Brussels, 08/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - At a special public meeting (open to all MEPs) of the chairs of the European Parliament's political groups on Tuesday 8 February, MEPs were scathing in their criticism of the method and content of the Competitiveness Pact mooted by France and Germany at the European Council last week (see EUROPE 10309 and 10310). The 8 February meeting was attended by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, who explained that no tangible measures of any sort had been on the table at the summit.
On behalf of the EPP, France's Joseph Daul welcomed the fact that discussions about budget, tax and social convergence are no longer taboo, but said they must be debated in an EU rather than purely intergovernmental context. He said it was important to deal with problems, like retirement age and restricting public debt, but at EU level because otherwise solidarity would no longer be respected or put in practice in Europe. Martin Schulz (S&D, Germany) sees the Competitiveness Pact as an attempt by the German government to export its austerity programme to the rest of Europe and it was totally wrong to claim that scrapping the inflation-indexing of pay rises, which exists in one form or another in five member states (Austria, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Portugal), would make countries more competitive. He said it did not make sense to call on the one hand for investment in education and research while on the other hand calling for the EU budget for education and research to be slashed. He asked Van Rompuy whether he knew in advance about the Franco-German document. The chair of the Liberal Group, Guy Verhofstadt, made it very clear that the intergovernmental method recommended by Germany and France had never worked in the past, be it for the Stability Pact or for the Lisbon Strategy, and the Council of Ministers as an “international organisation of nation states” was not his idea of the European Union. He slammed the “secret deal” whereby agreement to expand the EFSF's lending capacity is dependent on countries agreeing to the Competitiveness Pact. On behalf of the Greens/EFA, Germany's Rebecca Harms criticised Van Rompuy for not briefing the member states on the fears expressed about the way France and Germany are acting. The Franco-German pact will only increase divisions among the member states, argued Marisa Mathias (GUE/NGL, Portugal), adding that public debt cannot be reduced without economic growth. Philip Claeys (NI, Belgium) wondered whether the pact would put an end to the economic model of healthy competition among member states.
Van Rompuy said that there had been documents circulating but no plan or measures had been put on the table at the European Council, pointing out that he had been there but the MEPs had not. Before the summit, some of the tangible measures recommended by France and Germany were leaked to the media (see EUROPE 10307) and on the day itself, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that heads of state had not actually discussed the detail, but the French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted that France and Germany already had ideas about it. The countries at which the draft proposals are aimed were quick to respond, sometimes angrily. Van Rompuy said that if eurozone countries wanted to press ahead and had new ideas about economic convergence, then why shouldn't they be allowed to do so? He said he had been instructed to consult with the member states in close cooperation with the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, to draw up tangible measures in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty. Decisions on the issue would be taken first at a special summit of eurozone countries and then at the spring European Council (24-25 March 2011).
Inter-Institutional Affairs Commissioner Maroš Šefèoviè said that the process of drawing up a Competitiveness Pact should respect the European institutions' role and not exclude non-euro countries. He said work in this connection must fully respect the Lisbon Treaty, which is the correct setting for boosting and accelerating economic governance in Europe. (M.B./transl.fl)