德国总理默克尔在2013年达沃斯冬季论坛上的演讲

Speech by Federal Chancellor Merkel at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Jan 24, 2013

Mr Schwab,

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I’m delighted to be back here again in Davos. The World Economic Forum is, of course, as great a magnet as ever. It offers not only interesting insights and outlooks, but also interesting panoramas – of mountains, obviously, but also as regards current economic developments. We find here food for thought, trends, succinct analyses – in these very turbulent times that can all be of great value.

In almost all industrialized countries the past year has been one of relatively modest growth. Overall the global economy grew in 2012 by just three per cent. Apart from the crisis years of 2008 and 2009, this is the lowest figure for a decade. I’m well aware, of course, that the situation in the euro area has been a factor in this admittedly modest global growth. This had to do first and foremost with the question of confidence, with the prevailing climate of nervousness. But what’s also crucial here is how strong the political will is to keep the euro area together, how open to reform its members are, how willing to show solidarity. Over the past twelve months I believe we’ve made significant progress on that score.

The motto of this year’s meeting is “resilient dynamism”. And it’s certainly an excellent choice. Yet how, we may ask, is this to be achieved? Part of the answer might lie in concepts of sustainability and development. As I see it, that’s what we should be aiming for. Not some kind of breakneck dynamism at all costs but a dynamism that’s capable of withstanding shocks. That’s why I find this motto so apt.

We in Europe intend – and this has also been agreed in the European Union – to develop our economic and monetary union into a real stability union. This is anything but a quick-fix emergency operation. It’s a strategy for the long term – a strategy that combines structural reforms designed to enhance competitiveness with the consolidation of public finances. Let me emphasize here once again that for me these two things very much belong together. When it comes to restoring confidence, consolidation and growth are basically two sides of one and the same coin.

The situation we have right now is one where time is clearly a definite factor. We’ve made headway on consolidating public finances – since 2009 new borrowing in the euro area has roughly halved – and a whole series of structural reforms are now under way. We realize, however, that structural reforms and budget consolidation need time to work – their impact won’t be felt the moment such measures are taken. That’s something we learned from our own experience in Germany – the results of the action we took only started to show two, three or four years later.

So what’s crucial now is to factor in this time-lag, so to speak, and stop the political situation escalating and creating new instabilities. This means that when unemployment in Spain, Portugal or Greece, for example, is running at over 50% or even 60% perhaps, in the case of young people, our most important task is to convince people that they do have a future and if necessary to introduce temporary schemes that will keep them going until structural reforms begin to really kick in and unemployment falls. That has to be our main priority for the near future.

I’d like to touch briefly on this whole debate that’s under way here, too, as to when to implement structural reforms and when to reduce public spending. When’s the best time, economically speaking, for such measures. In the view of many economic experts, it’s clearly easier to cut spending and introduce structural reforms when the overall economic situation is reasonably good, when growth is not a worry. Experience teaches, however, that often structural reforms are tackled only when the political pressure to act becomes irresistible. In Germany, for example, it wasn’t until unemployment reached the 5-million mark that policy-makers were willing to take decisive action. So as I see it, the reality of the difficult situation Europe is now in means that we must take action now on the structural reforms needed to ensure a brighter future.

Today we have new instruments at our disposal – European instruments, instruments of practical solidarity. For one thing, there’s the European Stability Mechanism or ESM. Five years ago the idea of establishing such a permanent mechanism to protect the euro would have been inconceivable. It’s now up and running. That sends a very positive message. To enhance fiscal solidity, for another thing, we’ve introduced the so-called fiscal compact. It, too, entered into force at the beginning of the year.

In the euro area we now have better and stronger instruments for budget management. We have solidarity mechanisms. Where banking supervision is concerned, we’ve made considerable progress. From 2014 onwards a new banking supervision system will be operating in the euro area, in which other European countries may participate if they so wish. What we are still lacking, however – and this is something we must work on in 2013 – is an answer to how, throughout the common monetary union, we can ensure greater coherence over the years ahead in the matter of competitiveness. By coherence here I don’t mean some kind of European median score. Our yardstick should be whether our products can compete in global markets. Obviously euro area countries can grow only if their products sell around the world. That’s why the issue of competitiveness is so important.

What I’m thinking of here – and this is something we’re currently discussing in the European Union – is a compact for competitiveness along the lines of the fiscal compact. The way this could work would be that countries would conclude agreements or treaties with the European Commission committing them to become more competitive in areas where they’re lagging behind. This could often concern things like non-wage labour costs, unit labour costs, research spending, infrastructure and the efficiency of public administration – things that fall within the competence of the European Union member states. So of course such treaties would have to be ratified by the national parliaments. And these treaties would need to be binding, too, so we can see to what extent competitiveness in the euro area is really improving.

Boosting labour mobility in the internal market is another issue we must tackle. There are evidently language barriers and barriers to the transferability of social security systems. So what’s needed here is to use the opportunities afforded by the common internal market to develop also a common labour market.

And there’s yet a third thing we need to do. We need to ask ourselves what must be done to make the European internal market a truly major player in global markets. That means we mustn’t take a purely insider’s view of the internal market. What’s crucial above all is to ensure that we in Europe have companies which are major players internationally. If the European Union and the European Commission are to become still better prepared for the global challenges ahead, there will have to be some changes in perception in this area, too.