Brussels, 12/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - The economic governance “taskforce”, presided over by Herman Van Rompuy, held discussions on Monday 12 July on the recent proposals put forward by the Commission to strengthen coordination of economic policies, particularly the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). According to sources close to the dossier, consensus is expected between members of the group for setting up a “monitoring” mechanism for following the economic competitiveness and budgetary situation of member states. In the context of economic monitoring, the idea of the Commission creating a warning mechanism based on a scoreboard, which would include a series of indicators (balance of current accounts, external debt position etc.) was given a positive welcome, explained these sources. Details, however, still require clarification.
The working group is made up of the president of the European Council, the 27 finance ministers, the commissioner for economic and financial affairs, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the president of the Eurogroup, who also spoke about the “sanctions” section. According to our sources, consensus is currently being developed in favour of implementing sanctions which are both financial (based on payments of structural funds for structural reforms, and the possibility of reducing EU budget funding) and non-financial (such as the “name and shame practice”) but no exact modalities have so far been defined. It is said that the legal basis for financial sanctions still requires further discussions. In the non-financial sanctions category, the idea of suspending voting rights was also discussed but according to one diplomat close to the discussions, “it did not receive much support”. Van Rompuy intends to publish a press statement later on Monday evening. The next taskforce meeting will take place on 6 September. The final report will be presented in October. (H.B./transl.fl)