Madrid, 16/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - Meeting informally in Madrid on Friday, eurozone finance ministers were generally in favour of the ideas put forward for strengthening economic policy coordination, to be officialised by the European Commission in mid-May (EUROPE 10118 and 10119). The ideas in question pertain to: - strengthening the stability and growth pact (SGP); - deepening and extending economic surveillance; - and establishing a permanent crisis resolution mechanism. “Surveillance of economic policies goes beyond the budgetary framework”, said Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker, convinced of the need for eurozone countries to look at macro-economic imbalances and especially the competitiveness differences that exist between them. At each meeting, the Eurogroup will examine the situation of two member states on the basis of comments from a third member state. The first two countries to be grilled by the Eurogroup will be Spain and Finland, followed by Luxembourg and Portugal. According to Juncker, the 16 members have also agreed that “a permanent crisis mechanism is needed and not a mechanism of permanent crisis!” Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, encouraged all initiatives aimed at strengthening economic surveillance in the eurozone. He felt the Commission's suggestions were “exactly along the right lines”, and felt that the work on strengthening the SGP, the surveillance of competitiveness gaps and the implementation of structural reform were aimed at reducing internal imbalance within the eurozone.
Olli Rehn, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, reiterated that one of the roads to be explored to strengthen SGP consisted of submitting national projects of budgetary law to the analysis of his peers, before final approval by national parliaments. How can Germany, which is apparently not very inclined to accept European interference in this exercise, be reassured? Convinced of the need for ministers to be “very cautious” when they prepare their annual finance law, Juncker gave his assurance that it was a matter of improving information and not of stripping parliaments of their budgetary prerogatives. He also noted “100% enthusiasm” among his colleagues concerning the proposals relating to budgetary surveillance, and went on to say it was “desirable” to develop “stricter rules on the public debt”. Evoking the Commission's right of own initiative, Rehn gave his guarantee that the Commission's formal proposals would take account of the opinions of member states and of the European Parliament.
Van Rompuy Taskforce. Eurozone finance ministers as well as the ECB wish to be a part of the working group chaired by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy - responsible for making proposals by the end of 2010 on the surveillance of economic and budgetary risks. “Eurozone member states must be represented by the finance ministers”, said Juncker, specifying that, when all is said and done, it is up to the governments concerned to decide. “We are willing to take part in President Van Rompuy's taskforce”, Trichet said. (M.B./transl.jl)