Brussels, 16/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 June, the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament agreed its position on reinforcing economic governance within the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), with the votes of the EPP and S&D groups alone.
The draft report by Pervenche Berès (S&D, France) lists the measures which can be taken quickly, in other words without having to amend the treaties, to reinforce economic coordination and convergence within the EMU and increase the legitimacy of the decisions taken.
“A genuine European economic policy cannot just be the sum of 28 national policies. We need a global approach based on a common fiscal target (at the level of the eurozone: Ed) to assess spill-over effects and prevent economic imbalances between member states”, said the rapporteur.
Welcoming the Commission's communication interpreting the flexibility contained in the Stability and Growth Pact (see EUROPE 11229), the MEPs argue that the recommendations made for reforms by the European level must tackle the ongoing investment deficit in Europe since the financial crisis of 2008. They argue that structural reforms must have a “positive impact at economic, social and environmental level for the medium and longer terms”.
To reinforce democratic legitimacy, the draft report recommends that the guidelines on economic convergence are adopted under the co-decision procedure, in which the Council and Parliament are equal players. Additionally, the conclusion of an inter-institutional agreement would strengthen the role of the EP in the budgetary process of the 'European Semester'. To ensure that the Eurogroup gives greater account of its work, the MEPs call for the role of the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs to be strengthened within the informal body, and for the creation of a 'European Treasury Office'. A legal framework should also be set in place to replace the 'troika' of institutional creditors of the countries of the eurozone receiving a financial bail-out.
As well as including the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in the Community regulatory scope, the MEPs call for the social dimension of the EMU to be fleshed out by introducing a national minimum wage. The creation of the eurozone's own budgetary capacity would help countries to ride out emergency situations or to absorb the immediate economic cost of certain reforms. The report also calls for European measures to fight tax fraud and tax evasion.
The president of the parliamentary committee, Roberto Gualtieri, welcomed the adoption of a report he described as both “ambitious” and “realistic”. It will be put to the EP plenary of Wednesday 24 June, ahead of the European summit which will discuss the reinforcement of the EMU on the basis of a specific report by the '5 presidents' (Commission, European Council, ECB, Eurogroup, EP). He said that this political majority shows that there is a way to make the EMU “more effective and more democratic”`. (Mathieu Bion)