Brussels, 17/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The EU needs to “find a balance between consolidation of budget and social policy”, said MEP Veronica Lope Fontagné (EPP/Spain) on Monday 17 June in a hearing of Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn and Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Laszlo Andor, at the European Parliament.
Rehn said that this very balance was reflected in the country-specific recommendations published by the Commission last month, in which some member states had been given more time to achieve their budget targets and introduce structural reforms to boost economic growth. Andor hoped to see a “more resilient labour market”, listing measures taken by his department, like improving public employment services and job centres (unveiled that same day - see related article) and the Youth Guarantee, which some MEPs said needed to be expanded in order to have a greater impact on job-seekers.
In response to a number of MEPs calling for a reduction in the cost of financing for small businesses, Rehn said “it is necessary to complete the work of financial repair and banking union,” along with “cleaning up the balance sheets of banks in order to restore confidence.”
German MEP Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA) said that, of the 240 recommendations drawn up previously by the European Commission, only 17 had been fully implemented by the members of the Council. Rehn said that was the responsibility of the member states and national parliaments needed to be more deeply involved.
In response to a question from Elisa Ferreira (S&D, Portugal), who wanted to know why one couldn't “Europeanise the ESM”, Rehn said that, in 2010, when the troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) had been set up, “many member states insisted to have IMF on board”, and he was “working on the basis of this mandate”, stating that they would be “discussing the best way of doing so in the future when there is deeper debate on rebuilding EMU”. (EL/transl.fl)