Brussels, 05/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will be able to take a member state to the European Court of Justice for failing to respect the new budget discipline pact, according to a draft version of the intergovernmental treaty seen by AFP. The new treaty will be discussed on Friday 6 January and also next week by the special working group set up by the 26 EU member states (all of them apart from the UK) which decided on 9 December 2011 to sign an international agreement in March 2012 to introduce tighter budget rules and coordinate their economic policies.
The previous version published at the end of December did not make any explicit reference to the role of the European Commission in action to penalise member states that flout the new treaty. In the latest version, the Commission would be given the power by the contractual parties (the member states agreeing to stronger budget discipline) to issue proceedings at the European Court of Justice for alleged (...) breaking of the new rules. The draft deal to be discussed at the next European Council meeting of EU heads of state (on 30 January) also gives the Commission greater powers of scrutiny.
The first draft only stated that the contracting parties agree to tighten their budget discipline and strengthen coordination of their economic policies and economic governance; the latest version adds that the intergovernmental treaty aims to reinforce growth and improve competitiveness and social cohesion.
The new deal may well be agreed upon in March and would officially come into force as soon as 15 of the 17 euro nations have ratified it. The previous version of the pact said that only nine countries needed to ratify the deal before it came into force. At the European Council of 8-9 December 2011, the leaders of every country of the EU, apart from the leader of the UK, David Cameron, agreed on the strengthening of budget discipline in the eurozone, an agreement that other countries are free to join. The idea behind the new treaty is to learn from the debt crisis and introduce a golden rule of returning to a balanced budget and stricter penalties for spendthrift countries. (LC/transl.fl)