Brussels, 02/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 September, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, promised an “initiative” to get the European Parliament more involved in monitoring the third Greek bailout plan.
Greece. Since the agreement of the eurozone summit in mid-July (see EUROPE 11358), “discussions have moved forward smoothly, with the desire to break new ground”, Moscovici explained. Unsurprisingly, the implementation of the reforms will continue to be “decisive”, he stressed. On the general elections to be held in Greece on 20 September, the Commissioner believes that this will not “jeopardise the head of steam” and the appointment of George Chouliarakis to the finance ministry is, he said, a “factor of reassurance”.
Moscovici has pledged an initiative “for the near future” to get the European Parliament more involved in the debate on the situation in Greece. The key aim is to report to the institution more, a provision which already exists in the texts on budgetary monitoring (see EUROPE 11373). The conference of the presidents of the groups of the EP will this Thursday discuss how the EP could be more involved, following the request made to its president, Martin Schulz, by the outgoing Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras. The EP's involvement in the institutions' monitoring missions to Athens does not, however, seem to be an option. Moscovici will discuss this issue on Monday 7 September at a meeting of the EPP group of the EP.
EMU. Reiterating his long-term vision of the consolidation of the eurozone with the creation of an economic government with a specific budget and controlled by a Eurozone Parliament (see EUROPE 11379), the Commissioner argued in favour of “moving swiftly and decisively” by combining possible short-term initiatives with other, more ambitious measures which would require treaty change.
Measures which could be tabled between now and 2017 include the creation of competitiveness authorities in the member states, a budgetary committee at European level, the completion of banking union with work to begin on the 'deposit guarantee' pillar and the streamlining of the Eurozone's representation at international level, in line with the recommendations of the report of the '5 presidents' on EMU reform (see EUROPE 11348).
In addition to cropping up in the address by President Juncker on the State of the Union, at the session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 9 September (see other article), the subject of strengthening EMU is on the agenda of the Genval Seminar, in which the College of Commissioners are participating up until Thursday.
On the economic situation, Moscovici believes that the EU and the eurozone have “collectively come out of crisis”. The turbulence seen in China and Russia is not, he added, likely to derail economic recovery, a subject the Commission will discuss with the Chinese minister on the sidelines of the 'G20 Finances', in Ankara on 4 and 5 September.
The eurozone countries have until mid-October to submit their draft budgets for 2016, to give the Commission time to issue recommendations ahead of the adoption of the national finance bills. The European institution will carry out this exercise on the basis of the autumn economic forecasts it will present in early November.
France. On the French budgetary situation, the Commission will be remaining vigilant to ensure that the country is sticking to the structural effort set at 0.5% of GDP in 2015 and which the Commission found insufficient in early July, on the basis of the data in its possession as of 10 June (see EUROPE 11349). Stressing the need to get on top of expenditure, it will ask how Paris plans to pay for the tax cuts pledged for 2016 by President François Hollande.
Taxation. At the debate on fighting tax optimisation, which is on the agenda of the informal Ecofin Council (11-12 September in Luxembourg), Moscovici will urge the states rapidly to reach a political agreement on the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings (see EUROPE 11369). The legislative proposal modifying the directive on administrative cooperation in taxation matters will take until the end of 2015 to make its way through the legislative pipeline, “I do not see how it could be any other way”, the Commissioner has warned. The states have a number of sticking points, particularly the question of the scope of application, the retroactivity of the measure and the role of the Commission.
The Commissioner also touched briefly on the resurrection of the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). Although the Commission hopes to postpone the consolidation part until a later date, to make the pill easier for the states to swallow, Moscovici wants both stages to be “considered at the same time”. NGOs and business associations alike have expressed concern at putting off the consolidation aspect, though for very different reasons (see EUROPE 11377).
Moscovici, his colleague for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, and President Juncker, will appear before the special TAXE committee of the EP on Thursday 17 September. (Elodie Lamer and Mathieu Bion)