Acting on an official request from the Ecofin Council, the European Commission is expected to bring forward proposals on Wednesday 27 July leading to fines on Spain and Portugal for their failure to remain on their set budgetary trajectories between 2013 and 2015. A move such as this could prove to be counter-productive insofar as Madrid and Lisbon could, if they face disproportionately high penalties, have greater difficulty in respecting their new budgetary trajectories and find themselves deprived of European funding that could be used for productive investment.
Many have raised their voices in protest at these sanctions. Those who back them have been quick to say that they will be very small, almost symbolic, as the economic and social crises experienced by the two countries will be taken into account. That is what Pierre Moscovici, commissioner for economic and financial affairs, and Valdis Dombrovskis, commissioner for the Euro, call “smart” application of European budgetary rules.
When questioned about the wisdom of imposing financial sanctions on the two Iberian countries, Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir highlighted the consensus among the member states that this unprecedented step in an excessive deficit procedure against a euro zone country has to be taken for the sake of the credibility that attaches to observance of the rules of the stability and growth pact. Kazimir also said he was persuaded that European finance ministers would deliver a “'smart' result”.
Smart application of the rules in force is also what the press expects of the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU when it comes to issuing the accreditation needed to be able to cover informal ministerial meetings in Bratislava.
However, when Agence Europe wants to cover these informal meetings, it finds itself confronted by punctilious application of new rules imposed by Slovakia. Journalists, even if already accredited by the European institutions, have to undergo a security check that can last up to 21 days. This means that, in order to have been able to attend the informal Justice and Home Affairs meeting on 7 and 8 July, journalists would have had to register on the Slovak Presidency website before 15 June. The up to 21-day security check period, which Slovakia says is necessary to ensure the security of the meetings, depends on the number of countries in which journalists have lived and how many jobs they have held.
These rules are hindering us as we exercise our profession, Agence Europe being the only Brussels-based press agency which covers virtually all of the informal sectoral ministerial meetings. Of five informal meetings, two (Justice and Home Affairs and Employment and Social Affairs) were covered normally from Bratislava. Two informal meetings (Energy and Competitiveness) were followed from Brussels. Our environment correspondent, in Bratislava to cover that meeting, met with a security wall (EUROPE 11591). Lastly, in the space of a minute, a colleague received two contradictory messages - the one confirming her accreditation for the informal Economic Affairs meeting and the other informing her that accreditation had been denied!
In Brussels, the Permanent Representation of Slovakia finds itself in an uncomfortable position. Pressure has been brought to bear by Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak on the national security services to speed up clearing procedures. Slovak diplomats in Brussels also point out that the Presidency website has been up and running since May and that the International Press Association (IPA) has known about the rules in place since a joint meeting … that was held on 15 June. The IPA retorts that the 21-day rule breaches the principle that journalists accredited by the European institutions are able to receive a last-minute accreditation for an event organised by a six-month rotating Presidency of the Council as it is impossible always to tell in advance which event will be attended. The IPA has lodged a formal protest with the Slovak Presidency.
Unbending application of the rules certainly had the expected effect: the first ministerial meetings in Bratislava were held in perfect security. Whatever the objections raised, this rigid adherence to the rules by an administration which political pressure appears unable to cause to deviate from its course, will reassure the Sam Lowry (the hero of the film “Brazil”, directed by Terry Gilliam) types who take it upon themselves to be its guarantors, determined to pursue right to the end the valiant task they have been assigned.
Removing any leeway in the interpretation of the rules, whether of the stability pact or of press accreditation, ultimately is just shooting oneself in the foot. On the budgetary front, it guarantees stronger rejection of Europe by the people of Spain and Portugal who will be asked to make further sacrifices to satisfy the credibility of the pact. On the issue of accreditation, over and above the energy spent trying in vain to put things right and expenses paid in advance which will not be reimbursed, the obstacles to accreditation will lead to less media coverage. In prospect is media chaos with a very busy return to work after the summer break when Bratislava will, at the start of September, host three ministerial meetings (Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Economic Affairs) and the informal summit on the future of the European Union of 27 member states.
(Mathieu Bion)