ID :
34081
Fri, 12/05/2008 - 10:47
Auther :

EC CALLS FOR 200 BLN EUROS STIMULUS PACKAGE TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN EUROPEAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- The European Commission Tursday presented
a comprehensive plan to drive Europe's recovery from the current economic
crisis.

It has called for short-term measures to boost demand, save jobs and help
restore confidence as well as smart investments to yield higher growth and
sustainable prosperity in the longer-term.

EC President José Manuel Barroso in presenting the plan in Brussels said
the
commission was calling for a timely, targeted and temporary fiscal stimulus of
around 200 billion euros or 1.5 percent of EU gross domestic product (GDP),
within both national budgets (around 170 billion euros, 1.2 percent of GDP) and
EU and European Investment Bank budgets (around 30 billion euros, 0.3 percent of
GDP).

"Exceptional times call for exceptional measures. The jobs and well-being
of
our citizens are at stake," he was quoted saying in a statement issued here
Thursday.

"Every Member State is called upon to take major measures good for its own
citizens and good for the rest of Europe.

"The Recovery Plan will reinforce and accelerate reforms already underway
under the Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy .

The plan will see extensive action at national and EU level to help
households and industry and concentrate support on the most vulnerable.

It has also put forward concrete steps to promote entrepreneurship,
research
and innovation, including in the car and construction industries.

The Recovery Plan also aims to boost efforts to tackle climate change while
creating much-needed jobs at the same time, through for example strategic
investment in energy efficient buildings and technologies.

Barroso said Europe needed to extend to the real economy its
unprecedented coordination over financial markets.

It builds on the Commission's proposals of October 29 that were the first
blueprint to reach beyond crisis support in the financial sector and address the
problems in the real economy, he said.

He said the plan will keep millions in work in the short-term.

"It can turn the crisis into an opportunity to create clean growth and more
and better jobs in the future. The timely, targeted and temporary fiscal
stimulus will help put our economy back on track, within the Stability and
Growth Pact," he said.

Barroso said smart investments in tomorrow's skills and technologies will
accelerate Europe's drive under the Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy to become a
dynamic low-carbon economy for the 21st century.

If Europe acts decisively to implement this plan, "we can get back on a
path
of sustainable growth and pay back short-term government borrowing." he
said.

"If we do not act now, we risk a vicious recessionary cycle of falling
purchasing power and tax revenues, rising unemployment and ever wider budget
deficits," he added.

The Commission has called for the Heads of State and Government at the
European Council on December 11-12 to endorse the Recovery Plan and show their
determination to act together in a closely coordinated way.
-- BERNAMA

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