[autom.vertaling] Hervorming van het IMF: voorstellen door Leden van het Europese Parlement (en)

MEPs want EU Member States to coordinate their positions better within the International Monetary Fund. And the IMF, currently undergoing internal reforms, should contribute more to the Millennium Development Goals. These were the main points of a draft resolution adopted on Tuesday 31 January by the Economic Affairs Committee.

The subject of the committee's report - drawn up by Benoît Hamon (PES, FR) and adopted unanimously - was the strategic review of the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Hamon proposed that the EU should have a single seat on the IMF, to be occupied jointly by the presidency of the Ecofin Council and the European Commission under the supervision of the European Parliament. However, a majority of committee members voted instead in favour of ensuring "that the eurozone or if possible the European Community is represented and votes as a single block", thus taking up an idea proposed by Jean-Louis Bourlanges (ALDE, FR), who drafted the opinion of Parliament's International Trade Committee.

If the European Union became a member of the IMF it would hold 31.92% of the voting rights, putting it ahead of the United States, which is still the main "shareholder" of the Fund with 17.11%. MEPs also urge the IMF to review the distribution of quotas and voting rights to reflect the current world economy better and give more weight to the economies of emerging and developing countries.

The committee proposes greater coordination between the IMF and the World Bank to promote development issues and the achievement of the Millennium Goals.

Turning to the liberalisation of the financial systems of borrowing countries, Members of the Economic Affairs Committee urged that this be "gradual, sequential and stable" but also "adjusted to take account of their institutional capacities, thus permitting the effective regulation and management of capital movements". Similarly, the opening up of the markets of low-income countries should not take place outside the framework of the World Trade Organisation's Development Round, so that these countries can conduct the negotiations themselves and choose the degree to which they open up their markets.

In fact, the committee adds that indebted countries should not have to open up their markets fully to foreign imports. There must be "protection for certain industries for a limited period so as to permit a steady development to take hold in the industrial sector".

MEPs welcome "the desire to improve the levels of education and health in developing countries" and they stress that "increasing public expenditure remains the surest way to reduce inequality of access" to health and education.

Lastly, the committee suggests that the IMF set up policies designed to prevent new debt crises and it welcomes the decision to extend the HIDC (Highly Indebted Countries) initiative.

31/01/2006

Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs : Pervenche Berès (PES, FR)

Procedure: initiative report

Plenary vote: February, Strasbourg