Brussels, 23/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Luxembourg and France, along with Austria and Italy, are calling for flexibility under the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) rules in order to support countries facing a massive influx of refugees.
The prime minister and finance minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel and Pierre Gramegna respectively, sent a letter on 8 October to the presidents of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, stating that while migration is a medium- and long-term challenge, the scale of the current migration flows and the explosion of refugee housing needs require special targeted treatment and the current crisis is having an impact on public finances. They hoped the Commission would respond rapidly, saying that it has pledged to consider the question in terms of SGP flexibility. At the last Ecofin Council, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici made cautious comments to the press in this connection (see EUROPE 11404).
France, too, is sensitive to these arguments. After meeting with the French president, François Hollande, on Wednesday 21 October, the head of the S&D group at the European Parliament, Gianni Pittella, said in a press release that the French president had been positive and open to the need for flexibility. Pittella said he had told the French president that socialists and democrats want flexible application of European budgetary rules for countries exposed to the full fury of the refugee influx. Expenses related to housing refugees should not be included when calculating public spending deficits for 2016, argued the Italian social democrat. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)