Brussels, 19/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - Sole candidate for the post, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was re-appointed President of the Eurogroup on Monday 18 January. With the Lisbon Treaty, the post, which he has occupied in an informal capacity since January 2005, takes on a formal character. Giving assurances that his re-appointment had not been subject to any preconditions on Luxembourg's commitment to meet higher standards of banking transparency, Juncker set out his work programme for euro area finance ministers on Monday 18. His programme will focus on monitoring the economic policies of the 16 countries of the euro area.
With the Lisbon Treaty coming into effect, the Eurogroup has become “institutionalised” and the scope of its activities is much broader, Juncker said: its work had, therefore, to be re-aligned and optimised “since the global economic situation has dramatically changed”. He set out four points in his “outline” work programme: - “budgetary coordination”, with efforts being made to find agreement on excessive deficit exit strategies and the maintenance of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP); - broadening of “economic surveillance” in the euro area, since, “the budget isn't everything”, by means of analysis of differences in competitiveness and macro-economic imbalances; Juncker wants ministers to give the Eurogroup prior notice of any major budgetary or structural decisions countries are planning; similarly, any member state whose economic policy differs from the guidelines agreed for the euro area, should be sent a “warning” by the European Commission before “firm and vigorous” debate beings; - enhancement of the “international standing of the euro” through joint positions on a number of issues; Juncker hoped that the Commission would suggest that the Eurogroup should be represented at the G20 finance meetings; - in a context related to the “enlargement of the euro area”, the euro area countries would pay more attention to the situation of countries in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II, which have obligations to meet and whose policies have an impact on the euro area. The Eurogroup will be able to publish press releases following its meetings, and these meetings may now take place even when the Ecofin Council is not meeting.
Congratulating Juncker on his “unanimous” re-appointment, Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Joaquín Almunia, attending his last Eurogroup and Ecofin Council meetings, said that the forthcoming Commission reports on member states' competitiveness would be accompanied by a surveillance mechanism going beyond the recommendations made country by country. “Some member states are losing ground” in terms of competitiveness measured, for example, in hourly labour costs, he warned.
The election of the successor to Greek Lucas Papademos as Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB) that was scheduled for January has been postponed until February. The reason for this delay was “not political, but legal”, Juncker said: there were questions over the detail of the procedure. He said that it was not outside the realms of possibility that qualified majority voting by members of the Eurogroup could bring a result where two candidates received the same number of votes. The advice of the Council's legal department had been sought. The decision to delay the election of the ECB Vice-President was “surprising” and “strange” coming, as it did, from someone as experienced as the President of the Eurogroup, when a legal opinion could have been asked for long ago, Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos suggested on Tuesday 19 January. “Yesterday, there was no discussion of candidacies,” said the Council President in office Elena Salgado, taking the view that it was better to clarify the voting system. (M.B./transl.rt)