On Wednesday 25 January, the committees on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) and budgets (BUDG) of the European Parliament finally decided to postpone the vote on the draft own-initiative report calling for the creation of a fiscal capacity for the Eurozone.
The two co-rapporteurs, Pervenche Berès (S&D, France) for the ECON committee, and Reimer Böge (EPP, Germany) for the BUDG committee, feel that their compromise amendments achieve an equilibrium of the pro-European forces (see EUROPE 11710). However, the EPP and ALDE groups within the economic affairs committee have made a number of requests, which they feel have fallen on deaf ears. "Ms Berès does not accept a reference to compliance with the Stability Pact at this stage", one expert pointed out.
The time frame is tight. The draft Berès/Böge report is supposed to be put to a vote at the mid-session plenary session, along with the Verhofstadt and Brok/Bresso reports laying out Parliament's vision of the future of the EU, ahead of the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Treaty of Rome (see EUROPE 11686). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)