Brussels, 20/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - “You can be sure that the Parliament will stick to its principal objectives in the negotiations for the six legislative proposals presented by the Commission to reform economic governance”, said Diogo Feio (EPP, Portugal) on Wednesday morning, during the debate at the European Parliament on the next major deadlines at European and international level (see article). On the same day, the members of the European Parliament adopted his report, which details their vision of the improvement of economic governance in the European Union. The EP, which is a co-legislator in this field, intends to bring all of its weight to bear in the coming reform, by developing a resolutely European approach. This is a hot topic in the wake of the finalisation of the report by the taskforce headed up by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the Franco-German Deauville agreement (EUROPE 10239).
The MEPs have adopted, without making any modifications, the draft report submitted to them by the committee on economic and monetary affairs (EUROPE 10229). They list eight recommendations on improving economic governance, which include: - multilateral supervision of macro-economic developments; - tightening up the rules of the Pact, paying particular attention to the debt criterion; - the creation of a permanent crisis management mechanism for the eurozone; - appropriate regulation and supervision of the financial markets; - improving the quality of statistics; - better representation for the EU in the international financial institutions.
EMF. The EP took position in favour of creating a mechanism responsible for monitoring developments in sovereign debt, to be used as a last resort when a government is no longer capable of financing its debt on the market or is exposed to problems with its balance of payments. Designed to avoid the moral dilemma implied by the creation of a preventative system, this “European Monetary Fund” (EMF) would contain clear rules on the criteria of affiliation, decision-making procedure, aid conditionality and resources. “It will also be appropriate to carry out a careful examination of the possibility that member states which have not adopted the euro could join the European stabilisation mechanism on a case-by-case basis, and having fulfilled certain conditions”, the MEPs also consider.
Reacting to the adoption of the report, the Greens/EFA are of the opinion that when it comes to economic governance, “the conflict between the Council and the European Parliament is open”. “After the extremely disappointing comments of the president of the European Council following the most recent meeting of the taskforce on economic governance and after the worrying Franco-German declaration on this issue, the Greens welcome the adoption of the 'Feio' report, which defines a more audacious position than those of the Commission and the Council, they declare in a press release. In the view of the Belgian Philippe Lamberts, “the work of the taskforce has been something of a damp squib after several months of discussion and fruitless pussyfooting around on the subject of sanctions”. “The Feio report is a step in the right direction” in that its vision of economic governance is not limited to the punitive aspects of the Pact, said the French Green Pascal Canfin. The report sees as a central issue the fight against the excessive accumulation of private debt, low internal demand and financial bubbles.
Iñigo Mendez de Vigo (EPP, Spain) said: “If the Treaty needs changing, as Germany and France suggest, the EPP Group will call for a Convention to be convened, as provided for by the Treaty of Lisbon”. (M.B/transl.fl)