EU rebuffs Gingrich comments on EMU
10:24 a.m. Apr 20, 1998 Eastern
BRUSSELS, April 20 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Monday
dismissed U.S. Republican leader Newt Gingrich's criticism of the
European Union's plans for monetary union, saying his ideas took no
account of reality.
In an article for Canadian-based Hollinger newspapers, republished in
Britain's Daily Telegraph on Monday, Gingrich said the EU's plan for
economic and monetary union (EMU) was ''an extraordinary gamble'' and
could have very painful results.
Gingrich, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said it was
understandable that Britain was hesitant to join EMU and said he would
support any move in the U.S. Congress to offer Britain associate status
in the North American Free Trade Agreement, which links the United
States, Mexico and Canada.
Eleven of the EU's 15 members are expected to launch the bloc's single
currency, the euro, from next January. Britain has chosen not to take
part in the first wave.
''Mr Gingrich's statements only bind him,'' the European Commission's
chief spokeswoman, Martine Reicherts, told reporters in response to a
question about the article.
''Mr Gingrich cannot know all of the subtleties of European politics,''
she said, reminding Gingrich that the EU had a treaty, a common trade
policy and customs tariffs which had been agreed by all 15 member
states.
''His ideas are very original but take absolutely no account of
reality,'' Reicherts said.
Reicherts reiterated that the Commission believed EMU was on track and
that 11 member states would participate in EMU from the beginning.
The EU's executive body believed that the weekend of May 2, when EU
leaders will confirm which countries will launch the euro, would be a
historic occasion, she added.
In the article, which originally appeared in the Chicago Sun Times,
Gingrich said he believed it would have been safer for the EU to focus
first on its labour and capital markets before aiming for monetary
union.
''Only after labour, capital and housing had become mobile should the
actual monetary system have been risked. I hope I'm wrong,'' he wrote.
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