Riga/Brussels, 27/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - In Riga on 24 April, the European finance ministers seemed untroubled by any possibility of negative impacts of the Greek crisis on European recovery.
The vice-president of the ECB, Vitor Constâncio, explained that although the Greek dossier had been discussed intensively that morning by the Eurogroup, there had been “no specific consideration on the Greek situation” in the discussions between the Twenty-Eight. We are “working on the assumption that the situation will be sorted out”, he said. Even in the event that Greek growth decelerates as a result of the situation in the last few months, “this will not derail the situation” in Europe as a whole, he added. He went on to state that alternative scenarios indicating less favourable situations were not part of the basis they were working on.
“We are not working on any Plan B or any other plans”, explained the Vice-President of the Commission with responsibility for the Euro, Valdis Dombrovskis.
According to one source, none of the ministers raised the issue of the Greek dossier during the informal Ecofin Council on Friday afternoon, with the exception of the Greek minister, who gave his assessment of the structural reforms in his country. Friday afternoon's discussions between the Twenty-Eight focused on the economic situation, structural reforms and investments. Speaking on behalf of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Latvian minister, Janis Reirs, said that sustainable growth at EU level would be impossible without “carefully designed” reforms at national level. According to Dombrovskis, it is particularly important to make the employment market more dynamic and open to new technologies. Based on the Commission's projections, he said that if all states of the EU “conducted ambitious reforms”, EU GDP would be 6% higher in 10 years than in a zero-reform scenario. Although the recovery has been helped along by falling oil prices, world growth and a favourable monetary policy, this situation will not resolve the structural problems of the European economy, he warned.
Reirs urged his colleagues to assess their national policies in order to remove barriers to investment. Of all the economic indicators, investment is the only one still below the expectations of the ECB, Constancio explained.
At EU level, Reirs stressed the importance of deepening the single market for goods and services, the digital single market, the CMU and the energy union. (Elodie Lamer)