Brussels, 30/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Chances for a vote at next week's European Parliament plenary to seal an agreement on a definitive political agreement on reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, now appear more remote. Unless there is a breakthrough by Monday on this eminently political question, it will be up to the Polish Presidency to find an acceptable solution to this dossier. A special Eurogroup meeting focusing on the subject of Greece has been arranged for Sunday 3 July.
The inter-institutional trialogue on Thursday 30 June was unable to bring the positions of the two co-legislator institutions any closer together. MEPs are eager to introduce a more automatic approach towards decision-making in the preventive area of the pact. They would like qualified majority by member states to be enough to counter a recommendation by the European Commission stipulating that a country has not taken necessary measures to rectify a deficit/excessive debt(s). The Council is refusing this provision, which would reduce its room for manœuvre. It has proposed that the reasons why it would not follow the recommendations from the Commission be expressed in writing to the public and if this provision turns out to be too weak, that it be revised within the next three years. On Thursday, the Commission proposed reducing this deadline to two years.
The question of the unity of the main political groups at the European Parliament is proving pretty tenuous. The EPP Group is prepared to give up on “reverse qualified majority” in the preventive dimension of the pact and vote on this basis at next week's plenary. One source close to the dossier said that they had obtained 98% of what they wanted and accused the Liberals of panicking, in reference to the situation in Greece. It is this division opening up in the bloc formed by the main political groups at the EP, created by the about-turn performed by the EPP Group, which is responsible for postponing the vote.
The ECB is still supporting MEPs in their showdown with member states. Its president, Jean-Claude Trichet declared on Thursday 30 June during a monetary dialogue with MEPs that “the Board of Governors would have liked the European Council on 24 June to have made a gesture of openness towards the European Parliament on this dossier. The main point of disagreement is the extension of reverse qualified majority in the preventive chapter of the pact and this is of key importance.” He appealed for an ambitious legal framework, which would tackle unhealthy economic and budget policies and welcomed the efforts made by the European Parliament to introduce a more automatically oriented connection between decision-making in the preventive chapter of the pact. He said: “I am convinced that the European Parliament is pursuing a good European orientation.” According to Trichet, the compromise already approved by MEPs and the Hungarian Presidency contains “important progress” compared to the rules in the current pact (EUROPE 10399). He did say, however, that it did not go right to the end of what the Lisbon Treaty authorised for strengthening economic governance and that this was “very serious” from the Bank of Frankfurt's point of view. (M.B./transl.fl)