Brussels, 27/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - This Friday, the Commission is to present an assessment report of the 2-pack and 6-pack legislative packages, which leaves the possibility of a legislative revision of the revised Stability and Growth Pact to one side for the time being.
According to a Commission source, certain political groups at the European Parliament would have liked this report to have been accompanied by legislative proposals. Everybody now agrees that it is better to start with a clinical paper calling upon the Parliament and the Ecofin Council to take position and the European Council to decide, in March 2015, whether the rules should be changed.
The commissioner for economic affairs, Pierre Moscovici, is reported to be planning to publish a communication in January on how to make the flexibility already provided for by the pact more operational. Pervenche Bérès (S&D, France), rapporteur for the Parliament on this dossier, lamented the fact that the presentation of the document on flexibility has been delayed. Over at the Commission, it is noted that there is a great deal of variety between what all the different parties want, and that there is not, as yet, any political majority on how the pact should be revised. This is why the Commission wants to let the Parliament and member states have their say.
Also to be divulged on Friday is the Commission's report on the macro-economic imbalances observed in the member states. Sixteen countries will be the subject of in-depth examinations, the same ones as in 2013 plus Portugal and Romania, which have completed their economic adjustment programmes. (EL)