Brussels, 09/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Member states like Germany that run up current account surpluses will no longer be penalised under the new early warning scoreboard for the surveillance of macroeconomic imbalances introduced as part of the updated Stability and Growth Pact. In a conclusions document published on Tuesday 8 November, the ECOFIN Council notes a statement by the European Commission to the effect that “unlike current account deficits, large and sustained current surpluses do not raise concerns about the sustainability of external debt or financing capacity that affect the smooth functioning of the euro area, which are key criteria for determining the corrective arm of the Excess Imbalance Procedure, and they will not lead to sanctions.”
The ECOFIN Council endorsed the indicators suggested by the Commission, namely current account balances, net international investment position, export market shares, nominal unit labour costs, real effective exchange rates, the evolution of employment, private sector debt, private sector credit flow, house prices and the general public sector debt. “The choice of indicators focuses on the most relevant dimensions of macroeconomic imbalances, and competitiveness developments, with a particular focus on the smooth functioning of the euro area”, explain the ministers. They point out that new indicators are needed to assess changes in productivity and the financial industry. The Commission has been asked to come up with a financial industry indicator by the end of next year and to regularly revise the scoreboard, incorporating changes in macroeconomic statistics.
The ministers ask the Commission to publish a report on the macroeconomic warning system ahead of the start of the 2012 European semester, during which Brussels will assess member states' budgets before they are passed by the national parliament. The college of commissioners held a policy debate on Wednesday 9 November on the EU's economic priorities to be published at the end of the month. (MB/transl.fl)