Brussels, 15/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's economic and monetary policies committee has recommended that Jyrki Katainen of Finland replace Olli Rehn as EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner until the new Commission takes office in November.
Katainen received 37 votes in favour, 15 against and one abstention. We understand the Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and EFDD, along perhaps with a few Socialists, voted against him and a number of ALDE MEPs were reported to have been “distinctly unimpressed” by Katainen.
Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) told this newsletter that the Greens will demand a special vote at plenary on Wednesday on Katainen's appointment and the question was to be discussed by the heads of the EP's political groups on Tuesday morning at the latest. Giegold said Katainen behaves more like a Finnish finance minister than as a future European commissioner. Giegold criticised Katainen's “one-sided austerity agenda”, and pointed out that Katainen had always promoted such measures when it came to economic policies. Katainen said he represented responsible measures and “consolidation of the budget does not create anything new, apart from confidence”, which is a precondition for investment. He said there was a delicate balance to be struck between doing what is needed to win the confidence of investors and making a wise use of the public purse, but he said there was room for flexibility, particularly for countries (Ed: like Italy) that are covered by the preventative arm of the stability and growth pact, and also for countries under the excess deficit procedure. He added that the “European Council had wisely said” that the rules must not be changed but the flexibility available under current rules should be made use of.
In response to MEP Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany) who said the country-specific recommendations did not have much impact, Katainen said that things were “not so black” in reality although the implementation rate (around 18%) mentioned in the EP's assessment was “far too low” (see EUROPE 11109). In response to the queries of Elisa Feirrera (S&D, Portugal) in the same connection, he said: “The key issue is how the member states feel in terms of ownership of the recommendations. If the member states don't find them valid, then nothing will happen. We can put more and more pressure on the member states, but if the quality of recommendations isn't good, or is unrecognised, then nothing hew happens”. He recommended closer dialogue between countries and the EU institutions.
Finally, on the controversial matter of the democratic legitimacy of the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) that was of great concern to MEPs in the previous parliament, Katainen said that “the troika represents lenders' opinions and the troika people themselves are responsible for the policies their masters (Ed: eurozone finance ministers) have decided upon”. (EL)