trends in EU trade and capital flows, and the role of our EU safety nets for macro-financial stability.
Of course, we will work closely together with the ECB on these matters.
And we will be happy to continue these important discussions with this House as well.
