Brussels, 12/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented an eight-page analysis on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to the European Council on Thursday 12 February.
The note takes stock of the successes and weaknesses of the introduction of the single currency that is legal tender in 19 member states (see EUROPE 11251). “Our monetary union is now as heterogeneous as ever. This is a direct challenge to the convergence that our EMU is expected to bring”, Juncker said during the meeting, according to a transcript of his presentation.
In light of this less than happy assessment, the note opens a process to determine the positions of the member states on measures that can be achieved in the short term so that they commit more strongly to reform their economies and work positively to turn the single energy, capital and digital markets into reality.
“After the recent decision by the ECB”, said European Council President Donald Tusk, “it is vital to make national economies fully compatible with monetary union. To make this happen structural reforms need strong political ownership at the national level”. “We must be more demanding of ourselves to unlock the economy”, said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Juncker said that “we can and should do better” on implementing the European Council's country-specific socio-economic policy recommendations, raising the possibility of “more focused and shorter” recommendations. He warned: “Without a stronger national will and ownership to implement reforms, our economic union will remain largely a dead letter”.
The European leaders' “sherpas” will meet before the end of March to agree a common working basis. The European Parliament will be involved in parallel in these discussions. The European commissioners, led by Valdis Dombrovskis, will meet European-level stakeholders and national parliaments for discussions. The aim is to finalise a specific report for the June summit. (Mathieu Bion with LC, IL)