On Tuesday 7 March, the 'General affairs' Council adopted the position of the European finance ministers calling for a fair balance between fiscal consolidation and supporting investment (see EUROPE 11682).
Individually and collectively, the member states of the Eurozone are committed to seeking a fair balance in budgetary policies between the need to guarantee viability and the need to support investments to strengthen recovery, according to the recommendation on the economic policy of the Eurozone approved by the Council.
In line with the 'European Semester' budgetary process, the European Council will on Thursday 9 March definitively approve this recommendation, to be used by the member states to prepare their draft convergence reports and reforms to be submitted to the European Council by the end of April.
Finalising banking union. The recommendation also calls for work to continue on completing banking union as regards the reduction and pooling of risks, with particular focus on a European deposit insurance system (EDIS), the third plank of banking union in the Eurozone (see EUROPE 11734).
On Thursday, the European Council will reiterate “the need to complete the banking union in terms of reducing and sharing risks in the financial sector”, according to the draft conclusions of the summit dated Monday 6 March. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)